omd-mcp
Converts documents, web pages, media, and more to Markdown via an MCP server with tools for conversion, inspection, vault capture, and format listing, all running locally with privacy-first design.
README
<div align="center">
<sub>OMD.EXE // PUBLIC BETA 0.3.0b2</sub>
OMD.EXE
A local AI context inbox for Markdown, Obsidian, and agents.
Turn documents, web pages, screenshots, audio, folders, and selected public URLs into traceable Markdown that stays in folders you control.
Live demo · Install · Walkthrough · Documentation · Report an issue
</div>
Walkthrough
<p align="center"> <a href="docs/assets/omd-walkthrough.gif"> <img src="docs/assets/omd-walkthrough.gif" alt="OMD.EXE walkthrough: add URLs or files, choose Markdown or an Obsidian vault, and run the local conversion" width="640"> </a> </p>
<p align="center"> <strong>Try the hosted sample with a public webpage or non-sensitive document.</strong><br> Private files, cookies, vault writes, media transcription, and local models belong in the local app. </p>
How conversion stays recoverable
<p align="center"> <a href="docs/assets/omd-context-pipeline.png"> <picture> <source media="(max-width: 600px)" srcset="docs/assets/omd-context-pipeline-mobile.png"> <img src="docs/assets/omd-context-pipeline.png" alt="OMD source-to-context pipeline: inspect each source, select a document, web, or media adapter, normalise to Markdown, optionally run a model with raw-content fallback, and save a Markdown note plus a traceable OMD sidecar" width="640"> </picture> </a> </p>
Core conversion never depends on AI. Optional model work is isolated, so a missing model or failed call leaves the raw Markdown intact.
Quick start
brew install omd-local/omd/omd
omd doctor
omd-ui
Choose Markdown file for a normal export or Capture to vault note for an Obsidian folder. An Obsidian vault is just a local folder; OMD does not require an Obsidian plugin or account.
The custom Homebrew tap includes the project organisation in the command.
omd-local is the project owner, not a personal account. The beta installs the
CLI, MCP server, local browser UI, common document converters, and yt-dlp.
Large transcription and local-model tools remain optional.
<details> <summary><strong>SETUP MENU // manual install and optional local tools</strong></summary>
Manual install
git clone https://github.com/omd-local/markdown-everything.git omd
cd omd
pip install -e '.[all]'
omd doctor
Python 3.10 or newer is required. A minimal pip install -e . registers omd
and omd-mcp; the all extra adds the UI, MarkItDown, and Python yt-dlp.
Optional local model
OMD never downloads Ollama models automatically. Install and start Ollama, then run the model install command in Terminal. OMD recommends a conservative instruct model from the machine's total memory; this is a 16 GB example:
ollama pull qwen3:4b-instruct
Keep the UI host at http://localhost:11434 for fully local model calls. Core
conversion still works when Ollama is absent or stopped.
Optional transcription and OCR
# Apple Silicon speech-to-text for audio, podcasts, and supported videos
brew install pipx
pipx install mlx-whisper
# Text recognition inside screenshots and article images
brew install tesseract tesseract-lang
OCR means optical character recognition: it reads visible text from an image.
English uses eng; mixed Chinese and English can use chi_sim+eng. mlx-whisper
is Apple-Silicon only and is intentionally excluded from the base install because
its model stack is large.
</details>
<details> <summary><strong>SOURCE MENU // formats, public URLs, and cookie-gated routes</strong></summary>
- Documents: PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, HTML, CSV, JSON, XML, EPUB, and ZIP use MarkItDown.
- Images: PNG, JPG, WEBP, TIFF, and BMP use Tesseract OCR.
- Audio: MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, and OGG use local Whisper when installed.
- Web: articles, WeChat, and public webpages use a source adapter or web conversion.
- Public posts: Reddit, X, Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, Hacker News, and Telegram use bounded public adapters.
- Media: Apple Podcasts, YouTube, TikTok, and Bilibili preserve metadata and use local transcription when available.
- Local batches: folders and saved one-item-per-line lists route each item independently.
OMD does not bypass paywalls, login gates, captchas, access controls, or platform restrictions. Public posts can be deleted, private, quarantined, region-blocked, or rate-limited; a URL that opens in your signed-in browser may still reject an anonymous converter.
Douyin and Xiaohongshu / Rednote
These advanced local-only routes normally need separate Netscape cookies.txt
exports. Export cookies only from an account and content you are authorised to
use, then select the matching file in the UI:
- Douyin cookies: export while signed in to
douyin.com. - Xiaohongshu cookies: export while signed in to
xiaohongshu.com. - Do not reuse one platform's cookie file for the other platform.
- Cookies are disabled in the hosted demo and should never be committed.
Use Inspect source / cookies before starting. OMD warns when the current source list contains one of these platforms but its matching cookie file is missing.
</details>
<details> <summary><strong>OUTPUT MENU // Markdown, Obsidian, polish, and memory cards</strong></summary>
Direct Markdown
omd report.pdf -o report.md
omd screenshot.png -o screenshot.md --lang eng
omd bilingual.png -o bilingual.md --lang chi_sim+eng
Obsidian-compatible vault capture
omd capture report.pdf --vault ~/Obsidian/AI-Memory --tags research,pdf
omd capture "https://example.com/article" --vault ~/Obsidian/AI-Memory
Capture writes a readable note under Sources/<source type>/, updates
Index/OMD Captures.md, and keeps hashes, route diagnostics, model errors, and
other debug metadata in the adjacent .omd.json sidecar.
