How do I install Markitdown?

Copy the stdio config for Cursor, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or VS Code on this page. It uses the publisher's install, not a PlugMCP proxy.

Does Markitdown need an API key?

No required environment variable is listed on this record.

What transport does Markitdown use?

Markitdown runs locally over stdio.

When was Markitdown last checked?

Last checked 2026-10-27. 📄 Professional MCP server for converting 29+ file formats to Markdown - Perfect for Claude Desktop and AI workflows!

Servidor MCP Markitdown

📄 MarkItDown MCP Server

A powerful Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that converts 29+ file formats to clean, structured Markdown using Microsoft's MarkItDown library.

[!IMPORTANT] This is not Microsoft's official markitdown-mcp package. This is an independent community project published on PyPI as trsdn-markitdown-mcp. It uses Microsoft's markitdown library as a dependency, but it is developed and maintained separately from markitdown-mcp by Microsoft.

PyPI distribution name: trsdn-markitdown-mcp

Python import name: markitdown_mcp

CLI command: markitdown-mcp (alias: trsdn-markitdown-mcp)

🔥 Perfect for Claude Desktop, MCP clients, and AI workflows!

✨ Features

🔌 MCP Protocol: Seamless integration with Claude Desktop and MCP clients
📁 29+ File Formats: PDFs, Office docs, images, audio, archives, and more
🔍 Image Metadata: Extract EXIF metadata from images (JPG, PNG, GIF, etc.)
🎵 Speech Recognition: Convert audio to text with speech transcription (MP3, WAV)*

*Requires markitdown[all] installation for full functionality

📦 Dependency Requirements by File Type

File Type	Required Dependencies	Install Command
PDF	`pypdf`, `pymupdf`, `pdfplumber`	`pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]'`
Excel (.xlsx, .xls)	`openpyxl`, `xlrd`, `pandas`	`pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp openpyxl xlrd pandas`
PowerPoint (.pptx)	`python-pptx`	Included in base install
Images	`PIL`, `exiftool` (optional)	Included in base install
Audio	`pydub`, `speech_recognition`	`pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]'`
Basic formats	None	Base install only

Note: For the best experience, we recommend installing all dependencies using the Complete Install method below.

📊 Office Documents: Word, PowerPoint, Excel files
🌐 Web Content: HTML, XML, JSON, CSV
📚 E-books & Archives: EPUB, ZIP files
⚡ Fast & Reliable: Built on Microsoft's MarkItDown library

🚀 Quick Start for Claude Desktop

Install the server with ALL features:

# One command to install everything
pipx install trsdn-markitdown-mcp && \
pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' openpyxl xlrd pandas pymupdf pdfplumber

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

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

Restart Claude Desktop and start converting files!

Features

Convert multiple file formats to Markdown
Batch processing of entire directories
Preserves directory structure in output
Environment variable support via .env file

📋 Available MCP Tools

🔧 `convert_file`

Convert a single file to Markdown.

{
  "name": "convert_file",
  "arguments": {
    "file_path": "/path/to/document.pdf"
  }
}

📋 `list_supported_formats`

Get a complete list of supported file formats.

{
  "name": "list_supported_formats",
  "arguments": {}
}

📁 `convert_directory`

Convert all supported files in a directory.

{
  "name": "convert_directory", 
  "arguments": {
    "input_directory": "/path/to/files",
    "output_directory": "/path/to/markdown" 
  }
}

📄 Supported File Formats (29+)

Category	Extensions	Features
📊 Office	`.pdf`, `.docx`, `.pptx`, `.xlsx`, `.xls`	Full document structure
🖼️ Images	`.jpg`, `.png`, `.gif`, `.bmp`, `.tiff`, `.webp`	EXIF metadata extraction
🎵 Audio	`.mp3`, `.wav`	Speech-to-text transcription
🌐 Web	`.html`, `.htm`, `.xml`, `.json`, `.csv`	Clean formatting
📚 Books	`.epub`	Chapter extraction
📦 Archives	`.zip`	Auto-extract and process
📝 Text	`.txt`, `.md`, `.rst`	Direct conversion

Installation

Published on PyPI as trsdn-markitdown-mcp — not to be confused with Microsoft's markitdown-mcp.

