markitdown
Convert heterogeneous documents and selected URIs to Markdown with Microsoft MarkItDown for text analysis, search, and LLM/RAG ingestion. Covers safe local conversion, streams, Office/PDF/data formats, batch workflows, plugins, vision OCR, Azure extraction, and the official MCP server.
npx skills add K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills --skill markitdown --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# MarkItDown ## Overview MarkItDown is Microsoft's lightweight Python utility for turning common documents into structure-preserving Markdown. Its output is designed primarily for indexing, text analysis, search, and LLM ingestion—not high-fidelity visual reproduction. This skill targets **MarkItDown 0.1.6**, released May 26, 2026. New code should use `result.markdown`; `result.text_content` remains only as a soft-deprecated compatibility alias. ## Choose the Right Path | Need | Recommended path | |---|---| | Trusted local PDF, Office, HTML, CSV, EPUB, or ZIP | Built-in converter with `convert_local()` | | Uploaded bytes or an already-open file | `convert_stream()` with `StreamInfo` hints | | Remote HTTP(S) input | Validate and fetch it yourself, then call `convert_response()` | | Scanned PDF or text inside embedded images | Official `markitdown-ocr` vision plugin, Azure Document Intelligence, or Azure Content Understanding | | Video, structured fields, or custom multimodal extraction | Azure Content Understanding | | Local agent integration | Official `markitdown-mcp` server over STDIO or localhost | | Bounding boxes, page coordinates, or screenshots | Use a layout-aware parser su
- Overview
- Choose the Right Path
- Installation
- Quick Start
- Command line
- Python: trusted local file
- Python: binary stream
- Core Operating Rules
- 1. Use the narrowest conversion method
- 2. Treat converted text as untrusted
- 3. Separate local and external processing
- 4. Keep plugins opt-in
- Batch and Literature Workflows
- Batch-convert a directory
uv venv --python 3.12 .venv source .venv/bin/activate uv pip install "markitdown[all]==0.1.6" uv pip install "markitdown[pdf,docx,pptx,xlsx]==0.1.6" markitdown --version python scripts/inspect_installation.py Convert a trusted local file markitdown report.pdf -o report.md Write Markdown to stdout markitdown manuscript.docx > manuscript.md
What does the markitdown skill do?
Convert heterogeneous documents and selected URIs to Markdown with Microsoft MarkItDown for text analysis, search, and LLM/RAG ingestion. Covers safe local conversion, streams, Office/PDF/data formats, batch workflows, plugins, vision OCR, Azure extraction, and the official MCP server.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills --skill markitdown --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From K-Dense-AI/scientific-agent-skills, a repository with 32,619 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.