Markdownify MCP Server - UTF-8 Enhanced - MCP Server

Markdownify MCP Server - UTF-8 Enhanced

This is an enhanced version of the original Markdownify MCP project, with improved UTF-8 encoding support and optimized handling of multilingual content.

中文文档

Enhancements

Added comprehensive UTF-8 encoding support
Optimized handling of multilingual content
Fixed encoding issues on Windows systems
Improved error handling mechanisms

Key Differences from Original Project

Enhanced Encoding Support:
- Full UTF-8 support across all operations
- Proper handling of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other non-ASCII characters
- Fixed Windows-specific encoding issues (cmd.exe and PowerShell compatibility)
Improved Error Handling:
- Detailed error messages in both English and Chinese
- Better exception handling for network issues
- Graceful fallback mechanisms for conversion failures
Extended Functionality:
- Added support for batch processing multiple files
- Enhanced YouTube video transcript handling
- Improved metadata extraction from various file formats
- Better preservation of document formatting
Performance Optimizations:
- Optimized memory usage for large file conversions
- Faster processing of multilingual content
- Reduced dependency conflicts
Better Development Experience:
- Comprehensive debugging options
- Detailed logging system
- Environment-specific configuration support
- Clear documentation in both English and Chinese

Features

Supports converting various file types to Markdown:

PDF files
Images (with metadata)
Audio (with transcription)
Word documents (DOCX)
Excel spreadsheets (XLSX)
PowerPoint presentations (PPTX)
Web content:
- YouTube video transcripts
- Search results
- General web pages
Existing Markdown files

Quick Start

Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/JDJR2024/markdownify-mcp-utf8.git
cd markdownify-mcp-utf8

Install dependencies:
```
pnpm install
```
Note: This will also install uv and related Python dependencies.
Build the project:
```
pnpm run build
```
Start the server:
```
pnpm start
```

Requirements

Node.js 16.0 or higher
Python 3.8 or higher
pnpm package manager
Git

Detailed Installation Guide

1. Environment Setup

Install Node.js:
- Download from Node.js official website
- Verify installation: node --version
Install pnpm:
```
npm install -g pnpm
pnpm --version
```
Install Python:
- Download from Python official website
- Ensure Python is added to PATH during installation
- Verify installation: python --version

(Windows Only) Configure UTF-8 Support:

# Set system-wide UTF-8
setx PYTHONIOENCODING UTF-8
# Set current session UTF-8
set PYTHONIOENCODING=UTF-8
# Enable UTF-8 in command prompt
chcp 65001

2. Project Setup

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/JDJR2024/markdownify-mcp-utf8.git
cd markdownify-mcp-utf8

Create and activate Python virtual environment:

# Windows
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

# Linux/macOS
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

Install project dependencies:

# Install Node.js dependencies
pnpm install

# Install Python dependencies (will be handled by setup.sh)
./setup.sh

Build the project:
```
pnpm run build
```

3. Verification

Start the server:
```
pnpm start
```

Test the installation:

# Convert a web page
python convert_utf8.py "https://example.com"

# Convert a local file
python convert_utf8.py "path/to/your/file.docx"

Usage Guide

Basic Usage

Converting Web Pages:
```
python convert_utf8.py "https://example.com"
```
The converted markdown will be saved as converted_result.md

Converting Local Files:

# Convert DOCX
python convert_utf8.py "document.docx"

# Convert PDF
python convert_utf8.py "document.pdf"

# Convert PowerPoint
python convert_utf8.py "presentation.pptx"

# Convert Excel
python convert_utf8.py "spreadsheet.xlsx"

Converting YouTube Videos:

python convert_utf8.py "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

Advanced Usage

Environment Variables:

# Set custom UV path
export UV_PATH="/custom/path/to/uv"

# Set custom output directory
export MARKDOWN_OUTPUT_DIR="/custom/output/path"

Batch Processing: Create a batch file (e.g., convert_batch.txt) with URLs or file paths:

https://example1.com
https://example2.com
file1.docx
file2.pdf

Then run:

while read -r line; do python convert_utf8.py "$line"; done < convert_batch.txt

Troubleshooting

Common Issues:
- If you see encoding errors, ensure UTF-8 is properly set
- For permission issues on Windows, run as Administrator
- For Python path issues, ensure virtual environment is activated

Debugging:

# Enable debug output
export DEBUG=true
python convert_utf8.py "your_file.docx"

Usage

Command Line

Convert web page to Markdown:

python convert_utf8.py "https://example.com"

Convert local file:

python convert_utf8.py "path/to/your/file.docx"

Desktop App Integration

To integrate this server with a desktop app, add the following to your app's server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markdownify": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "{ABSOLUTE_PATH}/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "UV_PATH": "/path/to/uv"
      }
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Encoding Issues
- If you encounter character encoding issues, ensure the PYTHONIOENCODING environment variable is set to utf-8
- Windows users may need to run chcp 65001 to enable UTF-8 support
Permission Issues
- Ensure you have sufficient file read/write permissions
- On Windows, you may need to run as administrator

Acknowledgments

This project is based on the original work by Zach Caceres. Thanks to the original author for their outstanding contribution.

License

This project continues to be licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Before submitting a Pull Request, please:

Ensure your code follows the project's coding standards
Add necessary tests and documentation
Update relevant sections in the README

Contact

For issues or suggestions:

Submit an Issue: https://github.com/JDJR2024/markdownify-mcp-utf8/issues
Create a Pull Request: https://github.com/JDJR2024/markdownify-mcp-utf8/pulls
Email: [email protected]