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MarkItDown

Microsoft's utility and MCP server that turn PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML and other files into Markdown for models

MCP serverEditors’ pickMedium risk

microsoft/markitdownAuthor: Microsoft

Install

pip install markitdown-mcp
markitdown-mcp

Runs over stdio. For HTTP: markitdown-mcp --http --host 127.0.0.1 --port 3001.

This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.

What it does

MarkItDown converts documents to Markdown while keeping structure: headings, lists, tables and links. It supports PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX and XLS, HTML, CSV, JSON, XML, EPUB, ZIP archives, images with metadata and OCR, audio with transcription and YouTube links. The repository includes markitdown-mcp, an MCP server with a single convert_to_markdown tool that accepts http, https, file and data URIs. It runs over stdio, Streamable HTTP or SSE, locally or in Docker.

Who it is for. For anyone feeding office documents and PDFs to an agent who wants compact text instead of raw files.

Good fit when

  • The agent needs to read a PDF contract or an Excel sheet
  • You need to prepare documents for RAG
  • You need audio transcription or YouTube subtitles as text

Not a fit when

  • You need faithful layout for humans rather than text for a model
  • You must process files from untrusted sources without isolation

Example request

Convert report.pdf to Markdown and extract all Q2 figures from its tables

Limitations

Requires Python 3.10+, with format support installed via optional extras. OCR through markitdown-ocr needs an OpenAI-compatible client, and Azure modes need a subscription. The tool performs I/O with the process's privileges, so the HTTP server must not be exposed externally.

How to disable. Remove the markitdown server from the MCP config and uninstall with pip uninstall markitdown-mcp markitdown.

MCP

Transport
stdio, http, sse
Authentication
not required

Security check

  • Reads local files and fetches URLs with the process's privileges
  • Processes document content that may carry prompt injection

README in short

The README explains the Markdown choice: models understand it well and the markup is token-efficient. It covers pip install with per-format extras, CLI and Python usage, third-party plugins and the OCR plugin, and Azure Document Intelligence and Content Understanding integrations. The markitdown-mcp package README covers stdio, HTTP and Docker runs and a Claude Desktop config. MIT licensed.

FAQ

Can I use it without MCP?

Yes, after pip install 'markitdown[all]' you get the markitdown file.pdf -o document.md command and a Python API.

How do I expose local files in Docker?

Mount a directory to /workdir; files will be available at that path in the container.

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