markitdown-directory-mcp

An MCP server that converts local files to Markdown, built on the markitdown library. Designed for AI chat clients such as Cherry Studio: ask the model to convert a file by name, and the Markdown content is returned right into the conversation for the model to interpret.

Tools

• convert_file_to_markdown(file, max_chars) — convert ONE file (docx, pptx, xlsx, pdf, html, csv, txt, ...) to Markdown, write a sibling "<name>.md" file next to the source, and return the Markdown content directly. Prefer this when the user names a specific file.
• convert_directory_to_markdown(directory, recursive, max_files) — batch convert EVERY supported file in a directory tree, writing sibling "<name>.md" files, and return a JSON summary (converted / skipped / failed).
• read_markdown_file(path, start_char, max_chars) — read a generated .md file back, with paging for large files.

Image files (png, jpg, ...) are never converted — no image data ends up in the Markdown output — and files that are already Markdown are passed through.

Default directory

Set the environment variable MARKITDOWN_DEFAULT_DIR to a folder and the tools resolve bare file names against it (including a recursive exact-name fallback search), so users can just say report.docx instead of a full path.

Running

stdio (what most chat clients expect):

markitdown-directory-mcp

Over the network (SSE or streamable HTTP):

markitdown-directory-mcp --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 3001
# endpoints: http://<host>:3001/sse   (SSE)
#            http://<host>:3001/mcp   (streamable-http transport)

For LAN access, optionally pass e.g. --allowed-host '192.168.1.26:*' to keep DNS rebinding protection enabled for that host; without it the protection is disabled (with a warning) so remote Host headers are accepted. The server has no authentication — only expose it on networks you trust.

Client configuration

With uv installed, no manual installation is needed — point the client at PyPI via uvx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "markitdown-directory": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["markitdown-directory-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MARKITDOWN_DEFAULT_DIR": "C:\\Users\\you\\Documents"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or install into an environment yourself and run the console script:

pip install markitdown-directory-mcp
markitdown-directory-mcp