AI assistants and coding agents read your docs too. When they load an article as a normal web page, they have to dig your content out of the navigation, scripts, and styling around it. That's slow and messy. Markdown versions give them a format they already understand.
Just add .md to the end of any article URL to get that article as Markdown:
https://yourdomain.helpdocs.io/article/abc123-getting-started.mdYou don't need to set anything up per article. Once Markdown articles is switched on, every article gets a Markdown version, and it updates whenever you publish a change.
How do AI tools find .md files? π
Most agents won't know to add .md themselves, so HelpDocs points them to it in three ways:
- Content negotiation. Tools like Claude Code tell the server they prefer Markdown. When they do, they get Markdown from your normal article URL. Browsers still get the regular page.
- llms.txt. If you've enabled llms.txt, its article links point to the Markdown versions.
- Alternate links. Every article page includes a link to its Markdown version that tools can discover.
How to Enable Markdown Articles
- Head to Settings > AI
- Scroll to AI visibility
- Switch on Markdown articles
- Hit Save changes
What's In The Markdown
Each file starts with a short header holding the article's title, description, link, category, and when it was last updated. The article follows, with its title as the first heading. Clips and variables are filled in, so the Markdown matches what a reader sees on the page. The table of contents is left out, since tools build their own from your headings.
Here's a quick look at the top of a file:
---
title: "Getting Started"
description: "Everything you need to set up your Knowledge Base."
url: "https://yourdomain.helpdocs.io/article/abc123-getting-started"
category: "Basics"
updated_at: "2026-10-01T09:30:00Z"
---
# Getting Started
Welcome to your new Knowledge Base. This guide walks you through the basics.Who Can See It
The Markdown version plays by exactly the same rules as the article page. If a visitor can't see an article, they can't see its Markdown either.
- Draft and archived articles aren't available.
- Articles restricted to permission groups are only served to people in those groups.
- Team passwords, IP allowlists, and logged-in-only Knowledge Bases all still apply.