@mdream/js
v1.0.3
Published
JavaScript HTML-to-Markdown engine for mdream. Escape hatch for hooks and edge runtimes.
Readme
@mdream/js
Installation
# pnpm
pnpm add @mdream/js@beta
# npm
npm install @mdream/js@beta
# yarn
yarn add @mdream/js@betaEntry Points
| Import | Description |
|---|---|
| @mdream/js | Core htmlToMarkdown and streamHtmlToMarkdown APIs |
| @mdream/js/plugins | Plugin utilities: createPlugin, extractionPlugin, extractionCollectorPlugin, filterPlugin, frontmatterPlugin, isolateMainPlugin, tailwindPlugin |
| @mdream/js/preset/minimal | withMinimalPreset for declarative config combining frontmatter, isolateMain, tailwind, and filter plugins |
| @mdream/js/negotiate | HTTP content negotiation: shouldServeMarkdown, parseAcceptHeader |
| @mdream/js/parse | Low-level HTML parser: parseHtml, parseHtmlStream |
| @mdream/js/splitter | Single-pass markdown splitter: htmlToMarkdownSplitChunks, htmlToMarkdownSplitChunksStream |
| @mdream/js/llms-txt | llms.txt artifact generation: generateLlmsTxtArtifacts, createLlmsTxtStream |
API Reference
htmlToMarkdown(html, options?)
Converts an HTML string to Markdown synchronously.
import { htmlToMarkdown } from '@mdream/js'
const md = htmlToMarkdown('<h1>Hello</h1><p>World</p>')
// # Hello\n\nWorldParameters:
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| html | string | The HTML string to convert |
| options | Partial<MdreamOptions> | Optional configuration (see MdreamOptions) |
Returns: string
streamHtmlToMarkdown(htmlStream, options?)
Converts an HTML stream to Markdown incrementally. Useful for large documents or streaming HTTP responses.
import { streamHtmlToMarkdown } from '@mdream/js'
const stream = streamHtmlToMarkdown(response.body, {
origin: 'https://example.com',
})
for await (const chunk of stream) {
process.stdout.write(chunk)
}Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| htmlStream | ReadableStream<Uint8Array \| string> \| null | A web ReadableStream of HTML content |
| options | Partial<MdreamOptions> | Optional configuration (see MdreamOptions) |
Returns: AsyncIterable<string>
Options
MdreamOptions
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| origin | string | undefined | Origin URL for resolving relative image paths and internal links |
| plugins | BuiltinPlugins | undefined | Declarative built-in plugin configuration (see BuiltinPlugins) |
| clean | boolean \| CleanOptions | undefined | Post-processing cleanup. Pass true for all cleanup rules or an object for specific features (see CleanOptions). Sync API only for fragments. |
| hooks | TransformPlugin[] | undefined | Imperative hook-based transform plugins for custom behavior (see Plugins) |
BuiltinPlugins
Declarative configuration for built-in plugins. Works with both the JavaScript and Rust engines.
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| frontmatter | boolean \| ((fm: Record<string, string>) => void) \| FrontmatterConfig | undefined | Extract metadata from HTML <head> into YAML frontmatter. Pass true for defaults, a callback to receive structured data, or a config object. |
| isolateMain | boolean | undefined | Isolate main content area. Prioritizes <main> elements, then falls back to header-to-footer heuristic. |
| tailwind | boolean | undefined | Convert Tailwind utility classes (bold, italic, hidden, etc.) to semantic Markdown formatting. |
| filter | { include?, exclude?, processChildren? } | undefined | Filter elements by CSS selectors, tag names, or TAG_* constants (see Filter Plugin). |
| extraction | Record<string, (element: ExtractedElement) => void> | undefined | Extract elements matching CSS selectors during conversion. Each key is a CSS selector; the handler is called for every match. |
| tagOverrides | Record<string, TagOverride \| string> | undefined | Declarative tag overrides. String values act as aliases (e.g., { "x-heading": "h2" }). Object values override specific handler properties. |
FrontmatterConfig
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| additionalFields | Record<string, string> | undefined | Extra key-value pairs to inject into the frontmatter |
| metaFields | string[] | ['description', 'keywords', 'author', 'date', 'og:title', 'og:description', 'twitter:title', 'twitter:description'] | Meta tag names to extract beyond the standard set |
| onExtract | (frontmatter: Record<string, string>) => void | undefined | Callback to receive structured frontmatter data after conversion |
TagOverride
| Option | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| enter | string | Markdown string to emit when entering the tag |
| exit | string | Markdown string to emit when exiting the tag |
| spacing | [number, number] | Newlines to add [before, after] the tag |
| isInline | boolean | Whether the tag is inline (no block-level spacing) |
| isSelfClosing | boolean | Whether the tag is self-closing |
| collapsesInnerWhiteSpace | boolean | Whether inner whitespace should be collapsed |
CleanOptions
Post-processing cleanup options. Pass true to clean to enable all of these.
