Markdown node

Overview

The Markdown tool converts between Markdown and HTML in both directions. HTML→Markdown uses node-html-markdown with options for bullet markers, code fences, emphasis delimiters, text replacement patterns, and more. Markdown→HTML uses showdown with 25+ options including emoji support, tables, strikethrough, task lists, and GitHub-compatible features.

Node Type

Action — processes input items and produces output

Input / Output

Direction	Port(s)
Input	Input
Output	Output, Error

Credentials

This tool does not require any credentials.

Parameters

The two Options collections are mutually exclusive — only the one matching the selected Mode is shown.

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
Mode	options	No	htmlToMarkdown	Conversion direction.
				Options: markdownToHtml (convert data from Markdown to HTML), htmlToMarkdown (convert data from HTML to Markdown)
HTML	string	Yes	—	The HTML to convert to Markdown. Supports expressions like {{ $json.htmlContent }}. (shown when Mode is htmlToMarkdown)
Markdown	string	Yes	—	The Markdown to convert to HTML. Supports expressions like {{ $json.docContent }}. (shown when Mode is markdownToHtml)
Destination Key	string	Yes	data	The field to put the output in. Supports dot-notation for nested fields.
Options (options)	collection	No	{}	HTML→Markdown conversion settings. (shown when Mode is htmlToMarkdown)
— Bullet Marker	string	No	*	Character used for unordered list bullets.
— Code Block Fence	string	No	```	Fence characters used around code blocks.
— Emphasis Delimiter	string	No	_	Delimiter used for emphasis (italic) text.
— Global Escape Pattern	fixedCollection	No	{}	A find/replace pair applied across the whole converted document.
— — Pattern	string	No	—	Regular expression to match.
— — Replacement	string	No	—	Text to replace each match with.
— Ignored Elements	string	No	—	Comma-separated HTML elements to ignore.
— Keep Images With Data	boolean	No	false	Preserve images whose source is a data: URL.
— Line Start Escape Pattern	fixedCollection	No	{}	A find/replace pair applied only at the start of each line.
— — Pattern	string	No	—	Regular expression to match.
— — Replacement	string	No	—	Text to replace each match with.
— Max Consecutive New Lines	number	No	3	Maximum number of blank lines kept in a row.
— Place URLs At The Bottom	boolean	No	false	Use reference-style links and collect the URLs at the end of the document.
— Strong Delimiter	string	No	**	Delimiter used for strong (bold) text.
— Style For Code Block	options	No	fence	How code blocks are written in the Markdown output.
				Options: fence, indented
— Text Replacement Pattern	fixedCollection	No	[]	Find/replace pairs applied to the converted text. Accepts multiple entries.
— — Pattern	string	No	—	Regular expression to match.
— — Replacement	string	No	—	Text to replace each match with.
— Treat As Blocks	string	No	—	Comma-separated elements to treat as blocks.
Options (options)	collection	No	{}	Markdown→HTML conversion settings. (shown when Mode is markdownToHtml)
— Add Blank To Links	boolean	No	false	Open generated links in a new window.
— Automatic Linking to URLs	boolean	No	false	Turn bare URLs in the text into links.
— Backslash Escapes HTML Tags	boolean	No	false	Allow a backslash to escape an HTML tag so it renders literally.
— Complete HTML Document	boolean	No	false	Emit a full HTML document rather than a fragment.
— Customized Header ID	boolean	No	false	Allow a heading to declare its own id.
— Emoji Support	boolean	No	false	Convert emoji shortcodes into emoji characters.
— Encode Emails	boolean	No	true	Obfuscate email addresses to make scraping harder.
— Exclude Trailing Punctuation From URLs	boolean	No	false	Leave trailing punctuation outside an auto-generated link.
— GitHub Code Blocks	boolean	No	true	Support GitHub-flavored fenced code blocks.
— GitHub Compatible Header IDs	boolean	No	false	Generate heading ids the way GitHub does.
— GitHub Mention Link	string	No	https://github.com/{u}	Link template used for mentions, where {u} is the user name.
— GitHub Mentions	boolean	No	false	Turn @name into a mention link.
— GitHub Task Lists	boolean	No	false	Render - [ ] and - [x] as checkboxes.
— Header Level Start	number	No	1	Heading level that a single # maps to.
— Mandatory Space Before Header	boolean	No	false	Require a space between # and the heading text.
— Middle Word Asterisks	boolean	No	false	Treat asterisks inside a word as literal characters.
— Middle Word Underscores	boolean	No	false	Treat underscores inside a word as literal characters.
— No Header ID	boolean	No	false	Do not add ids to headings.
— Parse Image Dimensions	boolean	No	false	Read width/height hints in image syntax.
— Prefix Header ID	string	No	section	Prefix added to generated heading ids.
— Raw Header ID	boolean	No	false	Use the raw heading text as the id without cleaning it up.
— Raw Prefix Header ID	boolean	No	false	Use the heading id prefix exactly as written.
— Simple Line Breaks	boolean	No	false	Treat a single newline as a line break.
— Smart Indentation Fix	boolean	No	false	Correct indentation that would otherwise break nested blocks.
— Spaces Indented Sublists	boolean	No	false	Do not require four-space indentation for sublists.
— Split Adjacent Blockquotes	boolean	No	false	Keep neighbouring blockquotes as separate blocks.
— Strikethrough	boolean	No	false	Support ~~text~~ strikethrough syntax.
— Tables Header ID	boolean	No	false	Add ids to table header cells.
— Tables Support	boolean	No	false	Support Markdown table syntax.
Max Concurrency	number	No	10	Maximum number of items to process concurrently.

