Markdown format (.md, .markdown)

The Markdown format reads Markdown documents, extracts prose as translatable blocks, and writes the translations back while preserving the document's structure — headings, lists, emphasis, links, and code. Inline markup (bold, italic, links, inline code) is exposed as inline codes inside each block so the surrounding syntax survives translation.

By default paragraphs, headings, list items, blockquotes, and image alt text are translatable, while code blocks, YAML front matter, raw HTML blocks, and link/image URLs are emitted as non-translatable structure. Each of those categories can be toggled, and embedded HTML can be routed to a subfilter.

IDmarkdown

SourceBuilt-in

Extensions.md, .markdown

MIME Typestext/markdown, text/x-markdown

CapabilitiesRead + Write

How kapi reads it

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`codeFinderRules`	array		Regex patterns that match inline codes within translatable text
`extractNonTranslatableContent`	boolean	true	If true (default), non-translatable contextual content such as code blocks is surfaced as content blocks (visible to ingestion/LLM consumers, skipped by machine translation) instead of being hidden in skeleton. Disable to keep it in skeleton.
`frontMatterKeys`	array		Front matter keys to extract when translateFrontMatter is on (empty = every scalar value). Set the prose-bearing keys, e.g. title and description.
`subfilter`	string		Subfilter format to apply to HTML content within Markdown (e.g., 'html')
`translateBlockQuotes`	boolean	true	If true, blockquote content is translatable.
`translateCodeBlocks`	boolean	false	If true, fenced and indented code blocks are translatable. If false, emitted as non-translatable data.
`translateFrontMatter`	boolean	false	If true, YAML front matter values are translatable. If false, emitted as non-translatable data.
`translateHTMLBlocks`	boolean	false	If true, raw HTML blocks are translatable. If false, emitted as non-translatable data.
`translateImageAlt`	boolean	true	If true, image alt text is included in translatable content.
`translateURLs`	boolean	false	If true, link and image URLs are translatable.
`unescapeBackslashCharacters`	boolean	false	Parse backslash-escaped punctuation in source documents
`useCodeFinder`	boolean	false	Enable regex-based inline code detection within translatable text

Configure it live

Configuration

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Examples

Translate front matter too

Include YAML front matter values alongside the prose.

translateFrontMatter: true

Handle embedded HTML structurally

Route inline and block HTML through the HTML subfilter.

subfilter: html

Processing notes

Inline markup (emphasis, links, inline code) becomes inline codes within blocks, so it survives translation unchanged.
Structural elements (fences, list markers, heading prefixes) form the non-translatable skeleton.

Limitations

Code blocks, front matter, raw HTML blocks, and URLs are non-translatable by default; enable the corresponding option to extract them.

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