MarkItDown

You have a powerful MCP server that converts 29+ file formats to clean, structured Markdown using MarkItDown. It integrates with Claude Desktop and MCP clients, making it easy to process PDFs, Office documents, images, audio, archives, and more into readable Markdown for AI workflows and quick sharing.

How to use

You run the MCP server locally and connect your MCP client to it. Start the server, then configure your client to point to the local MCP endpoint. Use the provided tools to convert single files, directories, or batches, and enjoy preserved structure, metadata, and clean Markdown output.

How to install

Prerequisites: ensure you have Python installed (3.10+). You may also use a Python virtual environment or install via a package manager such as pipx or pip.

# Option 1: One-command, all-deps installation with pipx
pipx install git+https://github.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp.git && \
pipx inject markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' openpyxl xlrd pandas pymupdf pdfplumber

# Start the MCP server (in MCP Server Mode)
markitdown-mcp

Alternatively, you can run the server with a development script if you prefer. The server can also be started via Python directly during development.

Additional setup and configuration

Configure your MCP client to connect to the local server by adding a server entry that points to the markitdown MCP command. Use the following example in your client configuration.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markitdown": {
      "command": "markitdown-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Usage with an MCP client

Once the server is running and your client is configured, you can invoke the available MCP tools to convert content. You can convert a single file, enumerate supported formats, or convert an entire directory.

Troubleshooting and notes

If you encounter missing dependencies, ensure you installed all features. You can reinstall missing dependencies or run the complete install flow again. If Unicode issues arise with Markdown files, consider compatibility notes from the conversion library.

Examples of common commands

# Convert a single file from the MCP client
# (example invocation in your client setup; actual command depends on your client)

# Convert a directory of documents
# Run within the MCP-enabled environment
markitdown-mcp convert_directory --input /path/to/docs --output /path/to/markdown

Available tools

convert_file

Converts a single file to Markdown using MCP. Input can be a file path or base64 content with a filename; output is the Markdown text.

list_supported_formats

Returns a categorized list of all file formats supported for conversion to Markdown.

convert_directory

Converts all supported files in a specified directory, preserving structure and generating a Markdown output in the destination directory.