Markitai

Markitai converts documents, web pages and images to Markdown. A single Rust core powers the markitai command (alias mkai), a local REST service with a browser workspace, an MCP server, and in-process Node.js, Python and Go bindings. The CLI executable needs no Python, Node.js or Go runtime; language bindings need their respective language runtime.

Markitai 2.0 is the Rust rewrite of Python markitai 1.2. See the changelog and compatibility contracts.

Install

macOS and Linux:

curl -fsSL https://markitai.dev/setup.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://markitai.dev/setup.ps1 | iex"

The setup scripts download the release archive for your machine from GitHub Releases, check it against the release's SHA256SUMS, and install markitai, mkai and markitai-mcp for the current user, without administrator rights. Releases cover macOS 11+ (Apple silicon, Intel), Linux with glibc 2.28+ (x86-64, ARM64) and Windows (x64, ARM64). Python users can instead run pip install markitai or uv tool install markitai (Python 3.10+). PyPI has wheels for these six platforms only and no 1.x any more: elsewhere pip has nothing to install and leaves an installed 1.x as it is. Manual downloads, updates, uninstalling and going back to 1.x are in the installation steps.

The archives include license notices and selected Markdown guides for offline use. OCR models, Chromium and LibreOffice are optional separate components. See platform support for requirements, unsigned macOS builds for Gatekeeper, and bindings for language packages.

Quick start

markitai report.docx -o out/                  # writes out/report.docx.md
markitai ./documents -o out/                  # whole folder, with a report
markitai scan.png --ocr -o out/               # local OCR; models may need preparation
markitai report.docx -o out/ --json           # structured result for automation
markitai doctor                              # inspect optional components
markitai --help                              # commands, options and examples
markitai serve                               # browser workspace on 127.0.0.1:3600

For a separate trial state, set MARKITAI_HOME before using the CLI: export MARKITAI_HOME="$PWD/.local/try-home". Plain document conversion does not need a model connection. Existing configuration still applies; use --no-llm -b native for local document processing without model enhancement. URL inputs still need the network, even with --no-remote-fetch. Local OCR uses the portable Paddle engine on every platform (macOS Vision with MARKITAI_OCR_BACKEND=vision); doctor --fix can prepare missing Paddle models before offline use. JavaScript pages need Chrome/Chromium; Office page images need LibreOffice. Model enhancement (--llm) uses configured provider credentials or a subscription runtime.

Documentation

• Quick start: installation and the first ten tasks.
• CLI and MCP: command and Agent contracts.
• Agent index and standalone Agent guide: plain Markdown entry points, also included in CLI archives.
• Documentation index: the full source-checkout documentation. The offline archive contains selected guides; other topic links require this repository checkout.

License

MIT; see LICENSE and NOTICE.