PiMD

Publish documents from Markdown. Professional output. Zero config.

PiMD (Python Markdown Publisher) converts Markdown and HTML into professional DOCX, EPUB, PDF/A, and LaTeX documents — books, reports, technical manuals, research papers, and more. It runs entirely offline with zero cloud dependencies.

Comparison with Alternatives

PiMD fills a unique niche — it is the only Markdown-to-DOCX engine with built-in diagram rendering, equation-to-OMML conversion, and Python-native plugin system. Here's how it stacks up:

When to use PiMD:

• You need professional DOCX with diagrams, equations, and templates from Markdown
• You want a Python API to integrate with FastAPI/Django/Flask
• You need WCAG-compliant accessible documents
• You're building scientific papers, technical manuals, or books with diagrams and equations
• You want zero-config conversion without YAML config files

When to use alternatives:

• Pandoc: If you need the broadest format support and are comfortable with Haskell filters
• MkDocs / Sphinx: If you're building documentation websites (static HTML is the primary output)
• Quarto: If you're in the R/Python statistical computing ecosystem and want HTML-first publishing
• Typst: If you want a fresh typesetting language and don't need DOCX/EPUB output

Key Features

• Publish-ready DOCX — professional typography, templates, watermarks, TOC, cross-references
• Diagrams — Mermaid, PlantUML, Graphviz, D2, BlockDiag, Vega, ASCII — powered by PiDraw
• Equations — LaTeX into native Word OMML, MathJax, or SVG
• Templates — 10 presets (academic, business, book, resume, invoice…) with inheritance
• Multi-format — DOCX, EPUB 3.2, LaTeX, PDF/A, HTML, Markdown, TXT
• Python API — first-class library for FastAPI, Flask, Django
• Plugin system — 9 typed plugin types with SDK, hooks, and event bus
• Accessibility — built-in WCAG validation engine
• i18n — full Unicode, RTL (Arabic/Persian/Urdu), CJK, 15+ language configs
• Enterprise — incremental builds, parallel processing, caching (memory/fs/Redis), safety guards

Installation

pip install pimd                       # Core only
pip install "pimd[all]"                # Core + all optional features

Optional extras:

Quick Start

Python API

from pimd import PiMD

engine = PiMD()

# File to file
engine.md_to_docx("report.md", "report.docx")

# String to bytes (no disk writes)
docx_bytes = engine.md_text_to_docx_bytes("# Hello World")

# With options
engine.md_to_docx(
    "thesis.md", "thesis.docx",
    generate_toc=True,
    page_numbers=True,
    render_diagrams=True,
)

CLI

# Convert Markdown to DOCX
pimd md guide.md guide.docx --diagrams

# Convert to EPUB / LaTeX
pimd epub book.md book.epub
pimd latex paper.md paper.tex

# Use a template
pimd md report.md report.docx --template academic

# Batch convert a directory
pimd batch ./docs --output ./build

Common Examples

# Convert HTML to DOCX
engine.html_to_docx("page.html", "page.docx")

# EPUB generation
engine.convert("novel.md", "epub", "novel.epub")

# PDF/A for archival
engine.convert("contract.md", "pdfa", "contract.pdf")

# Watch directory for changes (CLI)
# pimd watch ./docs --output ./build

Supported Formats

PiDraw Integration

All diagram rendering is delegated to PiDraw. PiMD auto-detects diagram type from code block language hints and renders Mermaid, PlantUML, Graphviz, D2, BlockDiag, Vega, ASCII, and more — all as high-resolution transparent PNGs embedded in DOCX or inline SVG for HTML.

# List supported diagram engines
pimd diagrams list

# Test a specific engine
pimd diagrams test mermaid

Documentation

Contributing

We welcome contributions. See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, plugin SDK docs, and pull request guidelines.

git clone https://github.com/devasishpal/PiMd.git
cd PiMd
pip install -e ".[dev,all]"

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.