# zcaceres/markdownify-mcp [Health: Active]

**Category:** 🧮 Data Science Tools  
**Repository:** https://github.com/zcaceres/markdownify-mcp  
**GitHub Stars:** 2990  
**Views:** 3  
**Installs:** 0  
**Upvotes:** 0  
**Directory Page:** https://allmcps.com/mcp/zcaceres-markdownify-mcp

## Description
An MCP server to convert almost any file or web content into Markdown

## Tools
Capabilities this server exposes over MCP:

- **youtube-to-markdown** — Convert YouTube videos to Markdown
- **pdf-to-markdown** — Convert PDF files to Markdown
- **bing-search-to-markdown** — Convert Bing search results to Markdown
- **webpage-to-markdown** — Convert web pages to Markdown
- **image-to-markdown** — Convert images to Markdown with metadata
- **audio-to-markdown** — Convert audio files to Markdown with transcription
- **docx-to-markdown** — Convert DOCX files to Markdown
- **xlsx-to-markdown** — Convert XLSX files to Markdown
- **pptx-to-markdown** — Convert PPTX files to Markdown
- **get-markdown-file** — Retrieve an existing Markdown file. File extension must end with: *.md, *.markdown.

## Claude Desktop Quick Installation
Heuristic fallback — verify the package name and runner against the repository README before running it. Uses `npx` (confidence: low):

```json
"mcpServers": {
  "markdownify-mcp": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y","zcaceres-markdownify-mcp"],
    "env": {
      "MARKITDOWN_PATH": "",
      "REPOMIX_PATH": "",
      "MD_ALLOWED_PATHS": "",
      "MD_SHARE_DIR": ""
    }
  }
}
```

**Requires environment variables:** `MARKITDOWN_PATH`, `REPOMIX_PATH`, `MD_ALLOWED_PATHS`, `MD_SHARE_DIR` — the values above are empty placeholders; fill in real credentials before running (see the repository for what each one is for).

## Documentation

## What the zcaceres/markdownify-mcp MCP server does

The zcaceres/markdownify-mcp MCP server turns several document, media, and web inputs into Markdown. Its MCP tools cover PDF, DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX files; images with metadata; audio with transcription; YouTube videos; Bing search results; and general web pages. A separate tool retrieves an existing Markdown file when its extension is `.md` or `.markdown`.

The output is intended to give an AI client a readable text representation of source material without requiring each client workflow to implement its own file or web conversion logic. The repository uses the `markitdown` executable for conversion-related work and includes support for a broader set of formats in the local installation.

## How it works

The server runs as a local MCP process and exposes conversion operations as callable tools. A client sends an input such as a file path, web page, search request, or YouTube video to the corresponding tool, and the server returns Markdown-formatted content. Audio conversion includes transcription, while image conversion includes image metadata.

For file-based operations, the server can enforce a read boundary. Set `MD_ALLOWED_PATHS` to one or more permitted directories; path separators are `:` on POSIX systems and `;` on Windows. `MD_SHARE_DIR` remains available as a deprecated single-directory alias. Without either setting, the README describes file access as unrestricted.

## Setup and configuration

The documented local setup is:

1. Clone the repository.
2. Run `bun install` to install dependencies and create the Python virtual environment containing `markitdown[all]`.
3. Run `bun run build`.
4. Start the server with `bun start`.

The server can also run in Docker. The documented image mounts host directories into the container and sets `MD_ALLOWED_PATHS` to the corresponding container paths. File tools must receive container paths rather than the original host paths.

The supported configuration variables are:

- `MARKITDOWN_PATH`: selects the `markitdown` executable, overriding the bundled virtual-environment path.
- `REPOMIX_PATH`: selects the `repomix` executable used by `git-repo-to-markdown`.
- `MD_ALLOWED_PATHS`: restricts file-input tools to specified directories.
- `MD_SHARE_DIR`: deprecated compatibility alias for a single allowed directory.

## Tools and capabilities

The zcaceres/markdownify-mcp MCP server provides these tools:

- `youtube-to-markdown` for YouTube videos
- `pdf-to-markdown` for PDF files
- `bing-search-to-markdown` for Bing search results
- `webpage-to-markdown` for web pages
- `image-to-markdown` for images and metadata
- `audio-to-markdown` for audio files and transcription
- `docx-to-markdown` for DOCX files
- `xlsx-to-markdown` for XLSX files
- `pptx-to-markdown` for PPTX files
- `get-markdown-file` for existing `.md` and `.markdown` files

## Limitations and notes

The published Docker image installs `markitdown[pdf]` rather than the full extras set. As a result, the README notes that audio transcription and image OCR require the local installation with `markitdown[all]` and may fail in the slim Docker image.

The desktop-client configuration uses the built `dist/index.js` file and requires an absolute path to that file. Docker users must mount every host directory the server needs to read and pass the mounted container location to the tools. The repository is licensed under MIT.

_Full upstream README: https://allmcps.com/mcp/zcaceres-markdownify-mcp/readme_