Markitdown
ImCa0/just-laws
Convert files and office documents to Markdown. An agent skill from ImCa0/just-laws.
Convert various file formats (PDF, Office documents, images, audio, web content, structured data) to Markdown optimized for LLM processing.
Install Markitdown
$ npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install jimmc414/Kosmos markitdown --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown .claude/skills/markitdown && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "markitdown" agent skill from https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos/tree/master/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown into .claude/skills/markitdown/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "markitdown", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos/tree/master/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdownType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install jimmc414/Kosmos markitdown --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown .agents/skills/markitdown && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "markitdown" agent skill from https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos/tree/master/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown into .agents/skills/markitdown/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "markitdown", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install jimmc414/Kosmos markitdown --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown .cursor/skills/markitdown && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "markitdown" agent skill from https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos/tree/master/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown into .cursor/skills/markitdown/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "markitdown", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos.git --path kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install jimmc414/Kosmos markitdown --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown .gemini/skills/markitdown && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "markitdown" agent skill from https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos/tree/master/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown into .gemini/skills/markitdown/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "markitdown", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install jimmc414/Kosmos markitdownInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown .github/skills/markitdown && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "markitdown" agent skill from https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos/tree/master/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown into .github/skills/markitdown/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "markitdown", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install jimmc414/Kosmos markitdown --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown .opencode/skills/markitdown && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "markitdown" agent skill from https://github.com/jimmc414/Kosmos/tree/master/kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown into .opencode/skills/markitdown/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "markitdown", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
markitdown- GitHub stars
- 594
- Used in
- 2 other repos
- Token cost
- ~1.7k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 459 words
- Files
- 7 (incl. scripts, references)
- Skills in repo
- 6
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- None found
At a glance
Convert various file formats (PDF, Office documents, images, audio, web content, structured data) to Markdown optimized for LLM processing.
- Works in 6 steps: Document Conversion → Media Processing → Web Content Extraction → …
- Converting documents to markdown
- SKILL.md covers Overview, When to Use This Skill, Core Capabilities and Installation, plus 4 more sections
- Runs Python scripts from its folder; calls uv, markitdown and python; reaches youtube.com
What it does
Markitdown is an agent skill from jimmc414/Kosmos. Convert various file formats (PDF, Office documents, images, audio, web content, structured data) to Markdown optimized for LLM processing. Use when converting documents to markdown, extracting text from PDFs/Office files, transcribing audio, performing OCR on images, extracting YouTube transcripts, or processing batches of files. Supports 20+ formats including DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, PDF, HTML, EPUB, CSV, JSON, images with OCR, and audio with transcription.
Its SKILL.md is about 1.7k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 8 other files, including scripts and reference files (for example `references/advanced_integrations.md`, `references/document_conversion.md` and `references/media_processing.md`).
It sits in Documents & Office, covering Document parsing, Schema markup and Transcription. It works with MarkItDown, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word. The repository describes itself as: Kosmos: An AI Scientist for Autonomous Discovery - An implementation and adaptation to be driven by Claude Code or API - Based on the Kosmos AI Paper -….
When your agent uses it
- Converting documents to markdown
- Extracting text from PDFs/Office files
- Transcribing audio
- Performing OCR on images
Example prompts
- “/markitdown”
Requirements
- Python 3
Workflow steps
6 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.
- Document Conversion
- Media Processing
- Web Content Extraction
- Structured Data Handling
- Advanced Integrations
- Batch Processing
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 73f4d2a. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
Ships 1 file in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.
Shell commands in SKILL.md call:
uvmarkitdownpython
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:
youtube.com
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Markitdown loads about 1.7k tokens when it runs, and up to ~14k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 117 tokens; SKILL.md has 459 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.
SKILL.md
Without a licence we can't republish the file, so here is its outline and opening line. It has 459 words (~1,719 tokens).
“MarkItDown is a Python utility that converts various file formats into Markdown format, optimized for use with large language models and text analysis pipelines. It preserves document structure (headings, lists, tables, hyperlinks) while producing clean, token-efficient Markdown output.”
