Discourse now supports native Markdown endpoints, making it easier for AI tools and other clients to read forum content without parsing full HTML pages.
This feature will be enabled by default on all hosted sites via the Upcoming Changes system. Administrators that want to opt out can do so by disabling the enable_markdown_endpoints site setting.
Many thanks to @benword for creating the original Discourse to Markdown plugin, it was the precursor to this feature in Discourse core.
The Markdown output is generated from posts’ rendered (“cooked”) HTML, preserving the content readers see, including expanded links and processed formatting. Discourse-specific elements such as quotes, oneboxes, code blocks, polls, and collapsible sections are converted back to Markdown. Topic responses include metadata and pagination links, and converted post bodies are cached using a content digest so edits produce fresh output.
Clients can request Markdown explicitly through .md URLs or by sending an Accept: text/markdown header. Negotiation respects quality values and selects Markdown when it is preferred over HTML and JSON; explicit .md requests retain their formats. Supported HTML pages advertise their Markdown equivalent through an HTTP Link header and a <link rel="alternate"> element.