---
title: Markdown Source
description: Access raw Markdown source for any documentation page by appending .md to the URL. Structured text for AI tools, scripts, and content pipelines.
---

AI tools process Markdown more efficiently than rendered HTML. Jamdesk makes the raw Markdown source of every page available by appending `.md` to any URL. No authentication required.

## `.md` URL Extension

Append `.md` to any documentation page URL to get the raw source instead of rendered HTML:

```bash
# Rendered page
https://acme.jamdesk.app/getting-started

# Raw Markdown source
https://acme.jamdesk.app/getting-started.md
```

This works for any path depth. Here's what the response looks like:

```bash
curl https://acme.jamdesk.app/getting-started.md
```

```markdown
---
title: Getting Started
description: Set up your first project in 5 minutes.
---

Welcome to the getting started guide.

## Prerequisites

<Note>You'll need Node.js 18 or later.</Note>
```

The response is the exact source file from your repository, including frontmatter and component tags.

### Custom domains

Raw content works on custom domains too. Use the same URL your readers see, with `.md` appended:

```bash
# Docs served at root
curl https://docs.example.com/getting-started.md

# Docs served at /docs subpath
curl https://docs.example.com/docs/getting-started.md
```

## Content Format

The raw content is Markdown extended with component tags like `<Note>`, `<Steps>`, and `<Tabs>`. Standard Markdown parsers will treat component tags as raw HTML. See [Markdown basics](/content/mdx-basics) for the full syntax reference.

## Response Details

### Headers

| Header | Value | Purpose |
|--------|-------|---------|
| `Content-Type` | `text/markdown; charset=utf-8` | Identifies content as Markdown |
| `Cache-Control` | `public, max-age=0, s-maxage=300, stale-while-revalidate=60` | CDN-cached for 5 minutes, no browser cache |
| `X-Robots-Tag` | `noindex, nofollow` | Prevents search engine indexing |
| `Content-Disposition` | `inline` | Displays in browser instead of downloading |
| `X-Frame-Options` | `DENY` | Prevents embedding in iframes |
| `Content-Security-Policy` | `default-src 'none'` | Blocks script execution |

### Error responses

| Status | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| `308` | Trailing slash redirect (e.g., `/intro.md/` redirects to `/intro.md`) |
| `404` | Page does not exist (returns an HTML error page, not Markdown) |
| `500` | Server error (returns an HTML error page) |

## Use with AI Tools

Markdown source URLs pair well with the [MCP server](/ai/mcp-server). Use `searchDocs` to find pages by keyword, then fetch raw source for the matched page:

```bash
# 1. Search for a topic via MCP
curl -X POST https://acme.jamdesk.app/_mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"searchDocs","arguments":{"query":"authentication"}}}'

# 2. Fetch the raw source of the top result
curl https://acme.jamdesk.app/guides/authentication.md
```

This gives AI tools both search and full-source access to your documentation.

## What's Next?

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="MCP Server" icon="robot" href="/ai/mcp-server">
    Connect AI assistants directly to your docs
  </Card>
  <Card title="Markdown Basics" icon="pen-nib" href="/content/mdx-basics">
    MDX syntax reference for documentation pages
  </Card>
</Columns>