- name
- markitdown
Files
SKILL.md and 6 other files (scripts, references) in kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown of jimmc414/Kosmos.
- SKILL.md
- references/advanced_integrations.md
- references/document_conversion.md
- references/media_processing.md
- references/structured_data.md
- references/web_content.md
- scripts/batch_convert.py
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 73f4d2a
Used in 2 other repositories
We found 5 copies of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 2 other GitHub owners. This page covers the copy in jimmc414/Kosmos, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.
Compare with similar skills
Markitdown next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markitdown this skilljimmc414/Kosmos | 594 | 2 repos | ~1.7k | Automated safety check: Pass | None | |
| MarkitdownImCa0/just-laws | 781 | 14 repos | ~3.2k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| Markdown Converterintellectronica/agent-skills | 295 | 4 repos | ~492 | Automated safety check: Pass | CC0-1.0 | |
| Document Converterwentorai/Research-Claw | 858 | — | ~1.3k | Automated safety check: Pass | Custom licence | |
| To MarkdownMathews-Tom/armory | 327 | — | ~2k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Markdown ConverterTeam-Commonly/commonly | 1.4k | — | ~557 | Automated safety check: Pass | Apache-2.0 |
Similar skills
Markdown Converter
intellectronica/agent-skills
Convert documents and files to Markdown using markitdown. An agent skill from intellectronica/agent-skills.
Document Converter
wentorai/Research-Claw
Convert Office documents (PPTX, DOCX, XLSX, PDF, HTML, CSV, JSON, XML, images) to Markdown using Microsoft MarkItDown.
To Markdown
Mathews-Tom/armory
Convert any file or URL to clean Markdown: PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, HTML, images (OCR), audio, CSV, YouTube.
Markdown Converter
Team-Commonly/commonly
Convert binary documents (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, HTML, EPUB, images) to clean LLM-friendly Markdown using Microsoft's markitdown Python tool.
Nutrient Document Processing
affaan-m/ECC
Process, convert, OCR, extract, redact, sign, and fill documents using the Nutrient DWS API.
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Related
Categories
Questions about Markitdown
What does Markitdown do?
Convert various file formats (PDF, Office documents, images, audio, web content, structured data) to Markdown optimized for LLM processing. Markitdown is an agent skill from jimmc414/Kosmos. Convert various file formats (PDF, Office documents, images, audio, web content, structured data) to Markdown optimized for LLM processing.
When should I use Markitdown?
Markitdown fits situations like: converting documents to markdown; extracting text from PDFs/Office files; transcribing audio; performing OCR on images.
How do I install Markitdown in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown in jimmc414/Kosmos) into .claude/skills/markitdown in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Markitdown in Codex?
Run `npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (kosmos-claude-scientific-skills/scientific-skills/markitdown in jimmc414/Kosmos) into .agents/skills/markitdown in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Markitdown in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add jimmc414/Kosmos --skill markitdown -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/markitdown, .gemini/skills/markitdown, .github/skills/markitdown and .opencode/skills/markitdown in your project.
What does Markitdown need to run?
Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Markitdown needs Python for the scripts in its folder and the command-line tools its instructions call (uv, markitdown and python). Our summary lists: Python 3.
Does Markitdown access the network?
SKILL.md names 1 domain. In commands or code: youtube.com; the agent is likely to contact it when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Markitdown safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.
What licence does Markitdown use?
No licence was found for Markitdown or its repository. Without one, default copyright applies: ask the author before reusing or redistributing it.
How many tokens does Markitdown use?
About 1.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.9k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 12k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.
What are the alternatives to Markitdown?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Markitdown: Markitdown (ImCa0/just-laws, 781 stars), Markdown Converter (intellectronica/agent-skills, 295 stars), Document Converter (wentorai/Research-Claw, 858 stars) and To Markdown (Mathews-Tom/armory, 327 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Markitdown?
jimmc414 (a GitHub user) maintains it in jimmc414/Kosmos, which has 594 GitHub stars. The repository holds 6 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 4, 2026.
Source: jimmc414/Kosmos on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.