markitdown-cli

A simple command-line interface (CLI) tool to convert PDF files into Markdown text using the markitdown-ts library. Designed for straightforward usage and distribution via npm or Bun, with optional output file support.

Features

• Convert PDF documents to Markdown in one command
• Print Markdown output to stdout or save to a .md file
• Minimal, non-interactive interface
• Installable via npm or runnable via npx / bun x

Prerequisites

• Node.js (>= 14) and npm, or Bun runtime
• An installed copy of the markitdown-ts package is a dependency of this CLI

Installation

Using npm

# Install globally
npm install -g markitdown-cli

# Or use without installing globally
npx markitdown-cli <path/to/file.pdf>

Using Bun

# Install globally
bun add -g markitdown-cli

# Or use without installing globally
bun x markitdown-cli <path/to/file.pdf>

Usage

Basic usage:

markitdown-cli <input.pdf>

This will read input.pdf, convert it to Markdown, and print the result to the terminal.

Options

• -o, --output <file.md>

  Save the converted Markdown into the specified file instead of printing it to stdout.

Examples

# Convert and print to terminal
markitdown-cli report.pdf

# Convert and save to a file
markitdown-cli report.pdf -o report.md

Development

Clone the repository and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/markitdown-cli.git
cd markitdown-cli
npm install    # or bun install

Build the project:

npm run build  # or bun run build

Link the CLI locally (for testing):

npm link       # or bun link

Run the CLI against a local PDF:

markitdown-cli ./examples/demo.pdf -o demo.md

Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see the LICENSE file for details.