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| urls | boolean | false | Strip tracking query parameters (utm_*, fbclid, gclid, etc.) from URLs |
| fragments | boolean | false | Strip fragment-only links that do not match any heading slug in the output |
| emptyLinks | boolean | false | Strip links with meaningless hrefs (#, javascript:void(0), data:, vbscript:) and replace with plain text |
| blankLines | boolean | false | Collapse 3+ consecutive blank lines to 2 |
| redundantLinks | boolean | false | Strip links where text equals URL: [https://x.com](https://x.com) becomes https://x.com |
| selfLinkHeadings | boolean | false | Strip self-referencing heading anchors: ## [Title](#title) becomes ## Title |
| emptyImages | boolean | false | Strip images with no alt text (decorative images, tracking pixels) |
| emptyLinkText | boolean | false | Drop links that produce no visible text: [](url) is removed entirely |
When clean: true is passed, all options except urls and blankLines are enabled.
Plugins
createPlugin(plugin)
Factory function for creating type-safe transform plugins. All hooks are optional.
import { createPlugin } from '@mdream/js/plugins'
const myPlugin = createPlugin({
beforeNodeProcess(event, state) {
// Return { skip: true } to skip this node entirely
},
onNodeEnter(element, state) {
// Return a string to inject markdown at this position
},
onNodeExit(element, state) {
// Return a string to inject markdown at this position
},
processAttributes(element, state) {
// Inspect or modify element attributes
},
processTextNode(textNode, state) {
// Return { content: string, skip: boolean } to transform text
// Return undefined for no transformation
},
})Plugin Hook Reference
| Hook | Parameters | Return Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| beforeNodeProcess | (event: NodeEvent, state) | { skip: boolean } \| void | Called before any node processing. Return { skip: true } to skip the node. |
| onNodeEnter | (element: ElementNode, state) | string \| void | Called when entering an element. Return a string to inject markdown. |
| onNodeExit | (element: ElementNode, state) | string \| void | Called when exiting an element. Return a string to inject markdown. |
| processAttributes | (element: ElementNode, state) | void | Called to inspect or modify element attributes. |
| processTextNode | (textNode: TextNode, state) | { content: string, skip: boolean } \| void | Called for each text node. Return an object to transform text or skip it. |
filterPlugin(options)
Filters elements by CSS selectors, tag names, or TAG_* constants.
import { TAG_FOOTER, TAG_NAV } from '@mdream/js'
import { filterPlugin } from '@mdream/js/plugins'
// Exclude navigation and footer
const plugin = filterPlugin({
exclude: [TAG_NAV, TAG_FOOTER, '.sidebar', '#ads'],
})
// Include only specific elements
const plugin2 = filterPlugin({
include: ['article', 'main'],
processChildren: true, // default: true
})| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| include | (string \| number)[] | [] | CSS selectors, tag names, or TAG_* constants for elements to include (all others excluded) |
| exclude | (string \| number)[] | [] | CSS selectors, tag names, or TAG_* constants for elements to exclude |
| processChildren | boolean | true | Whether to also process children of matching elements |
frontmatterPlugin(options?)
Extracts metadata from HTML <head> into YAML frontmatter. Collects <title> and <meta> tags.
import { frontmatterPlugin } from '@mdream/js/plugins'
const plugin = frontmatterPlugin({
additionalFields: { source: 'crawler' },
metaFields: ['robots', 'viewport'],
})Default meta fields extracted: description, keywords, author, date, og:title, og:description, twitter:title, twitter:description.
isolateMainPlugin()
Isolates the main content area of a page using a priority-based strategy:
- If an explicit
<main>element exists (within 5 depth levels), use its content exclusively. - Otherwise, find content between the first heading (
h1-h6) that is not inside a<header>tag and the first<footer>. - The
<head>section is always passed through for other plugins (e.g., frontmatter extraction).
