Skip to content
Cloudflare Docs

Markdown Conversion

Markdown ↗ is essential for text generation and large language models (LLMs) in training and inference because it can provide structured, semantic, human, and machine-readable input. Likewise, Markdown facilitates chunking and structuring input data for better retrieval and synthesis in the context of RAGs, and its simplicity and ease of parsing and rendering make it ideal for AI Agents.

For these reasons, document conversion plays an important role when designing and developing AI applications. Workers AI provides the toMarkdown utility method that developers can use from the env.AI binding or the REST APIs for quick, easy, and convenient conversion and summary of documents in multiple formats to Markdown language.

Methods

async env.AI.toMarkdown()

Takes a document or list of documents in different formats and converts them to Markdown.

Parameter

  • files: MarkdownDocument | MarkdownDocument[]- an instance of or an array of MarkdownDocuments.

Return values

  • results: Promise<ConversionResult | ConversionResult[]>- An instance of or an array of ConversionResults.

MarkdownDocument definition

  • name string

    • Name of the document to convert.

  • blob Blob

    • A new Blob ↗ object with the document content.

ConversionResult definition

  • name string

    • Name of the converted document. Matches the input name.

  • format 'markdown' | 'error'

    • The format of this ConversionResult object

  • mimetype string

  • tokens number

    • The estimated number of tokens of the converted document. Only present if format is equal to markdown.

  • data string

    • The content of the converted document in Markdown format. Only present if format is equal to markdown.

  • error string

    • The error message explaining why this conversion failed. Only present if format is equal to error.

async env.AI.toMarkdown().transform()

This method is similar to env.AI.toMarkdown except that it is exposed through a new handle. It takes the same arguments and returns the same values.

async env.AI.toMarkdown().supported()

Returns a list of file formats that are currently supported for markdown conversion. See Supported formats for the full list of file formats that can be converted into Markdown.

Return values

  • results: SupportedFormat[]- An array of all formats supported for markdown conversion.

SupportedFormat definition

  • extension string

    • Extension of files in this format.

  • mimeType string

Supported formats

This is the list of support formats. We are constantly adding new formats and updating this table.

Format

File extensions

Mime Types

PDF Documents

.pdf

application/pdf

Images 1

.jpeg, .jpg, .png, .webp, .svg

image/jpeg, image/png, image/webp, image/svg+xml

HTML Documents

.html

text/html

XML Documents

.xml

application/xml

Microsoft Office Documents

.xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .xls, .et, .docx

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet, application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroenabled.12, application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.binary.macroenabled.12, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document

Open Document Format

.ods, .odt

application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text

CSV

.csv

text/csv

Apple Documents

.numbers

application/vnd.apple.numbers

1 Image conversion uses two Workers AI models for object detection and summarization. See Workers AI pricing for more details.

Example

Converting files

In this example, we fetch a PDF document and an image from R2 and feed them both to env.AI.toMarkdown. The result is a list of converted documents. Workers AI models are used automatically to detect and summarize the image.

TypeScript
import { Env } from "./env";


export default {
  async fetch(request: Request, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) {
    // https://pub-979cb28270cc461d94bc8a169d8f389d.r2.dev/somatosensory.pdf
    const pdf = await env.R2.get("somatosensory.pdf");


    // https://pub-979cb28270cc461d94bc8a169d8f389d.r2.dev/cat.jpeg
    const cat = await env.R2.get("cat.jpeg");


    return Response.json(
      // env.AI.toMarkdown().transform(...) would return the same result
      await env.AI.toMarkdown([
        {
          name: "somatosensory.pdf",
          blob: new Blob([await pdf.arrayBuffer()], {
            type: "application/octet-stream",
          }),
        },
        {
          name: "cat.jpeg",
          blob: new Blob([await cat.arrayBuffer()], {
            type: "application/octet-stream",
          }),
        },
      ]),
    );
  },
};

This is the result:

[
  {
    "name": "somatosensory.pdf",
    "mimeType": "application/pdf",
    "format": "markdown",
    "tokens": 0,
    "data": "# somatosensory.pdf\n## Metadata\n- PDFFormatVersion=1.4\n- IsLinearized=false\n- IsAcroFormPresent=false\n- IsXFAPresent=false\n- IsCollectionPresent=false\n- IsSignaturesPresent=false\n- Producer=Prince 20150210 (www.princexml.com)\n- Title=Anatomy of the Somatosensory System\n\n## Contents\n### Page 1\nThis is a sample document to showcase..."
  },
  {
    "name": "cat.jpeg",
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
    "format": "markdown",
    "tokens": 0,
    "data": "The image is a close-up photograph of Grumpy Cat, a cat with a distinctive grumpy expression and piercing blue eyes. The cat has a brown face with a white stripe down its nose, and its ears are pointed upright. Its fur is light brown and darker around the face, with a pink nose and mouth. The cat's eyes are blue and slanted downward, giving it a perpetually grumpy appearance. The background is blurred, but it appears to be a dark brown color. Overall, the image is a humorous and iconic representation of the popular internet meme character, Grumpy Cat. The cat's facial expression and posture convey a sense of displeasure or annoyance, making it a relatable and entertaining image for many people."
  }
]

Getting supported file formats

TypeScript
import { Env } from "./env";


export default {
  async fetch(request: Request, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) {
    return Response.json(
      await env.AI.toMarkdown().supported(),
    );
  },
};

results in

[
  {
    "extension": ".pdf",
    "mimeType": "application/pdf",
  },
  {
    "extension": ".jpeg",
    "mimeType": "image/jpeg",
  },
  ...
]

REST API

In addition to the Workers AI binding, you can use the REST API:

Conversion

Terminal window
curl https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{ACCOUNT_ID}/ai/tomarkdown \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {API_TOKEN}' \
  -F "files=@cat.jpeg" \
  -F "files=@somatosensory.pdf"

Supported formats

Terminal window
curl https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{ACCOUNT_ID}/ai/tomarkdown/supported \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {API_TOKEN}' \

Pricing

toMarkdown is free for most format conversions. In some cases, like image conversion, it can use Workers AI models for object detection and summarization, which may incur additional costs if it exceeds the Workers AI free allocation limits. See the pricing page for more details.