@adaptive-ds/pandoc - The Missing Document Converter API

Every developer has been there: you need to convert a Word doc to Markdown, a PDF to HTML, or generate a nicely formatted PDF from your app. You spin up a server, install Pandoc, write a wrapper script, and suddenly you're maintaining infrastructure just to transform documents.

Stop building document conversion infrastructure.

This is a hosted Pandoc API that handles the heavy lifting—so you can focus on your actual product.

• Simple setup – Deploy once, convert documents via a clean REST API.
• Format agnostic – Convert between Markdown, HTML, PDF, DOCX, LaTeX, and 40+ other formats.
• Fast & reliable – Runs on Bun's high-performance runtime.
• API-first – Simple REST endpoints with full OpenAPI documentation.

Convert documents like you would call any other API. No Pandoc installation required.

Quick Links

• code - https://github.com/david1gp/pandoc
• npm - https://www.npmjs.com/package/@adaptive-ds/pandoc
• pandoc manual - https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html
• pandoc web - https://pandoc.org/app/

Features

• Convert documents between 40+ formats (Markdown, HTML, PDF, DOCX, LaTeX, EPUB, etc.)
• Two conversion methods:
  • From URL – Provide a publicly accessible file URL
  • From File – Send base64-encoded file content directly
• Full OpenAPI/Swagger documentation built-in
• Type-safe client libraries for easy integration

Architecture

The service runs on Bun, a fast JavaScript runtime:

Your App → Bun Server → Pandoc Engine → Converted Output → Your App

Prerequisites

• Bun runtime installed
• Pandoc installed on the host machine
• A VPS or server to host the service

Local Development

1. Clone the repository

2. Install dependencies:

   bun install

3. Run the development server:

   bun run dev

4. Visit http://localhost:3000 for the Swagger UI

Usage

Convert from URL

curl -X POST "http://localhost:3000/api/pandoc/from-url" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "inputUrl": "https://example.com/document.docx",
    "inputFormat": "docx",
    "outputFormat": "markdown"
  }'

Convert from File

curl -X PUT "http://localhost:3000/api/pandoc/from-file" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "fileBase64": "$(base64 -w0 document.docx)",
    "inputFormat": "docx",
    "outputFormat": "markdown"
  }'

Supported Formats

Input Formats

docx, odt, rtf, epub, pdf, html, json, markdown, asciidoc, and more

Output Formats

markdown, html, pdf, docx, odt, latex, beamer, epub, asciidoc, and more

See the Pandoc manual for the full list of supported formats.

Deployment

1. Install dependencies:

   bun install

2. Ensure Pandoc and TeX Live are installed on your server:

   pandoc --version

   TeX Live is required for PDF output. Install via your package manager:

   • Ubuntu/Debian: apt install texlive-latex-base
   • Fedora/RHEL: dnf install texlive-latex-base
   • macOS: brew install --cask mactex or texlive-latex-base
   • Arch: pacman -S texlive-core

3. Run in production:

   bun run start

4. Use a process manager (systemd, PM2, etc.) to keep it running:

Security Considerations

• Input validation on all endpoints
• No sensitive data is logged or exposed
• Rate limiting recommended at the proxy/load balancer level
• Base64 input prevents direct file system access

License

MIT License - use it freely in your projects!