import { isolateMainPlugin } from '@mdream/js/plugins'
const plugin = isolateMainPlugin()tailwindPlugin()
Converts Tailwind utility classes to Markdown formatting. Supports mobile-first responsive breakpoints (sm:, md:, lg:, xl:, 2xl:).
| Tailwind Class | Markdown Output |
|---|---|
| font-bold, font-semibold, font-black, font-extrabold, font-medium | **text** |
| italic, font-italic | *text* |
| line-through | ~~text~~ |
| hidden, invisible | Element skipped |
| absolute, fixed, sticky | Element skipped |
import { tailwindPlugin } from '@mdream/js/plugins'
const plugin = tailwindPlugin()extractionPlugin(selectors) (Deprecated)
Deprecated. Use
plugins.extractionconfig for declarative extraction that works with both JS and Rust engines.
Extracts elements matching CSS selectors during conversion. Callbacks receive matching elements with their accumulated text content.
import { extractionPlugin } from '@mdream/js/plugins'
const plugin = extractionPlugin({
'h2': (element, state) => {
console.log('Heading:', element.textContent)
},
'img[alt]': (element, state) => {
console.log('Image:', element.attributes.src)
},
})extractionCollectorPlugin(selectors)
Internal extraction collector for the plugins.extraction config. Collects results during processing and calls callbacks post-conversion to match Rust engine behavior.
Presets
withMinimalPreset(options?)
Returns a declarative config combining frontmatter, isolateMain, tailwind, and filter plugins. Also enables clean: true by default. You can override any option.
import { htmlToMarkdown } from '@mdream/js'
import { withMinimalPreset } from '@mdream/js/preset/minimal'
const md = htmlToMarkdown(html, withMinimalPreset({
origin: 'https://example.com',
}))The minimal preset excludes these elements by default: <form>, <fieldset>, <object>, <embed>, <footer>, <aside>, <iframe>, <input>, <textarea>, <select>, <button>, <nav>.
You can override or extend the plugin config:
const md = htmlToMarkdown(html, withMinimalPreset({
origin: 'https://example.com',
clean: { urls: true, fragments: true },
plugins: {
frontmatter: {
additionalFields: { source: 'my-crawler' },
},
},
}))Content Negotiation
shouldServeMarkdown(acceptHeader?, secFetchDest?)
Determines if a client prefers Markdown over HTML using HTTP content negotiation.
- Returns
truewhentext/markdownortext/plainhas higher quality thantext/htmlin the Accept header. - If qualities are equal, earlier position wins.
- Bare wildcards (
*/*) do not trigger Markdown (prevents breaking OG crawlers). sec-fetch-dest: documentalways returnsfalse(browser navigation).
import { shouldServeMarkdown } from '@mdream/js/negotiate'
if (shouldServeMarkdown(request.headers.accept, request.headers['sec-fetch-dest'])) {
return new Response(markdown, {
headers: { 'content-type': 'text/markdown' },
})
}Parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| acceptHeader | string \| undefined | The HTTP Accept header value |
| secFetchDest | string \| undefined | The Sec-Fetch-Dest header value |
Returns: boolean
parseAcceptHeader(accept)
Parses an HTTP Accept header into an ordered list of media types with quality values.
import { parseAcceptHeader } from '@mdream/js/negotiate'
const entries = parseAcceptHeader('text/markdown;q=0.9, text/html')
// [{ type: 'text/markdown', q: 0.9, position: 0 }, { type: 'text/html', q: 1, position: 1 }]Returns: Array<{ type: string, q: number, position: number }>
Markdown Splitter
htmlToMarkdownSplitChunks(html, options?)
Converts HTML to Markdown and returns an array of chunks. Compatible with LangChain's Document structure.
import { htmlToMarkdownSplitChunks } from '@mdream/js/splitter'
const chunks = htmlToMarkdownSplitChunks(html, {
chunkSize: 1000,
chunkOverlap: 200,
origin: 'https://example.com',
})
for (const chunk of chunks) {
console.log(chunk.content)
console.log(chunk.metadata.headers) // e.g., { h2: 'Section Title' }
console.log(chunk.metadata.code) // e.g., 'typescript'
console.log(chunk.metadata.loc) // e.g., { lines: { from: 1, to: 10 } }
}Returns: MarkdownChunk[]
htmlToMarkdownSplitChunksStream(html, options?)
Generator version that yields chunks during processing for better memory efficiency.
import { htmlToMarkdownSplitChunksStream } from '@mdream/js/splitter'
for (const chunk of htmlToMarkdownSplitChunksStream(html, options)) {
process.stdout.write(chunk.content)
}Returns: Generator<MarkdownChunk, void, undefined>
SplitterOptions
Extends EngineOptions with chunking-specific settings.
