Markdown export

Markdown provides structured text that AI tools can process more efficiently than HTML, which results in better response accuracy, faster processing times, and lower token usage.

Mintlify automatically generates Markdown versions of pages optimized for AI tools and external integrations.

.md URL extension

Add .md to any page’s URL to view a Markdown version.

Accept header

Send a request with Accept: text/markdown or Accept: text/plain to any page URL to receive the Markdown version instead of HTML. This is useful for AI tools and integrations that programmatically fetch documentation content.

curl -L -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://mintlify.com/docs/ai/markdown-export

Missing pages

If you request a page that doesn’t exist as Markdown, Mintlify returns a 404 status with a Markdown body that helps AI tools recover. The response links to your documentation index (llms.txt), your full documentation file (llms-full.txt), and up to three related pages based on the requested path.

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the documentation index at: https://example.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
> For broader context, fetch the full documentation at: https://example.com/docs/llms-full.txt (large file).

# Page Not Found

The requested page could not be found.

## Related topics

- [Getting started](https://example.com/docs/getting-started.md)

Related page suggestions come from the same search that powers your site’s 404 page. Sites that use authentication omit suggestions and return only the documentation links.

Audience-specific content

Use the visibility component to customize content for human and AI audiences.

Content wrapped in <Visibility for="humans"> appears on the web page, but not in Markdown output. Content wrapped in <Visibility for="agents"> appears in Markdown output, but not on the web page.

<Visibility for="humans">
  Click the **Get started** button in the top-right corner to create your account.
</Visibility>

<Visibility for="agents">
  To create an account, call `POST /v1/accounts` with a valid email address.
</Visibility>

API reference pages

By default, Markdown exports of API reference pages include the full OpenAPI or AsyncAPI specification so AI tools have complete context about each endpoint.

If you prefer to omit the spec from Markdown output, set markdown.schema to false in your docs.json:

"markdown": {
  "schema": false
}

Custom agent instructions

To append your own guidance to the Markdown that Mintlify serves to AI agents, set markdown.instructions in your docs.json. Use it for site-wide directions like citing an API version, preferring a specific SDK, or following your terminology.

Provide a single string:

"markdown": {
  "instructions": "Always cite the API version. Prefer the TypeScript SDK in examples."
}

Or an array of strings, which Mintlify joins with line breaks:

"markdown": {
  "instructions": [
    "Always cite the API version.",
    "Prefer the TypeScript SDK in examples."
  ]
}

Mintlify renders your instructions as an Agent Instructions block in the Markdown output:

> ## Agent Instructions
> Always cite the API version.
> Prefer the TypeScript SDK in examples.

The block appears in:

• The Markdown export of every page, including API reference pages.
• Your llms.txt file, after the site title and description.
• Your llms-full.txt file.

These instructions apply to every page. To tailor content for a single page or audience, use the visibility component instead.

Authentication

Markdown export respects the same authentication rules as the HTML version of each page.

Keyboard shortcut

Press Cmd + C (Ctrl + C on Windows) to copy a page as Markdown to your clipboard.