File2md

Converts PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, HTML, CSV, and other files to Markdown using the @covoyage/file2md CLI (@covoyage/file2md). Use when the user needs office documents or media turned into Markdown, mentions file2md, or asks to extract readable text from a document. 文档转 Markdown、PDF 转 MD、Word 转 Markdown 时使用。

Convert local files to Markdown with the file2md CLI from @covoyage/file2md. Prefer this over writing one-off conversion scripts.

Requires Node.js 18+.

When to use

• User asks to convert a document to Markdown
• User mentions PDF/DOCX/XLSX/PPTX/HTML → Markdown
• User mentions file2md or @covoyage/file2md
• Chinese triggers: 文档转 Markdown、PDF 转 MD、Word 转 Markdown、表格转 Markdown

When not to use

• URLs / feeds / YouTube / Wikipedia — not supported by the CLI; use the Node.js library (convertUri / convertUrl) instead
• In-browser conversion — use the library with convertStream(), not the CLI
• Do not use Document Intelligence and Content Understanding together

Install

bash

npm install -g @covoyage/file2md
file2md --help

Without a global install:

bash

npx @covoyage/file2md --help

Commands

File path (preferred):

bash

file2md /path/to/report.pdf
file2md /path/to/report.docx -o /path/to/report.md

No global install:

bash

npx @covoyage/file2md /path/to/report.pdf

Stdin (only when a path is unavailable):

bash

cat /path/to/report.pdf | file2md -x pdf

Pass -x (extension). Add -m / -c when MIME type or charset is known.

Agent workflow

1. Check Node.js 18+ is available (node -v).
2. Confirm the input file exists and use an absolute path when possible.
3. Run file2md <path> or npx @covoyage/file2md <path>.
4. On success (exit 0), read Markdown from stdout, or from -o if used.
5. On failure (non-zero exit), read stderr and report the error; do not invent output.

For large outputs, prefer -o /tmp/out.md and read the file instead of buffering stdout.

Supported formats (CLI)

Documents: .txt, .md, .json, .html, .csv, .docx, .xlsx, .xls, .pptx, .pdf, .ipynb, .epub, .zip

Email: .msg

Media: .jpg, .png, .gif, .webp, .wav, .mp3, .m4a, .mp4

Optional cloud (file path required, not stdin): Azure Document Intelligence, Azure Content Understanding

CLI flags

Flag	Purpose
-o, --output <path>	Write Markdown to a file instead of stdout
-x, --extension <ext>	Hint extension for stdin input
-m, --mime-type <type>	Hint MIME type for stdin input
-c, --charset <charset>	Hint charset for stdin input
-p, --use-plugins	Enable discovered npm plugins
--list-plugins	List installed plugins
-d, --use-docintel	Azure Document Intelligence
-e, --endpoint <url>	Document Intelligence endpoint
--use-cu	Azure Content Understanding
--cu-endpoint <url>	Content Understanding endpoint
--cu-analyzer-id <id> / --cu-analyzer <id>	CU analyzer id
--cu-file-types <types>	CU file types, comma-separated (e.g. pdf,docx)
--keep-data-uris	Keep full data: URI images in output
-h, --help / -v, --version	Help / version

Environment variables (optional)

Variable	Purpose
FILE2MD_PYTHON	Python executable for pdfminer / pandas backends
FILE2MD_PDF_FORM_MODULE	Python module with PDF form-table helpers
EXIFTOOL_PATH	Path to exiftool (media metadata)
AZURE_API_KEY	Azure subscription key for DocIntel / CU
DOCUMENT_INTELLIGENCE_ENDPOINT	Default DocIntel endpoint (used with -d)
AZURE_CONTENT_UNDERSTANDING_ENDPOINT	Default CU endpoint (used with --use-cu)

Optional local tools improve quality but are not required for basic conversion: Python pdfplumber/pdfminer, pdftotext, exiftool, ffmpeg.

Plugins

bash

file2md --list-plugins
file2md -p /path/to/custom.rtf

Plugins are discovered from installed npm packages with a file2md.plugin entry in package.json.

Node.js library (URLs and in-process use)

The CLI only handles local files or stdin. For URLs, browser uploads, or embedded services:

typescript

import { File2MD } from "@covoyage/file2md";

const md = new File2MD();
const local = await md.convertLocal("./document.docx");
const fromUrl = await md.convertUri("https://example.com/article");
console.log(local.markdown);

Links

• npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@covoyage/file2md
• repo: https://github.com/covoyage/file2md