mdify

HTML/PHP → Markdown transpiler, optimized for CLI workflows

Scans a directory of website source (.html, .htm, .php), strips non-content chrome (nav, header, footer, scripts, styles) and PHP code, and writes clean Markdown files to an output directory that mirrors the input layout — handy for feeding a site's content to an LLM.

Install

go install github.com/DevShedLabs/mdify@latest

# or specific version
go install github.com/DevShedLabs/mdify@v0.0.4

Updating

mdify --version

mdify update 

Usage

go build -o mdify .
./mdify -o md-output ./path/to/site

Flags:

• -o output directory (default md-output)
• -ext comma-separated extensions to convert (default html,htm,php)
• -strip-selector comma-separated selectors for elements to drop entirely, e.g. "span.my-icon,i.custom-icon,.badge-*" (trailing * matches a class prefix)
• -no-icon-filters disable the built-in icon-font filters
• -replace regex find/replace applied to each file's Markdown output, as PATTERN=>REPLACEMENT (repeatable, applied in the order given)
• -rules-file JSON file of [{"pattern": "...", "replace": "..."}, ...] rules, applied before -replace flags
• -v verbose per-file output
• -version print the installed version and check the Go module proxy for a newer release

Commands:

• mdify update reinstall the latest version (runs go install github.com/DevShedLabs/mdify@latest; requires a Go toolchain on PATH, same as the original install)

Notes

• PHP code (<?php ... ?>, <?= ... ?>) is stripped; only the static HTML around it is converted. Dynamic content isn't rendered.

• <script>, <style>, <nav>, <header>, <footer>, <aside>, <form>, and similar chrome elements are dropped before conversion.

• Icon-font elements are dropped by default, since their ligature/glyph text (e.g. arrow_back) isn't real content: Material Icons/Symbols (.material-icons, .material-symbols-outlined, ...), Font Awesome (i.fa/i.fas/i.far/i.fal/i.fab/i.fad, any .fa-* class), Bootstrap Icons (.bi-*), .glyphicon-*, and .octicon-*. Use -strip-selector to add your own, or -no-icon-filters to disable the defaults.

• PHP variables (e.g. a $site_url base-path prefix) are gone once PHP is stripped, which can leave broken-looking links behind, like [Read →](docs/editor/) where the site actually needed editor/, or [All docs](/docs/) where the output tree needs ../ instead. This is project-specific and can't be inferred, so fix it with -replace/ -rules-file regex rules run over the final Markdown, e.g.:

  ./mdify -o md-output \
    -replace 'docs/editor/=>editor/' \
    -replace '\(/docs/\)=>(../)' \
    ./path/to/site

  Patterns are Go regexp syntax; replacements may use $1/${name} capture references. Rules run in order, so later rules see earlier rules' output. Note Go regexp ^/$ anchor to the whole string by default, not each line — use (?m) in the pattern if you need per-line anchoring.

Built on golang.org/x/net/html.