---
name: using-markitdown
version: 1.0.0
description: Use when capturing external content into a markdown-based knowledge base, wiki `raw/` directory, or any pipeline that must preserve the source's full text — for web pages, PDFs, DOCX/PPTX/XLSX, EPUB, CSV/JSON/XML, ZIP archives, images (with OCR/EXIF), audio (with transcription), or YouTube URLs. Also use when WebFetch returned an LLM-summarized version but the raw content is what's needed.
---

# using-markitdown

> Convert almost any URI to plain markdown using Microsoft's `markitdown` MCP server. Returns **raw textual content**, not an LLM summary.

## Tool

```
mcp__markitdown__convert_to_markdown(uri: string) → markdown string
```

`uri` accepts: `http://`, `https://`, `file://`, `data:`.

## Local files — Docker-mount caveat (READ FIRST)

The markitdown MCP usually runs in a **Docker container** with a single host directory bind-mounted. The container does **not** see your full host filesystem. `file://` URIs must point to the **in-container path**, not the host path.

1. Open `~/.claude.json` and find `mcpServers.markitdown.args`. Look for the `-v` flag — e.g. `-v C:\Users\vitya:/workdir` means host `C:\Users\vitya` is mounted at `/workdir` inside the container.
2. Translate the host path to the container path before forming the URI.
3. Forward slashes only inside the container path.

**Example.** Host file at `C:\Users\vitya\modular\heart-and-mask\.wiki\raw\foo.html` with mount `C:\Users\vitya:/workdir`:

```
file:///workdir/modular/heart-and-mask/.wiki/raw/foo.html
```

**Symptom of getting this wrong:** `[Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/c:/Users/...'` — the container literally tried to open the host-shaped path. The fix is path translation, not URL encoding.

**If the file falls outside the mount:** either copy it into the mounted tree, or extend the mount in `~/.claude.json` (a Claude restart is required for MCP changes to take effect — MCP servers are spawned at session start).

**Filenames.** Non-ASCII filenames (Cyrillic, etc.) inside `file://` URIs are flaky across the URL-encode → urllib → Docker → host-FS chain. Rename to Latin kebab-case **before** calling markitdown.

## When to use

- Filling a wiki's `raw/` directory from a URL or local PDF/DOCX.
- Datasheets, papers, blog posts, GitHub READMEs, Obsidian Web Clipper outputs, KiCad netlist exports — anything where the source text matters and lossy summarization would break later ingest steps.
- Any time the next step is "save the source verbatim before summarizing".

## When NOT to use

- You only need a *summary* or an *answer about* a page → use **WebFetch** (cheaper, runs through a small model, returns prose).
- The URI is GitHub/PR/issue/release content → use `gh` CLI (richer metadata, structured output).
- The URI is private/authenticated (GDocs, Confluence, Jira, Slack, Notion, `share.google/*` sign-in walls) → markitdown receives the **public-facing fallback page** (sign-in screen, cookie banner) and returns *that* as markdown. Verify the result is real content before saving.
- **The URI is a browser-rendered web page the user is already viewing** → ask the user to capture it via **Obsidian Web Clipper** (browser extension, runs Readability extraction client-side) and drop the resulting `.md` into `raw/`. Web Clipper output is dramatically cleaner than markitdown's HTML pass — no nav chrome, no sidebar history, no cookie banners — plus it carries YAML frontmatter (title / source URL / date) out of the box. Reserves markitdown for things browsers can't easily save (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, EPUB, file:// resources). Note: rename the resulting file to Latin kebab-case before ingest (Web Clipper preserves the page `<title>` verbatim, often non-ASCII).

## Pattern: ingest a remote source into a wiki

```
1. mcp__markitdown__convert_to_markdown(uri="https://example.com/foo.pdf")
2. Inspect the head of the result. If it looks like a sign-in/cookie/consent page, abort — ask the user for an alternative (manual save, paste, authenticated MCP).
3. Write the result to .wiki/raw/<slug>.md (kebab-case, Latin only).
4. Register the new file in .wiki/raw/README.md.
5. Hand off to the wiki ingest workflow (creates sources/<slug>.md summary + entity/concept updates).
```

## Common gotchas

| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Output is a Google/Microsoft sign-in page in some random language | URI behind auth wall | Ask user to export the content manually (Save as PDF, copy-paste) and put it in `raw/` |
| Output is mostly nav/cookie banner text | Site is JS-rendered or anti-bot | Try the cached or print URL; or ask user for HTML export |
| Output lacks images / diagrams | Markdown is text-only by design | Save the original asset separately under `raw/assets/`; reference it from the `sources/` summary |
| Tool not available in session | MCP server not loaded | Confirm `mcp__markitdown__convert_to_markdown` appears via ToolSearch; load with `select:mcp__markitdown__convert_to_markdown` |
| Huge output (book-length) | Whole document converted in one call | Save raw, then summarize *from the saved file* — do not hold the entire markdown in working context |

## Quick contrast with WebFetch and Web Clipper

| | markitdown | WebFetch | Obsidian Web Clipper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Returns | raw markdown of the source | LLM answer about the source | Readability-extracted markdown with YAML frontmatter |
| Use for | PDF / DOCX / non-browser-friendly | one-shot Q&A | any browser-viewable web page |
| Auth-aware | no | no | **yes** (uses the user's logged-in browser session) |
| Chrome / nav stripped | partial (still verbose) | n/a (model picks signal) | **yes** (clean) |
| Handles PDFs / DOCX | yes | text-only HTML extraction | no (web pages only) |
| Who triggers it | Claude | Claude | the user (manual click) |