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Convert documents to markdown using Python and MarkItDown
Convert docs to markdown
Learn how to use Trigger.dev with Python to convert documents to markdown using MarkItDown.

import PythonLearnMore from "/snippets/python-learn-more.mdx";

This project uses Trigger.dev v4 (which is currently in beta as of 28 April 2025). If you want to run this project you will need to [upgrade to v4](/upgrade-to-v4).

Overview

Convert documents to markdown using Microsoft's MarkItDown library. This can be especially useful for preparing documents in a structured format for AI applications.

Prerequisites

Features

  • A Trigger.dev task which downloads a document from a URL and runs the Python script which converts it to markdown
  • A Python script to convert documents to markdown using Microsoft's MarkItDown library
  • Uses our Python build extension to install dependencies and run Python scripts

GitHub repo

<Card title="View the project on GitHub" icon="GitHub" href="https://github.com/triggerdotdev/examples/tree/main/python-doc-to-markdown-converter"

Click here to view the full code for this project in our examples repository on GitHub. You can fork it and use it as a starting point for your own project.

The code

Build configuration

After you've initialized your project with Trigger.dev, add these build settings to your trigger.config.ts file:

import { pythonExtension } from "@trigger.dev/python/extension";
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/v3";

export default defineConfig({
  runtime: "node",
  project: "<your-project-ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  build: {
    extensions: [
      pythonExtension({
        // The path to your requirements.txt file
        requirementsFile: "./requirements.txt",
        // The path to your Python binary
        devPythonBinaryPath: `venv/bin/python`,
        // The paths to your Python scripts to run
        scripts: ["src/python/**/*.py"],
      }),
    ],
  },
});
Learn more about executing scripts in your Trigger.dev project using our Python build extension [here](/config/extensions/pythonExtension).

Task code

This task uses the python.runScript method to run the markdown-converter.py script with the given document URL as an argument.

import { task } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/v3";
import { python } from "@trigger.dev/python";
import * as fs from "fs";
import * as path from "path";
import * as os from "os";

export const convertToMarkdown = task({
  id: "convert-to-markdown",
  run: async (payload: { url: string }) => {
    const { url } = payload;

    // STEP 1: Create temporary file with unique name
    const tempDir = os.tmpdir();
    const fileName = `doc-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(36).substring(2, 7)}`;
    const urlPath = new URL(url).pathname;
    const extension = path.extname(urlPath) || ".docx";
    const tempFilePath = path.join(tempDir, `${fileName}${extension}`);

    // STEP 2: Download file from URL
    const response = await fetch(url);
    const buffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
    await fs.promises.writeFile(tempFilePath, Buffer.from(buffer));

    // STEP 3: Run Python script to convert document to markdown
    const pythonResult = await python.runScript("./src/python/markdown-converter.py", [
      JSON.stringify({ file_path: tempFilePath }),
    ]);

    // STEP 4: Clean up temporary file
    fs.unlink(tempFilePath, () => {});

    // STEP 5: Process result
    if (pythonResult.stdout) {
      const result = JSON.parse(pythonResult.stdout);
      return {
        url,
        markdown: result.status === "success" ? result.markdown : null,
        error: result.status === "error" ? result.error : null,
        success: result.status === "success",
      };
    }

    return {
      url,
      markdown: null,
      error: "No output from Python script",
      success: false,
    };
  },
});

Add a requirements.txt file

Add the following to your requirements.txt file. This is required in Python projects to install the dependencies.

markitdown[all]

The Python script

The Python script uses MarkItDown to convert documents to Markdown format.

import json
import sys
import os
from markitdown import MarkItDown

def convert_to_markdown(file_path):
    """Convert a file to markdown format using MarkItDown"""
    # Check if file exists
    if not os.path.exists(file_path):
        raise FileNotFoundError(f"File not found: {file_path}")

    # Initialize MarkItDown
    md = MarkItDown()

    # Convert the file
    try:
        result = md.convert(file_path)
        return result.text_content
    except Exception as e:
        raise Exception(f"Error converting file: {str(e)}")

def process_trigger_task(file_path):
    """Process a file and convert to markdown"""
    try:
        markdown_result = convert_to_markdown(file_path)
        return {
            "status": "success",
            "markdown": markdown_result
        }
    except Exception as e:
        return {
            "status": "error",
            "error": str(e)
        }

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Get the file path from command line arguments
    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
        print(json.dumps({"status": "error", "error": "No file path provided"}))
        sys.exit(1)

    try:
        config = json.loads(sys.argv[1])
        file_path = config.get("file_path")

        if not file_path:
            print(json.dumps({"status": "error", "error": "No file path specified in config"}))
            sys.exit(1)

        result = process_trigger_task(file_path)
        print(json.dumps(result))
    except Exception as e:
        print(json.dumps({"status": "error", "error": str(e)}))
        sys.exit(1)

Testing your task

  1. Create a virtual environment python -m venv venv
  2. Activate the virtual environment, depending on your OS: On Mac/Linux: source venv/bin/activate, on Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
  3. Install the Python dependencies pip install -r requirements.txt. Make sure you have Python 3.10 or higher installed.
  4. Copy the project ref from your Trigger.dev dashboard and add it to the trigger.config.ts file.
  5. Run the Trigger.dev CLI dev command (it may ask you to authorize the CLI if you haven't already).
  6. Test the task in the dashboard by providing a valid document URL.
  7. Deploy the task to production using the Trigger.dev CLI deploy command.

MarkItDown Conversion Capabilities

  • Convert various file formats to Markdown:
    • Office formats (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
    • PDFs
    • Images (with optional LLM-generated descriptions)
    • HTML, CSV, JSON, XML
    • Audio files (with optional transcription)
    • ZIP archives
    • And more
  • Preserve document structure (headings, lists, tables, etc.)
  • Handle multiple input methods (file paths, URLs, base64 data)
  • Optional Azure Document Intelligence integration for better PDF and image conversion