# Markdown export (/ai/markdown-export)

<!-- agent-signals: reading_time_min: 3 · est_tokens: 1085 · updated: 2026-07-30 -->
Related: [Contextual menu](/ai/contextual-menu.md), [llms.txt](/ai/llmstxt.md), [Admin Model Context Protocol (MCP) server](/ai/mintlify-mcp.md), [Search Model Context Protocol (MCP) server](/ai/model-context-protocol.md), [skill.md](/ai/skillmd.md)

Markdown provides structured text that AI tools can process more efficiently than HTML, which results in better response accuracy, faster processing times, and lower token usage.

Mintlify automatically generates Markdown versions of pages optimized for AI tools and external integrations.

## .md URL extension [#md-url-extension]

Add `.md` to any page's URL to view a Markdown version.

<PreviewButton href="https://mintlify.com/docs/ai/markdown-export.md">
  Open this page as Markdown
</PreviewButton>

## Accept header [#accept-header]

Send a request with `Accept: text/markdown` or `Accept: text/plain` to any page URL to receive the Markdown version instead of HTML. This is useful for AI tools and integrations that programmatically fetch documentation content.

```bash
curl -L -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://mintlify.com/docs/ai/markdown-export
```

## Audience-specific content [#audience-specific-content]

Use the [visibility](/components/visibility) component to customize content for human and AI audiences.

Content wrapped in `<Visibility for="humans">` appears on the web page, but not in Markdown output. Content wrapped in `<Visibility for="agents">` appears in Markdown output, but not on the web page.

```mdx
<Visibility for="humans">
  Click the **Get started** button in the top-right corner to create your account.
</Visibility>

<Visibility for="agents">
  To create an account, call `POST /v1/accounts` with a valid email address.
</Visibility>
```

## API reference pages [#api-reference-pages]

By default, Markdown exports of API reference pages include the full OpenAPI or AsyncAPI specification so AI tools have complete context about each endpoint.

If you prefer to omit the spec from Markdown output, set `markdown.schema` to `false` in your `docs.json`:

```json
"markdown": {
  "schema": false
}
```

## Custom agent instructions [#custom-agent-instructions]

To append your own guidance to the Markdown that Mintlify serves to AI agents, set `markdown.instructions` in your `docs.json`. Use it for site-wide directions like citing an API version, preferring a specific SDK, or following your terminology.

Provide a single string:

```json title="Example agent instructions string"
"markdown": {
  "instructions": "Always cite the API version. Prefer the TypeScript SDK in examples."
}
```

Or an array of strings, which Mintlify joins with line breaks:

```json title="Example agent instructions array"
"markdown": {
  "instructions": [
    "Always cite the API version.",
    "Prefer the TypeScript SDK in examples."
  ]
}
```

Mintlify renders your instructions as an `Agent Instructions` block in the Markdown output:

```md title="Example rendered agent instructions"
> ## Agent Instructions
> Always cite the API version.
> Prefer the TypeScript SDK in examples.
```

The block appears in:

* The Markdown export of every page, including API reference pages.
* Your [`llms.txt`](/ai/llmstxt) file, after the site title and description.
* Your `llms-full.txt` file.

These instructions apply to every page. To tailor content for a single page or audience, use the [visibility](/components/visibility) component instead.

## Authentication [#authentication]

Markdown export respects the same authentication rules as the HTML version of each page.

| Authentication mode    | Behavior                                                                                                                                        |
| ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| No authentication      | All `.md` URLs are publicly accessible.                                                                                                         |
| Partial authentication | `.md` URLs for public pages are publicly accessible. `.md` URLs for protected pages require authentication and respect user group restrictions. |
| Full authentication    | All `.md` URLs require authentication and respect user group restrictions.                                                                      |

## Keyboard shortcut [#keyboard-shortcut]

Press <kbd>Command</kbd> + <kbd>C</kbd> (<kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>C</kbd> on Windows) to copy a page as Markdown to your clipboard.