Option 1: Install from PyPI (Recommended)

# Isolated install with pipx
pipx install trsdn-markitdown-mcp

# Or with pip
pip install trsdn-markitdown-mcp

# Or run without installing (uv)
uvx trsdn-markitdown-mcp

Option 2: Install from source (development)

git clone https://github.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp.git
cd markitdown-mcp
pip install -e ".[all]"

Option 3: Direct usage from a checkout

cd markitdown-mcp
python -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Quick Start

MCP Server Mode (Recommended)

After installation:

# Start the MCP server (for use with MCP clients)
markitdown-mcp

# Equivalent alternatives
trsdn-markitdown-mcp
python -m markitdown_mcp

🛠️ Installation Options

🚀 One-Command Install (Recommended)

Install with ALL dependencies in one command:

# Using pipx (recommended)
pipx install trsdn-markitdown-mcp && \
pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' openpyxl xlrd pandas pymupdf pdfplumber pytesseract pydub speechrecognition

# Or download and run the install script
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp/main/scripts/install-all-deps.sh | bash

Quick Install (Basic Features Only)

pip install trsdn-markitdown-mcp

Complete Install with All Dependencies (Step by Step)

To ensure all file formats are supported, use one of these methods:

Method 1: Using pipx (Recommended)

# Install the MCP server
pipx install trsdn-markitdown-mcp

# Install all required dependencies for full functionality
pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]'         # PDF, OCR, Speech
pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp openpyxl xlrd pandas      # Excel support
pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp pymupdf pdfplumber        # Advanced PDF

Method 2: Using pip with virtual environment

# Create and activate virtual environment
python -m venv markitdown-env
source markitdown-env/bin/activate  # On Windows: markitdown-env\Scripts\activate

# Install with all dependencies in one command
git clone https://github.com/trsdn/markitdown-mcp.git
cd markitdown-mcp
pip install -e ".[all]"  # This installs everything!

Method 3: For Claude Desktop with existing installation

If you already have the MCP server installed but some formats aren't working:

# Find your installation
which markitdown-mcp  # Shows path like /Users/you/.local/bin/markitdown-mcp

# Inject missing dependencies
pipx inject trsdn-markitdown-mcp 'markitdown[all]' openpyxl xlrd pandas pymupdf pdfplumber

Verify Installation

After installation, verify the server responds to MCP requests:

# Ask the server for its tool list over stdio (JSON-RPC)
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' | markitdown-mcp

# For pipx installations, check injected packages
pipx list --include-injected

🔧 Claude Desktop Configuration

Add this to your Claude Desktop claude_desktop_config.json:

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

Prefer running it without a permanent install? Use uvx (the package name is trsdn-markitdown-mcp, the command is markitdown-mcp):

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

Config file locations:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

💡 Usage Examples

Convert a PDF

Convert the file ~/Documents/report.pdf to markdown

Batch Process Directory

Convert all files in ~/Downloads/documents/ to markdown

Check Supported Formats

What file formats can you convert to markdown?

🔍 Troubleshooting

Missing Dependencies Errors

If you see errors like:

PdfConverter threw MissingDependencyException
XlsxConverter threw MissingDependencyException
PptxConverter threw BadZipFile

This means some optional dependencies are missing. Follow the Complete Install instructions above.

Unicode Errors with .md Files

Some Markdown files with special characters may fail with UnicodeDecodeError. This is a known limitation in the MarkItDown library.

Installation Issues

"externally-managed-environment" error: Use pipx instead of pip
Permission denied: Never use sudo with pip; use pipx or virtual environments
Command not found: Make sure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH

See KNOWN_ISSUES.md for more details.