Optional local AI sections
omd report.pdf -o report.md --polish-md --polish-md-keep-raw
omd capture report.pdf --vault ~/Obsidian/AI-Memory --memory-cards
--polish-md cleans parser/OCR noise. --memory-cards adds a summary, useful
tags, [[links]], and evidence-oriented cards above the preserved
## Full Content. Review all generated content before relying on it.
Read the Obsidian guide and memory cards guide.
</details>
<details> <summary><strong>TOOLS MENU // CLI recipes, MCP, and agent-safe mode</strong></summary>
# Inspect routing, tools, cookies, and local readiness without converting
omd inspect "<url-or-file>" --with-readiness
# Convert a folder or reusable one-item-per-line list
omd batch sources.txt -o out/
omd capture ~/Downloads/sources/ --vault ~/Obsidian/AI-Memory --batch
# Quiet deterministic output for agent-facing runs
omd --agent-safe report.pdf -o report.md
omd-mcp exposes four tools:
convert_to_markdown(uri, output?, output_format?, lang?, reel_options?)inspect_source(uri, include_readiness?, cookies?, cookies_from_browser?)capture_to_vault(uri, vault, lang?, tags?)list_supported_formats()
Minimal MCP configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"omd": {
"command": "omd-mcp"
}
}
}
Treat converted Markdown as untrusted input. MCP restricts local paths and
private-network URLs by default; use narrow OMD_MCP_ALLOWED_ROOTS only for
folders you intend the client to access.
</details>
<details> <summary><strong>HELP MENU // common failures and what survives</strong></summary>
| Symptom | What to check |
|---|---|
markitdown missing |
Reinstall the Homebrew package or pip install -e '.[all]'. |
| OCR language unavailable | Install tesseract-lang; use eng or chi_sim+eng. |
| Local model warning | Start Ollama and run the displayed ollama pull <model> command. Raw Markdown is retained. |
| Web or Reddit HTTP 403 | The source rejected automated access. Save an authorised copy as HTML or PDF and convert the local file. |
| Douyin / Xiaohongshu warning | Export a fresh platform-specific cookie file and select it in the matching UI field. |
| Partial failure in a multi-file run | Open the output folder; successful items and partial raw outputs are retained when safe. |
Run omd doctor for local capability checks. For a reproducible report, include
a non-sensitive sample, the warning text, and --verbose output. Verbose logs
are shown in the process log and are not added to the user-facing Markdown note.
</details>
<details> <summary><strong>PROJECT MENU // development, acknowledgements, and licence</strong></summary>
git clone https://github.com/omd-local/markdown-everything.git omd
cd omd
pip install -e '.[all,test,audit]'
make smoke
make test
OMD builds on Microsoft MarkItDown, yt-dlp, f2, MLX Whisper, Ollama, and Tesseract.
Issues and focused pull requests are welcome. Read SECURITY.md before reporting a vulnerability. OMD is released under the MIT License.
</details>
Local-first, with explicit boundaries
Personal note use only. OMD is designed for personal research, note-taking, and AI-assisted knowledge workflows. It is not a legal, compliance, evidentiary, or archival system. Output may omit, reorder, or reformat source content. You are responsible for ensuring you have the right to access, process, and store each source. OMD does not bypass paywalls, access controls, or platform restrictions. Review AI-generated summaries, tags, Evidence, and
[[links]]before relying on them.
Local-first does not mean every URL workflow is offline: URLs contact their source platform, and explicitly configured remote model endpoints receive the content sent to them. Keep private material in the local app with loopback Ollama. See the privacy model and security policy.
Documentation
| Read this | When you need it |
|---|---|
| Examples | Copy-ready conversion, capture, inspect, batch, and polish commands |
| Obsidian vault capture | Folder layout, sidecars, indexes, and repeated captures |
| Memory cards guide | Local model setup and generated note sections |
| Privacy model | What stays local and when network access is used |
| Positioning | Product scope and what OMD is not |
| Changelog | Release history and current beta changes |
<div align="center">
LOCAL SOURCES -> TRACEABLE MARKDOWN -> CONTEXT YOU CONTROL
Star this repository · Open the demo · Report a bug · MIT License
</div>
Recommended Servers
playwright-mcp
A Model Context Protocol server that enables LLMs to interact with web pages through structured accessibility snapshots without requiring vision models or screenshots.
Magic Component Platform (MCP)
An AI-powered tool that generates modern UI components from natural language descriptions, integrating with popular IDEs to streamline UI development workflow.
Audiense Insights MCP Server
Enables interaction with Audiense Insights accounts via the Model Context Protocol, facilitating the extraction and analysis of marketing insights and audience data including demographics, behavior, and influencer engagement.
VeyraX MCP
Single MCP tool to connect all your favorite tools: Gmail, Calendar and 40 more.
graphlit-mcp-server
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server enables integration between MCP clients and the Graphlit service. Ingest anything from Slack to Gmail to podcast feeds, in addition to web crawling, into a Graphlit project - and then retrieve relevant contents from the MCP client.
Kagi MCP Server
An MCP server that integrates Kagi search capabilities with Claude AI, enabling Claude to perform real-time web searches when answering questions that require up-to-date information.
E2B
Using MCP to run code via e2b.
Neon Database
MCP server for interacting with Neon Management API and databases
Exa Search
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server lets AI assistants like Claude use the Exa AI Search API for web searches. This setup allows AI models to get real-time web information in a safe and controlled way.
Qdrant Server
This repository is an example of how to create a MCP server for Qdrant, a vector search engine.