Output Data

One output item per input item. The converted text is written to the field named by Destination Key (data by default); the rest of the input item JSON passes through unchanged, and binary data is forwarded.

Destination Key accepts dot-notation, so post.markdown creates the nested objects it needs and writes the result at the end of the path.

The source content comes from the HTML or Markdown parameter, not from a fixed field on the item — point it at the item with an expression such as {{ $json.htmlContent }}.

Reference the result downstream by expression, e.g. {{ $json.data }}.

Example Configuration

Convert HTML to Markdown:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "htmlToMarkdown",
    "html": "<h1>Title</h1><p>This is a paragraph.</p>",
    "destinationKey": "markdownOutput"
  }
}

Convert HTML to Markdown with formatting options:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "htmlToMarkdown",
    "html": "<h1>Title</h1><ul><li>Item 1</li><li>Item 2</li></ul>",
    "destinationKey": "markdownOutput",
    "options": {
      "bulletMarker": "-",
      "strongDelimiter": "**",
      "maxConsecutiveNewlines": 2,
      "keepDataImages": true
    }
  }
}

Convert HTML to Markdown with a text replacement:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "htmlToMarkdown",
    "html": "<p>Hello world</p>",
    "destinationKey": "result",
    "options": {
      "textReplace": {
        "values": [
          {
            "pattern": "world",
            "replacement": "universe"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Convert HTML to Markdown with a global escape:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "htmlToMarkdown",
    "html": "<p>Some [bracketed] text</p>",
    "destinationKey": "result",
    "options": {
      "globalEscape": {
        "value": {
          "pattern": "\\[",
          "replacement": "\\\\["
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Convert HTML to Markdown with a line-start escape:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "htmlToMarkdown",
    "html": "<p>## Not a heading</p>",
    "destinationKey": "result",
    "options": {
      "lineStartEscape": {
        "value": {
          "pattern": "^##",
          "replacement": "\\##"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Convert Markdown to HTML:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "markdownToHtml",
    "markdown": "# Title\n\nThis is a **bold** paragraph.",
    "destinationKey": "htmlOutput"
  }
}

Convert Markdown to HTML with GitHub features:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "markdownToHtml",
    "markdown": "# Project\n\n- [x] Task 1\n- [ ] Task 2",
    "destinationKey": "htmlOutput",
    "options": {
      "ghCodeBlocks": true,
      "tasklists": true,
      "tables": true,
      "strikethrough": true,
      "emoji": true
    }
  }
}

Produce a complete HTML document:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "markdownToHtml",
    "markdown": "# Welcome\n\nThis is my website.",
    "destinationKey": "fullHtml",
    "options": {
      "completeHTMLDocument": true,
      "openLinksInNewWindow": true,
      "headerLevelStart": 2,
      "prefixHeaderId": "section"
    }
  }
}

Convert scraped HTML posts to Markdown for storage, writing to a nested field:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "htmlToMarkdown",
    "html": "{{ $json.htmlContent }}",
    "destinationKey": "post.markdown",
    "options": {
      "bulletMarker": "-",
      "codeFence": "~~~",
      "useLinkReferenceDefinitions": false,
      "maxConsecutiveNewlines": 3
    }
  }
}

Render documentation with GitHub features:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "markdownToHtml",
    "markdown": "{{ $json.docContent }}",
    "destinationKey": "documentation.html",
    "maxConcurrency": 5,
    "options": {
      "ghCodeBlocks": true,
      "tables": true,
      "tasklists": true,
      "ghMentions": true,
      "ghMentionsLink": "https://github.com/{u}",
      "emoji": true
    }
  }
}

Generate email-friendly HTML:

{
  "type": "markdown",
  "parameters": {
    "mode": "markdownToHtml",
    "markdown": "{{ $json.emailTemplate }}",
    "destinationKey": "email.body",
    "options": {
      "simpleLineBreaks": true,
      "encodeEmails": true,
      "noHeaderId": true,
      "openLinksInNewWindow": true
    }
  }
}

Error Handling

Mode	Behavior
stop	Halts workflow on first error
continue	Skips failed items, passes successful ones through
errorPort	Routes failed items to Error output port

Tips

This tool converts data between Markdown and HTML. It is ideal when you need to transform content from one of these formats to the other, offering a comprehensive set of options for both directions. The tool produces either HTML from Markdown input or Markdown from HTML input.

Behavior notes

• The content is a parameter, not a fixed field. Put an expression in HTML or Markdown — {{ $json.htmlContent }} — to convert whatever the upstream item carries. Leaving it as literal text converts that same text for every item.
• Destination Key is fixed for the node. It is read once per run, so every item writes its result to the same path.
• Switching Mode swaps the whole Options set. Settings configured for one direction are not carried over to the other; each direction has its own collection.
• Use Ignored Elements to drop boilerplate. Passing script, style, nav, footer keeps navigation chrome out of the Markdown when converting scraped pages.
• Tables and task lists are off by default when converting Markdown to HTML — turn on Tables Support and GitHub Task Lists if your source relies on them.