# Docs to Markdown Crawler (`miacx/docs-to-markdown`) Actor

Convert public documentation pages to Markdown with source URLs and optional section chunks. Follow documentation links within a bounded crawl.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/miacx/docs-to-markdown.md
- **Developed by:** [mia.cx](https://apify.com/miacx) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.60 / 1,000 pages

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Docs to Markdown Crawler

Give your agent documentation text with source URLs and optional section chunks for retrieval.
Convert public HTML or Markdown pages, or follow documentation links within a bounded crawl.
Each successful page costs $0.0006, plus $0.00005 per run start at default memory.

### Try it

```json
{"inputs":[{"url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/","maxPages":1}]}
```

An empty input `{}` converts the same single page, with `chunk: false` and `concurrency: 2`.
No upstream API key is needed. HTML extraction reads the server response without executing JavaScript.

### Use from an agent

Add `https://mcp.apify.com?tools=miacx/docs-to-markdown` to your MCP client and sign in to Apify.
Call the dedicated Actor tool, then use `get-dataset-items` to read the completed run's dataset.
Or set `APIFY_TOKEN` to your Apify API token and call the API for JSON rows:

```sh
curl --fail-with-body 'https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/miacx~docs-to-markdown/run-sync-get-dataset-items' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"inputs":[{"url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/","maxPages":1}]}'
```

### What you get

The dataset contains one row per extracted page or individual input/page failure.
Read `status` first. On `ok`, use `markdown`; otherwise read `error.code` and `error.message`.
Duplicate canonical pages share one result within the run.

Selected fields from replaying the synthetic `test/fixtures/install.md` fixture follow. Markdown is shortened.

```json
{
  "status": "ok",
  "ok": true,
  "inputUrl": "https://docs.example.com/docs/install.md",
  "url": "https://docs.example.com/docs/install.md",
  "title": "Install",
  "markdown": "# Install\n\nRun `npm install example`.",
  "headings": [
    {"level": 1, "text": "Install"},
    {"level": 2, "text": "Configure"},
    {"level": 2, "text": "Configure"}
  ],
  "lastModified": null,
  "source": "markdown"
}
```

Successful rows include `fetchedAt`, the page-body fetch time, and headings in document order.
`url` is the final canonical URL, or a corpus section's declared `Source:` URL.
`source` is `html`, `markdown` or `llms-full`.
`lastModified` uses HTTP Last-Modified, then sitemap lastmod, then HTML metadata; it is null when unavailable.

With `chunk: true`, successful rows include `chunks` with `id`, `headingPath` and `markdown`.
Joining chunk Markdown in order reproduces the page.
IDs depend on URL, heading path and ordinal, so body-only edits preserve them.
Failed rows omit content fields and contain `error`; their `url` is null when no page was reached.

The run's key-value record `OUTPUT` also contains discovery reports and request usage.
Read `inputs[].truncated` there to detect pages left behind by limits.

### Input

| Field | Default | Accepted input |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `inputs` | Single-page example above | 1–5 objects with `url`, optional `maxPages`, `include` and `exclude`. An empty array is invalid. |
| `inputs[].url` | Required in each object | Public HTTP(S) root, page, `llms.txt` or `llms-full.txt` URL, at most 2,048 characters. |
| `inputs[].maxPages` | 10 when omitted in a supplied object | Integer 1–20. A value of 1 converts the exact URL without index discovery. |
| `inputs[].include`, `inputs[].exclude` | `[]` | Up to 20 pathname globs each, starting with `/`, at most 200 characters each. `*` matches within a segment; `**` spans segments. Exclude wins. |
| `chunk` | `false` | Include heading-scoped section chunks. |
| `concurrency` | `2` | Integer 1–4, shared across inputs and constrained by per-origin request spacing. |

Scope covers the supplied origin and path boundary. A root at `/docs` includes `/docs/**`, but excludes `/docs-other`.
Index-file inputs scope to their containing directory.
If the supplied URL redirects, scope comes from where it lands: `https://docs.example.com` that moved to `https://example.com/docs` is crawled under `/docs`.
The 20-page allowance splits between valid, distinct inputs; equivalent inputs share one allowance.
Malformed envelopes fail input validation. Invalid URLs become individual result rows.

Discovery prefers `llms.txt` links, then sitemap pages, then same-scope HTML links.
An explicit `llms-full.txt` splits on `# Title` followed by `Source: URL`.
A corpus without those labels stays one document.

### Pricing

One Page event costs $0.0006 and includes metadata and optional chunks.
Ten successful pages cost $0.00605, including $0.00005 per run start at default 256 MB memory.
One thousand Page events cost $0.60, plus run starts.

Failed pages incur no Page events. Duplicate pages incur no additional Page events within a run.
Reused page content still counts when returned as a successful page.
The $0.00005 run start applies even with no billable pages at default memory.
Apify counts one start event per GB of memory, with a minimum of one event.

### Limits and data freshness

- Each run shares 20 page attempts, 40 outbound attempts including DNS, and a 25-second work budget.
- Each upstream body is capped at 512 KiB. Discovery follows at most one child sitemap.
- Fetching respects robots.txt, crawl-delay and a minimum 100 ms between same-origin request starts.
- Public documentation only. Credentials and private hosts are unsupported, and discovered pages that redirect out of scope are skipped.
- HTML extraction removes navigation and boilerplate; JavaScript-only content can return `empty_content`.

The Actor caches and deduplicates within each run, with no persistent cross-run page cache.
Reused bodies retain their original `fetchedAt`; `lastModified` is source metadata, not a freshness guarantee.

### If a row fails

| Status | Next step |
| --- | --- |
| `invalid_url`, `url_not_allowed` | Supply an absolute public HTTP(S) URL without credentials. |
| `robots_disallowed`, `out_of_scope` | Check published access rules or supply the final URL as a separate input. |
| `no_pages` | Check path filters or request an exact page with `maxPages: 1`. |
| `too_large`, `unsupported_content`, `empty_content` | Use a smaller HTML or Markdown document with server-rendered text. |
| `fetch_failed`, `http_status` | Inspect the error and upstream HTTP status; retry transient failures later. |
| `budget_exhausted` | Request fewer pages or narrower roots; inspect `OUTPUT` for truncation. |

A batch can contain successful and failed pages together.
For workflows exceeding the synchronous API's 300-second wait, use [asynchronous runs](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2/actor-runs-post).

# Actor input Schema

## `inputs` (type: `array`):

1-5 objects with url, maxPages (1-20; default 10), include and exclude path-glob arrays. Example: {"url":"https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/","maxPages":1}. Omitted uses this single-page example; \[] is invalid. maxPages: 1 skips discovery. Inputs share 20 page attempts. Globs start with / and match paths within the input origin/path; exclude wins.

## `chunk` (type: `boolean`):

Whether to return heading-scoped chunks with id, headingPath and markdown on successful pages. Default false. Joining chunks in order reproduces the page Markdown; IDs remain stable while URL, heading path and ordinal stay unchanged. Chunks incur no extra Page events.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

Maximum concurrent outbound requests, 1-4; default 2. All inputs share this limit. Per-origin spacing and robots crawl-delay can reduce concurrency.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "url": "https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/",
      "maxPages": 1
    }
  ],
  "chunk": false,
  "concurrency": 2
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per item, each with a status field.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("miacx/docs-to-markdown").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("miacx/docs-to-markdown").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call miacx/docs-to-markdown --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,miacx/docs-to-markdown"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/0HLfQJndeplqa2tBf/builds/5IDSIDFupgl3VLXhi/openapi.json