linkcheckmd 1.2.1

Check links for Markdown-based site

Linkchecker for Markdown-based static generated sites

Blazing-fast Python asyncio / aiohttp based simple check of links in Markdown .md files only. This tool is very helpful for large Markdown-based Jekyll and Hugo sites. It is very fast and simple--it's what we use to check https://www.scivision.dev

Install

for latest release:

python -m pip install linkcheckmd

or for latest development version.

git clone https://github.com/scivision/linkchecker-markdown

pip install -e linkchecker-markdown

Usage

The static site generator does NOT have to be running for these tests--it looks at the .md files directly. The examples assume webpage Markdown files have top-level directory ~/web.

This program may be invoked by either:

linkcheckMarkdown

or

python -m linkcheckmd

• Jekyll

  python -m linkcheckmd ~/web/_posts
  

• Hugo

  python -m linkcheckmd ~/web/content
  

The -v --verbose options prints the URLs as they are checked. Observe that URLs from different markdown files are interleaved, showing the asynchronous nature of this program.

Benchmark

For benchmarking and reference, we include a synchronous Requests-based method. For a website with 100+ pages, compare times of:

Git precommit

See ./examples/pre-commit script for a Git hook pre-commit Python script.

Alternatives

Strict anti-leeching methods can cause false positives with this and other link checking programs.

Alternative solutions include:

• asyncio-based web browser interface like Arsenic
• Go-based htmltest.
• GitHub Action for checking links in Markdown files.
• Netlify link-check plugin
• LinkChecker.py: too many false positives/negatives, very slow and only works with HTML.