MarkPDFdown

English | 中文 | 日本語 | Русский | العربية | فارسی

A desktop application that converts PDF documents to Markdown format using Large Language Model (LLM) visual recognition.

Features

• Multi-LLM Support: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Ollama (local models), and OpenAI Responses API
• High-Quality Conversion: Leverages LLM vision capabilities for accurate PDF to Markdown conversion
• Side-by-Side Preview: View original PDF pages alongside generated Markdown
• Math & Code Support: Full support for LaTeX equations (KaTeX) and syntax-highlighted code blocks
• Multi-Language UI: English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, and Persian
• Parallel Processing: Configurable worker instances for faster conversion
• Progress Tracking: Real-time status updates and per-page retry support
• Local Storage: SQLite database for task persistence

Screenshots

Installation

Quick Start (Recommended)

Run directly with npx (requires Node.js 18+):

npx -y markpdfdown

Download Installer

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page:

• Windows: MarkPDFdown-{version}-x64.exe
• macOS: MarkPDFdown-{version}-arm64.dmg / MarkPDFdown-{version}-x64.dmg
• Linux: MarkPDFdown-{version}-x86_64.AppImage

Usage

1. Configure Provider: Go to Settings and add your LLM provider credentials (API key, base URL)
2. Add Model: Configure the model you want to use for conversion
3. Upload PDF: Drag and drop or click to select a PDF file
4. Select Model: Choose the LLM model for conversion
5. Convert: Start the conversion process
6. Preview: View the results page by page with side-by-side comparison
7. Download: Export the merged Markdown file

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm 8+

Setup

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Generate Prisma client
npm run generate

# Run database migrations
npm run migrate:dev

# Start development server
npm run dev

Build

# Production build
npm run build

# Platform-specific installers
npm run build:win    # Windows NSIS installer
npm run build:mac    # macOS DMG
npm run build:linux  # Linux AppImage

Testing

npm test              # Run all tests
npm run test:unit     # Unit tests only
npm run test:renderer # Component tests only
npm run test:coverage # Generate coverage report

Project Structure

src/
├── main/                 # Electron main process
│   ├── index.ts         # App entry, window creation, IPC setup
│   └── ipc/             # IPC handlers
├── preload/             # Preload scripts (window.api)
├── renderer/            # React frontend
│   ├── components/      # UI components
│   ├── pages/           # Route pages
│   └── locales/         # i18n translations
├── core/                # Business logic (Clean Architecture)
│   ├── infrastructure/  # Database, external services
│   ├── application/     # Workers, orchestration
│   ├── domain/          # Interfaces, domain types
│   └── shared/          # Event bus, utilities
└── shared/              # Shared types between main/renderer

Tech Stack

• Framework: Electron 35 + React 18 + TypeScript
• Build Tool: Vite 6
• UI: Ant Design 5
• Database: Prisma ORM + SQLite
• PDF Processing: pdf-lib, pdf-to-png-converter, Sharp
• Markdown: react-markdown, remark-gfm, remark-math, rehype-katex, rehype-prism-plus
• Testing: Vitest + Testing Library

Supported LLM Providers

Provider	Models	Notes
OpenAI	GPT-4o, GPT-4-turbo, etc.	Requires API key
Anthropic	Claude 3.5, Claude 3, etc.	Requires API key
Google Gemini	Gemini Pro, Gemini Flash, etc.	Requires API key
Ollama	LLaVA, Llama 3.2 Vision, etc.	Local, no API key needed
OpenAI Responses	Any OpenAI-compatible model	Custom endpoint support

License

Apache-2.0

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the AGENTS.md file for development guidelines.