MDSpin is a web-based tool that converts documents (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, and more) into clean, AI-ready Markdown. It requires zero setup — just drop a file and get structured Markdown output optimized for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and RAG pipelines.

How do I convert a PDF to markdown for AI?

Go to mdspin.app, drag and drop your PDF onto the converter, and click Spin. MDSpin extracts the content and converts it to clean Markdown that preserves headings, tables, and lists. Copy the output and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or any other AI tool for better responses.

Does markdown reduce AI token costs?

Yes. Converting documents to Markdown before sending them to AI can reduce token usage by 30-50% compared to raw PDF text or HTML. Markdown strips formatting overhead while preserving all meaningful content structure, which means lower API costs and faster inference.

What file formats does MDSpin support?

MDSpin supports 8 document formats: PDF, DOCX, DOC, PPTX, Google Slides, Apple Pages, RTF, and TXT. Each format is converted to clean, structured Markdown with headings, tables, and lists preserved.

Is MDSpin free to use?

MDSpin is free during the beta period. You can convert documents without any cost. Sign up for a free account to save your conversion history and get higher rate limits.

How does MDSpin compare to MarkItDown?

Microsoft MarkItDown is a Python library that requires installation, coding knowledge, and command-line usage. MDSpin provides the same core document-to-Markdown conversion through a zero-setup web interface — no Python, no CLI, no deployment. MDSpin also shows conversion impact metrics like token reduction and cost savings that MarkItDown does not provide.

API Reference

Developer API

Programmatic access to MDSpin's conversion engine. Convert PDF, DOCX, Google Docs, Google Slides, and more to clean Markdown.

Authentication

All API requests require an API key sent via the Authorization header. Keys start with mdspin_ and can be generated from your API Keys dashboard.

Authorization: Bearer mdspin_your_api_key

🔒

Base URL

https://api.mdspin.app

Scopes & Permissions

Each API key carries a set of scopes that determine which endpoints it can access. All API keys include all scopes by default.

Scope	Description	Endpoints
convert	Convert documents to Markdown	/v1/convert/*
drive	Save files to Google Drive	/v1/save/drive
read:account	Verify API key and read account info	/oauth/me

Endpoints

GET/oauth/me POST/v1/convert/google-doc POST/v1/convert/google-slides POST/v1/convert/attachment POST/v1/convert/url POST/v1/convert/attachments/batch POST/v1/save/drive

GET/oauth/me

Verify API Key

Validates an API key and returns the associated account email. Use this to confirm a key is active before making conversion requests.

Parameters

No request body — authentication is via the header.

curl -X GET https://api.mdspin.app/oauth/me \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mdspin_your_api_key"

POST/v1/convert/google-doc

Convert Google Doc (Deprecated)

Deprecated. This endpoint relied on Google Drive/Docs scopes that are no longer requested at sign-in. New users will not have a usable Google token on file. Workaround: export the Doc yourself (e.g. via Google's API or Make.com's Google Docs/Drive modules) and convert the resulting file with /v1/convert/attachment or /v1/convert/url.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
doc_id_or_url	string	Yes	Full Google Docs URL (e.g. https://docs.google.com/document/d/...) or the document ID.
include_metadata	boolean	No	When true, response includes character count and heading count. Defaults to false.

curl -X POST https://api.mdspin.app/v1/convert/google-doc \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mdspin_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "doc_id_or_url": "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aBcDeFgHiJkLmNoPqRsTuVwXyZ",
    "include_metadata": false
  }'

POST/v1/convert/google-slides

Convert Google Slides (Deprecated)

Deprecated. This endpoint relied on Google Drive/Docs scopes that are no longer requested at sign-in. New users will not have a usable Google token on file. Workaround: export the deck as PDF or PPTX yourself (e.g. via Google's API or Make.com's Google Drive module) and convert the resulting file with /v1/convert/attachment or /v1/convert/url.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
presentation_id_or_url	string	Yes	Full Google Slides URL or just the presentation ID.
include_notes	boolean	No	When true, speaker notes are included under each slide. Defaults to false.
include_metadata	boolean	No	When true, response includes character count and heading count. Defaults to false.

curl -X POST https://api.mdspin.app/v1/convert/google-slides \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mdspin_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "presentation_id_or_url": "https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xYzAbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz",
    "include_notes": true,
    "include_metadata": false
  }'

POST/v1/convert/attachment

Convert Attachment

Converts a Base64-encoded PDF or DOCX file to Markdown. Ideal for processing email attachments or files already in memory.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
file_data	string	Yes	The file content encoded as a Base64 string.
filename	string	Yes	Full filename including extension, e.g. 'report.pdf' or 'notes.docx'.
mime_type	string	No	MIME type, e.g. 'application/pdf'. Auto-detected from filename if omitted.

