# mdka
**A HTML to Markdown converter written in Rust.**
[](https://crates.io/crates/mdka)
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mdka)
[](https://www.pypi.org/project/mdka)
[](https://github.com/nabbisen/mdka-rs/blob/main/LICENSE)
[](https://docs.rs/mdka)
[](https://deps.rs/crate/mdka)
[](https://github.com/nabbisen/mdka-rs/actions/workflows/release-executable.yaml)
[](https://github.com/nabbisen/mdka-rs/actions/workflows/release-npm.yaml)
[](https://github.com/nabbisen/mdka-rs/actions/workflows/release-pypi.yaml)
mdka balances conversion quality with runtime efficiency —
readable output from real-world HTML, without sacrificing speed or memory.
"ka" means "化 (か)" pointing to conversion.
---
## Why mdka?
There are several good HTML-to-Markdown converters in the Rust ecosystem.
mdka's specific focus is:
- **Reliable output from diverse HTML sources.**
It is built on [scraper](https://crates.io/crates/scraper), which uses
[html5ever](https://github.com/servo/html5ever) — the HTML5 parser from
the Servo browser engine. html5ever applies the same parsing algorithm that
web browsers use, so it handles malformed tags, deeply nested structures,
CMS output, and SPA-rendered DOM without special-casing.
- **Crash resistance.**
Conversion uses non-recursive DFS throughout. There is no stack overflow,
no matter the nesting depth.
- **Configurable pre-processing.**
Five [conversion modes](#conversion-modes) let you tune what gets kept or
stripped — from noise-free LLM input to lossless archiving.
- **Multi-language.**
The same Rust implementation is accessible from Node.js (napi-rs) and
Python (PyO3).
---
## Quick Start
### Try it from the command line
`cargo` (Rust language) installed is required.
```bash
cargo install mdka-cli
#
# **world**
```
```bash
mdka page.html # → page.md (same directory)
mdka --mode minimal --drop-shell *.html # strip nav/header/footer
mdka --help # full option list
```
### Add to a Rust project
```toml
# Cargo.toml
[dependencies]
mdka = "2"
```
```rust
use mdka::html_to_markdown;
let md = html_to_markdown("<h1>Hello</h1><p><em>world</em></p>");
// "# Hello\n\n*world*\n"
```
With options:
```rust
use mdka::{html_to_markdown_with};
use mdka::options::{ConversionMode, ConversionOptions};
let mut opts = ConversionOptions::for_mode(ConversionMode::Minimal);
opts.drop_interactive_shell = true;
let md = html_to_markdown_with(html, &opts);
```
### Add to a Node.js project
```bash
npm install mdka
```
```js
const { htmlToMarkdown, htmlToMarkdownWith } = require('mdka')
const md = htmlToMarkdown('<h1>Hello</h1>')
const md = await htmlToMarkdownWithAsync(html, {
mode: 'minimal',
dropInteractiveShell: true,
})
```
### Add to a Python project
```bash
pip install mdka
```
```python
import mdka
md = mdka.html_to_markdown('<h1>Hello</h1>')
md = mdka.html_to_markdown_with(
html,
mode=mdka.ConversionMode.Minimal,
drop_interactive_shell=True,
)
```
---
## Conversion Modes
| `Balanced` | General use — default |
| `Strict` | Debugging, diff comparison |
| `Minimal` | LLM input, text extraction |
| `Semantic` | SPA content, ARIA-aware pipelines |
| `Preserve` | Archiving, audit trails |
---
## Learn More
Full documentation lives in the [`docs/`](./docs/) folder, published as GitHub Pages.
https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/
| Installation | [/getting-started/installation](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/getting-started/installation) |
| Rust Usage & Examples | [/getting-started/usage-rust](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/getting-started/usage-rust) |
| Node.js Usage | [/getting-started/usage-nodejs](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/getting-started/usage-nodejs) |
| Python Usage | [/getting-started/usage-python](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/getting-started/usage-python) |
| CLI Reference | [/getting-started/usage-cli](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/getting-started/usage-cli) |
| API Reference | [/api/index](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/api/index) |
| Conversion Modes | [/api/modes](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/api/modes) |
| ConversionOptions | [/api/options](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/api/options) |
| Supported Elements | [/api/elements](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/api/elements) |
| Design Philosophy | [/design/philosophy](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/design/philosophy) |
| Performance Characteristics | [/design/performance-characteristics](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/design/performance-characteristics) |
| Architecture | [/design/architecture](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/design/architecture) |
| Features | [/design/features](https://nabbisen.github.io/mdka-rs/design/features) |
---
## Open-source, with care
This project is lovingly built and maintained by volunteers.
We hope it helps streamline your work.
Please understand that the project has its own direction — while we welcome feedback, it might not fit every edge case 🌱
## Acknowledgements
Depends on [scraper](https://crates.io/crates/scraper) (+ [html5ever](https://github.com/servo/html5ever)), [ego-tree](https://crates.io/crates/ego-tree), [rayon](https://crates.io/crates/rayon), [tikv-jemallocator](https://crates.io/crates/tikv-jemallocator) / [tikv-jemalloc-ctl](https://crates.io/crates/tikv-jemalloc-ctl), [thiserror](https://crates.io/crates/thiserror).
Also, [napi-rs](https://github.com/napi-rs/napi-rs) on binding for Node.js and PyO3's [pyo3](https://github.com/PyO3/pyo3) / [maturin](https://github.com/PyO3/maturin) on bindings for Python.