Fetch URL content in Markdown

Core commands

Agent-friendly JSON (auto)

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/5/chardet/",
    "method": "auto"
  }' | jq

Retry with browser rendering

Use this only when the auto result looks incomplete.

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/5/chardet/",
    "method": "browser"
  }' | jq

Keep images when they matter

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/5/chardet/",
    "method": "ai",
    "retain_images": true
  }' | jq

Human-friendly terminal reading

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/5/chardet/",
    "method": "auto"
  }' | jq -r '.content' | glow

Save the page as Markdown

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/5/chardet/",
    "method": "auto"
  }' | jq -r '.content' > article-chardet.md

Safe scripting pattern

When the URL or method comes from variables, build the JSON body with jq -nc so shell quoting stays correct.

URL='https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/5/chardet/'
METHOD='auto'

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "$(jq -nc --arg url "$URL" --arg method "$METHOD" '{url:$url, method:$method}')" | jq

With image retention:

URL='https://www.nasa.gov/image-of-the-day/'

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "$(jq -nc --arg url "$URL" '{url:$url, method:"ai", retain_images:true}')" | jq

Quick validation

Before you summarize a page, inspect a small preview:

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "$(jq -nc --arg url 'https://example.com' '{url:$url, method:"auto"}')" | \
  jq '{title, method, content_length:(.content|length), preview:(.content|split("\n")[:20]|join("\n"))}'

This catches empty or obviously incomplete results early.

For scripts that should fail fast, prefer jq -e:

curl -fsSL 'https://markdown.new/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "$(jq -nc --arg url 'https://example.com' '{url:$url, method:"auto"}')" | \
  jq -e 'if .success == true and (.content | length) > 0 then {title, method, content_length:(.content|length)} else error(.error // "markdown.new returned no content") end'

Output handling

• For agent workflows, keep the full JSON until you know you only need .content.
• To write Markdown to disk, use jq -r '.content' > file.md.
• For terminal reading, use jq -r '.content' | glow.
• If glow is unavailable, fall back to jq -r '.content'.
• If the Markdown is large and the user only needs an answer, summarize it instead of dumping the whole page into the conversation.

Failure handling

• If curl exits non-zero, report the error clearly.
• If the JSON response includes an .error field, surface it.
• If browser rendering fails, explain that the page could not be rendered and continue with the best available auto or ai result.
• If the page is blocked, private, or heavily dynamic, say so and suggest one fallback method at most.