curl -X POST https://api.mdspin.app/v1/convert/attachment \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mdspin_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "file_data": "JVBERi0xLjQKMSAwIG9iago8PCAvVHlwZS...",
    "filename": "report.pdf",
    "mime_type": "application/pdf"
  }'

POST/v1/convert/url

Convert File from URL

Fetches a file from a public URL and converts it to Markdown. Works with S3 pre-signed URLs, Dropbox links, and any direct download link.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
file_url	string	Yes	Public URL pointing to a PDF, DOCX, or other supported file.
filename	string	No	Override the auto-detected filename. Include extension, e.g. 'report.pdf'.

curl -X POST https://api.mdspin.app/v1/convert/url \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mdspin_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "file_url": "https://example.com/files/report.pdf",
    "filename": "report.pdf"
  }'

POST/v1/convert/attachments/batch

Batch Convert Attachments

Converts up to 20 Base64-encoded files to Markdown in a single request. Each file is processed independently — one failure does not affect the others.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
files	array	Yes	Array of file objects (max 20). Each object must include file_data and filename, with an optional mime_type.

curl -X POST https://api.mdspin.app/v1/convert/attachments/batch \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mdspin_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "files": [
      {
        "file_data": "JVBERi0xLjQK...",
        "filename": "report.pdf"
      },
      {
        "file_data": "UEsDBBQAAAAI...",
        "filename": "notes.docx",
        "mime_type": "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document"
      }
    ]
  }'

POST/v1/save/drive

Save Markdown to Google Drive (Deprecated)

Deprecated. This endpoint relied on Google Drive scopes that are no longer requested at sign-in. New users will not have a usable Google token on file. Workaround: take the markdown_text returned by any conversion endpoint and upload it to Drive yourself (e.g. via Google's API or Make.com's Google Drive 'Upload a File' module).

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
markdown_text	string	Yes	The Markdown content to save.
folder_id	string	Yes	Google Drive folder ID (the last segment of the folder's URL).
filename	string	No	Filename without extension. Defaults to 'converted-document'. The .md extension is added automatically.
overwrite	boolean	No	When false (default), a timestamp is appended to avoid overwriting existing files.

curl -X POST https://api.mdspin.app/v1/save/drive \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mdspin_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "markdown_text": "# Meeting Notes\n\nAttendees: Alice, Bob...",
    "folder_id": "1aBcDeFgHiJkLmNoPqRsTuVwXyZ",
    "filename": "meeting-notes-q1",
    "overwrite": false
  }'

Error Codes

The REST API returns standard HTTP status codes with a JSON body of the shape { "error": "...", "message": "..." }. The Make error type column shows which class our Make.com custom app raises for that status — useful if you are branching on error type inside a Make scenario.

Status	Meaning	Make error type	What to do
400	Bad Request	DataError	Check your request body — a required parameter is missing or malformed.
401	Unauthorized	InvalidConnectionError	Your API key is missing, invalid, or expired. In Make, the scenario prompts a reconnect.
403	Forbidden	InvalidAccessTokenError	Your API key does not have access to this resource, or the Drive folder is not shared with the connected account.
404	Not Found	DataError	The document, folder, or endpoint does not exist. Check the URL or ID.
413	Payload Too Large	DataError	The file exceeds the size limit. Reduce file size or use the batch endpoint for multiple smaller files.
429	Too Many Requests	RateLimitError	Rate limit exceeded. Wait and retry with exponential backoff. Make retries automatically.
500	Internal Server Error	RuntimeError	Unexpected server error. Retry the request. If it persists, contact support.
502	Bad Gateway	RuntimeError	Upstream error. Retry.
503	Service Unavailable	RuntimeError	Temporary outage or maintenance. Retry after a short delay.

Partial failures in batch conversion

POST /v1/convert/attachments/batch always returns 200, even when some files fail. Inspect the response body to handle them:

• total, succeeded, failed — summary counts
• results[].success — per-file boolean
• results[].error, results[].message — populated when success is false

Inside the Make app, this module raises a DataError whenfailed > 0, surfacing the first failure's message so the scenario halts rather than silently passing partial data downstream.

Example error response

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "error": "invalid_api_key",
  "message": "API key invalid or expired. Reconnect your MDSpin account."
}

Supported Formats

PDF

application/pdf

DOCX

application/vnd.openxmlformats-...

DOC

application/msword

PPTX

application/vnd.openxmlformats-...

Google Docs

via URL or ID

Google Slides

via URL or ID

TXT

text/plain

RTF

application/rtf