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| headersToSplitOn | number[] | [TAG_H2, TAG_H3, TAG_H4, TAG_H5, TAG_H6] | TAG_* header constants to split on |
| returnEachLine | boolean | false | Return each non-empty line as an individual chunk |
| stripHeaders | boolean | true | Strip header lines from chunk content |
| chunkSize | number | 1000 | Maximum chunk size (measured by lengthFunction) |
| chunkOverlap | number | 200 | Overlap between chunks for context preservation. Must be less than chunkSize. |
| lengthFunction | (text: string) => number | (text) => text.length | Function to measure chunk length. Replace with a token counter for LLM applications. |
| keepSeparator | boolean | false | Keep separators in the split chunks |
MarkdownChunk
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| content | string | The markdown content of the chunk |
| metadata.headers | Record<string, string> \| undefined | Header hierarchy at this chunk position (e.g., { h2: 'API', h3: 'Methods' }) |
| metadata.code | string \| undefined | Code block language if chunk contains code |
| metadata.loc | { lines: { from: number, to: number } } \| undefined | Line number range in original document |
llms.txt Generation
generateLlmsTxtArtifacts(options)
Generates llms.txt content, optionally including llms-full.txt and individual markdown files.
import { generateLlmsTxtArtifacts } from '@mdream/js/llms-txt'
const result = await generateLlmsTxtArtifacts({
files: processedPages,
siteName: 'My Site',
description: 'A description of my site',
origin: 'https://example.com',
generateFull: true,
generateMarkdown: true,
sections: [
{
title: 'Documentation',
description: 'API reference and guides',
links: [
{ title: 'Getting Started', href: '/docs/start', description: 'Quick start guide' },
],
},
],
notes: 'Generated by mdream',
})
// result.llmsTxt -- index file with links to pages
// result.llmsFullTxt -- single file with all page content (if generateFull: true)
// result.markdownFiles -- array of { path, content } (if generateMarkdown: true)
// result.processedFiles -- the input files passed throughLlmsTxtArtifactsOptions
| Option | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| files | ProcessedFile[] | (required) | Array of processed page files |
| siteName | string | 'Site' | Site name for the header |
| description | string | undefined | Site description (rendered as blockquote) |
| origin | string | '' | Origin URL to prepend to relative URLs |
| generateFull | boolean | false | Generate llms-full.txt with complete page content |
| generateMarkdown | boolean | false | Generate individual markdown files under md/ directory |
| outputDir | string | undefined | Output directory (used to compute relative file paths) |
| sections | LlmsTxtSection[] | undefined | Custom sections to write before the Pages section |
| notes | string \| string[] | undefined | Notes to append at the end |
ProcessedFile
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| title | string | Page title |
| content | string | Markdown content of the page |
| url | string | URL path of the page |
| filePath | string \| undefined | Optional file path on disk |
| metadata | { title?, description?, keywords?, author? } | Optional metadata extracted from the page |
LlmsTxtSection
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| title | string | Section heading |
| description | string \| string[] | Section description (can be multiple paragraphs) |
| links | LlmsTxtLink[] | Links in the section |
LlmsTxtLink
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| title | string | Link title |
| href | string | Link URL |
| description | string \| undefined | Optional description shown after the link |
createLlmsTxtStream(options)
Creates a WritableStream<ProcessedFile> that generates llms.txt artifacts incrementally. Writes files to disk as pages are streamed in, never keeping full content in memory. Pages in llms.txt are sorted by URL path hierarchy on close.
import { createLlmsTxtStream } from '@mdream/js/llms-txt'
const stream = createLlmsTxtStream({
outputDir: './output',
siteName: 'My Site',
origin: 'https://example.com',
generateFull: true,
})
const writer = stream.getWriter()
await writer.write({ title: 'Home', content: '# Home\nWelcome', url: '/' })
await writer.write({ title: 'About', content: '# About\nInfo', url: '/about' })
await writer.close()
// Writes llms.txt and llms-full.txt to ./output/Returns: WritableStream<ProcessedFile>
Low-Level Parser
parseHtml(html, options?)