Configuration

No special configuration required. The tool uses the MarkItDown library for document conversion.

Usage

Basic Usage

# Convert all supported files from input/ to output/
python mdconvert.py

Custom Directories

Specify custom input and output directories:

python mdconvert.py --input /path/to/docs --output /path/to/markdown

Single File Conversion

Convert a single file:

python mdconvert.py --file document.pdf

Command Line Options

--input, -i: Input directory (default: input)
--output, -o: Output directory (default: output)
--file, -f: Convert a single file instead of a directory

MCP Server Features

The MCP server provides three tools:

1. convert_file

Convert a single file to Markdown.

Input: File path or base64 encoded content with filename
Output: Converted Markdown content

2. list_supported_formats

List all supported file formats.

Output: Categorized list of supported file extensions

3. convert_directory

Convert all supported files in a directory.

Input: Input directory path, optional output directory
Output: Summary of conversion results

Directory Structure

markitdown-mcp/
├── mcp_server.py        # MCP protocol server
├── mdconvert.py         # CLI script
├── mcp_config.json      # MCP configuration
├── requirements.txt     # Python dependencies
├── README.md           # This file
├── input/              # Default input directory
├── output/             # Default output directory
└── venv/               # Virtual environment

🔍 How It Works

This MCP server leverages Microsoft's MarkItDown library to provide intelligent document conversion:

📄 PDFs: Extracts text, tables, and structure
🖼️ Images: Uses OCR to extract text content + EXIF metadata
🎵 Audio: Converts speech to text transcription (MP3, WAV)
📊 Office: Preserves formatting from Word, Excel, PowerPoint
🌐 HTML: Converts to clean, readable Markdown
📦 Archives: Automatically extracts and processes contents

🏷️ Tags

mcp model-context-protocol claude-desktop markdown document-conversion pdf ocr speech-to-text markitdown ai-tools

📋 Requirements

Python: 3.10+
MCP Client: Claude Desktop or compatible MCP client
Dependencies: Automatically installed via pip

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

🚀 Quick Start for Contributors

# Fork and clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/markitdown-mcp.git
cd markitdown-mcp

# Set up development environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Test your changes
markitdown-mcp  # Test the server works

📝 Ways to Contribute

🐛 Bug Reports: Found an issue? Report it
💡 Feature Requests: Have an idea? Suggest it
📄 New File Formats: Add support for more file types
📚 Documentation: Improve guides and examples
🧪 Testing: Add tests and improve reliability
🎨 Code Quality: Refactor and optimize

📋 Contribution Process

Read our Contributing Guide
Check existing issues
Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (feat/amazing-feature)
Make your changes with tests
Submit a pull request

Please read docs/development/CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

📚 Documentation

For Users

Examples - MCP client configuration examples
Known Issues - Common problems and solutions
Changelog - Version history and updates

For AI Agents

AGENTS.md - Comprehensive guide for AI agent integration
API Documentation - Technical specifications and tool details

For Developers

Contributing Guide - How to contribute
Testing Strategy - Testing approach and guidelines
Documentation - Complete documentation index

Project facts

Status and maintenance: beta, maintained by @trsdn. Report problems through issues; security reports follow the security policy.
Language: primary language English, English only. The server has no localized strings.
Privacy: the server reads only files it is asked to convert, from the safe directories it allows (the Documents, Downloads and Desktop folders in the home directory, temporary directories, the working directory, and MARKITDOWN_SAFE_DIRS), and writes only to the output directory the caller names. It collects no data, sends no telemetry and contacts no network service itself. The one exception is optional audio transcription: with the all extra installed, the speechrecognition package sends the audio to Google's web speech recognition service. Nothing is retained after a request beyond the files the caller asked to be written.
Accessibility: there is no graphical interface. The server speaks JSON-RPC over stdio and its log lines go to standard error as plain text. No accessibility limitation is known.
Third-party code: this repository redistributes none. Dependencies are declared in pyproject.toml and resolved by the installer when the package is installed.

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