WebToMarkdown

WebToMarkdown is a browser extension that copies the readable part of a web page as clean Markdown. Click the toolbar button, use the right-click menu, or press Alt+Shift+M and the page's main content goes to your clipboard with headings, lists, tables, links, and code blocks kept intact. You can also save the page as a .md file from the popup, the right-click menu, or a shortcut you assign in the browser's shortcut settings. It works in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, and converts pages locally in your browser.

Get WebToMarkdown on the Chrome Web Store

Getting started

The extension is plain JavaScript with no dependencies to install. You only need Node.js to build the browser packages:

node build.mjs

This writes one package per browser to dist/chrome, dist/firefox, and dist/safari.

To load it unpacked:

• Chrome or another Chromium browser: open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, click Load unpacked, and select dist/chrome. You can also select the repository root to load the source directly.
• Firefox: open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox, click Load Temporary Add-on, and select dist/firefox/manifest.json.
• Safari: run node build.mjs, then open safari/WebToMarkdown/WebToMarkdown.xcodeproj in Xcode and run the WebToMarkdown scheme. Turn on the extension in Safari settings. You may need to allow unsigned extensions in Safari's developer settings.

After changing background scripts or permissions, click the reload button on the extension's card in chrome://extensions.

./release.sh is for maintainers publishing a release. It builds the packages and also bumps the Safari build number in the Xcode project.

Project layout

• manifest.json: the extension manifest and the single source of truth for every browser.
• background: the service worker, keyboard command, and context menu.
• content: scripts injected into the page to find the main content and turn it into Markdown.
• popup: the toolbar popup.
• options: the settings page.
• shared: helpers, settings, the icon, and vendored libraries used across the extension.
• safari: the native Xcode wrapper for Safari.
• scripts: build and Safari maintenance scripts used by build.mjs and release.sh.
• web: the WebToMarkdown website.
• store: store images and the submission runbook. Start at store/README.md.
• store-screenshots-studio: a local tool for making Mac App Store screenshots.
• docs: architecture, testing, and release notes.

Contributing

Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening an issue or pull request.

License

The WebToMarkdown source code is available under the MIT License. The WebToMarkdown name, icon, store screenshots, and other brand assets are not covered by that license. See BRAND_ASSETS.md.

shared/vendor/browser-polyfill.min.js is Mozilla's webextension-polyfill and keeps its own license, the Mozilla Public License 2.0.