Parses HTML into a list of DOM events. Returns the events and any remaining unparsed HTML.
import { parseHtml } from '@mdream/js/parse'
const { events, remainingHtml } = parseHtml('<p>Hello</p>')Returns: { events: NodeEvent[], remainingHtml: string }
parseHtmlStream(html, state, onEvent)
Streaming parser that calls onEvent for each DOM event. Returns any remaining unparsed HTML (useful for processing partial chunks).
import { parseHtmlStream } from '@mdream/js/parse'
const state = { depthMap: new Uint8Array(1024), depth: 0 }
const remaining = parseHtmlStream(htmlChunk, state, (event) => {
// Process each event
})Returns: string (remaining unparsed HTML)
CLI
Reads HTML from stdin and outputs Markdown to stdout.
# Basic conversion
curl -s https://example.com | npx @mdream/js
# With origin URL for resolving relative paths
curl -s https://example.com | npx @mdream/js --origin https://example.com
# With minimal preset
curl -s https://example.com | npx @mdream/js --origin https://example.com --preset minimalCLI Options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
| --origin <url> | Origin URL for resolving relative image paths and links |
| --preset <preset> | Conversion preset. Currently supports: minimal |
| -v, --version | Show version number |
| -h, --help | Show help |
Usage Examples
Custom Tag Overrides
Map custom HTML elements to standard Markdown behavior:
import { htmlToMarkdown } from '@mdream/js'
const md = htmlToMarkdown('<x-heading>Title</x-heading>', {
plugins: {
tagOverrides: {
// String alias: make <x-heading> behave like <h2>
'x-heading': 'h2',
// Object override: custom enter/exit strings
'callout': {
enter: '> **Note:** ',
exit: '\n',
spacing: [2, 2],
},
},
},
})Declarative Extraction
Extract data from elements during conversion:
import { htmlToMarkdown } from '@mdream/js'
const images: { src: string, alt: string }[] = []
const md = htmlToMarkdown(html, {
plugins: {
extraction: {
'img[alt]': (element) => {
images.push({
src: element.attributes.src,
alt: element.attributes.alt,
})
},
},
},
})
console.log('Found images:', images)Frontmatter with Callback
Receive structured frontmatter data for further processing:
import { htmlToMarkdown } from '@mdream/js'
let metadata: Record<string, string> = {}
const md = htmlToMarkdown(html, {
plugins: {
frontmatter: {
additionalFields: { source: 'crawler' },
metaFields: ['robots'],
onExtract: (fm) => {
metadata = fm
},
},
},
})
console.log('Title:', metadata.title)
console.log('Description:', metadata.description)Custom Hooks for Content Filtering
import { htmlToMarkdown } from '@mdream/js'
import { createPlugin } from '@mdream/js/plugins'
const md = htmlToMarkdown(html, {
hooks: [
createPlugin({
beforeNodeProcess(event) {
const { node } = event
if (node.type === 1 /* ELEMENT_NODE */) {
const el = node as any
// Skip ads and promotional content
if (el.attributes?.class?.includes('ad')
|| el.attributes?.id?.includes('promo')) {
return { skip: true }
}
}
},
processTextNode(textNode) {
// Uppercase all TODO markers
if (textNode.value.includes('TODO')) {
return { content: textNode.value.toUpperCase(), skip: false }
}
},
}),
],
})Token-Based Chunking for LLMs
import { htmlToMarkdownSplitChunks } from '@mdream/js/splitter'
import { encoding_for_model } from 'tiktoken'
const enc = encoding_for_model('gpt-4')
const chunks = htmlToMarkdownSplitChunks(html, {
chunkSize: 512,
chunkOverlap: 64,
lengthFunction: text => enc.encode(text).length,
origin: 'https://example.com',
})Exported Types
import type {
BuiltinPlugins,
CleanOptions,
ElementNode,
EngineOptions,
ExtractedElement,
FrontmatterConfig,
MarkdownChunk,
MdreamOptions,
Node,
NodeEvent,
PluginContext,
SplitterOptions,
TagOverride,
TextNode,
TransformPlugin,
} from '@mdream/js'Exported Constants
import {
ELEMENT_NODE, // Node type for HTML elements (1)
NodeEventEnter, // Event type for entering a node (0)
NodeEventExit, // Event type for exiting a node (1)
TAG_H1, // Tag ID constant for <h1>
TAG_H2, // Tag ID constant for <h2>
TAG_H3, // Tag ID constant for <h3>
TAG_H4, // Tag ID constant for <h4>
TAG_H5, // Tag ID constant for <h5>
TAG_H6, // Tag ID constant for <h6>
TEXT_NODE, // Node type for text content (3)
} from '@mdream/js'