Document export

Render pages or folders to PDF, HTML, slide decks, and static sites.

Document export turns markdown into files you can hand to people: a PDF report, a standalone HTML page, a slide deck, or a documentation site. Export one page, or a whole folder compiled into a book.

There are two ways to export:

• From the web UI, any page can be saved as a PDF in the browser, with nothing installed on the server.
• From the CLI, REST API, or MCP, KiwiFS runs Pandoc, Marp, or MkDocs on the server for every format and option.

Export a page from the web UI

Open a page, click the page actions menu, and choose Export as PDF. The web UI compiles the PDF in your browser with Typst. Wiki links print as their link text, and embeds such as ![[diagram.png]] are left out.

The same menu has Export as Markdown, which downloads the page’s source file.

The browser loads the Typst compiler from the jsDelivr CDN the first time you export, so the browser needs internet access.

Server-side export

CLI

Terminal

kiwifs export --format pdf --path docs/report.md --theme paper -o report.pdf
kiwifs export --format pdf --path handbook/ -o handbook.pdf
kiwifs export --format html --path concepts/auth.md --self-contained -o auth.html
kiwifs export --format slides --path talks/intro.md --slide-format pdf -o intro.pdf
kiwifs export --format site --path docs/ --site-name "My Wiki" -o docs-site.zip

Without -o, the file is named after the input, such as report.pdf. The CLI shares its --root, --path, and --output flags with data export.

REST

Terminal

curl -X POST http://localhost:3333/api/kiwi/export/document \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"format": "pdf", "path": "docs/report.md", "theme": "paper"}' \
  -o report.pdf

The response is the rendered file, with a matching Content-Type and a Content-Disposition: attachment file name.

MCP

kiwi_export_document

{ "format": "pdf", "path": "docs/report.md", "theme": "paper" }

The tool writes the file to a temporary path on the server and returns that path. Small HTML results come back inline. It works in local mode (kiwifs mcp --root) only.

Rendering stops after five minutes.

Formats and required tools

Format	Output	Needs on the server
pdf	PDF	Pandoc, plus Typst or XeLaTeX
html	HTML page	Pandoc
slides	HTML, PDF, or PPTX deck from Marp markdown	Marp CLI. PDF and PPTX also need Chromium.
site	ZIP of a built MkDocs site	MkDocs
mkdocs (CLI only)	An MkDocs project folder with mkdocs.yml	Nothing

For PDF, KiwiFS uses Typst when it’s installed and falls back to XeLaTeX. Over REST and MCP, mkdocs and docs are aliases for site.

The KiwiFS Docker image includes Pandoc, Marp CLI, Chromium, and MkDocs, but not Typst or XeLaTeX. Server-side PDF export in the container fails with no PDF engine available until you add one, for example in a derived image. In-browser PDF export from the web UI works either way.

Options

CLI flag	REST and MCP field	Description
--path	path	Page or folder to export (required)
--theme	theme	paper, modern, minimal, dark, or presentation
--self-contained	self_contained	Embed images, CSS, and fonts in the HTML
--bibliography	bibliography	.bib or CSL JSON file for citations
--csl	csl_style	Citation style name
--crossref	crossref	Number figures, tables, and equations. Needs pandoc-crossref.
--pdf-engine	pdf_engine	typst or xelatex
--slide-format	slide_format	html (default), pdf, or pptx
--site-name	site_name	Site title for site and mkdocs
--site-url	site_url	Canonical site URL
--repo-url	repo_url	Repository link shown on the site
	metadata	Extra Pandoc metadata as string key-value pairs (REST only)

KiwiFS looks for the citation style as .kiwi/references/<name>.csl, then <name>.csl at the knowledge root. Put the CSL file for apa, ieee, or any other style in one of those places. Without a matching file, Pandoc uses its default style.

Export a folder as a book

When path is a folder, KiwiFS stitches its pages into one document with a table of contents. It orders pages by:

1. The parts list in a _book.yaml file in the folder, if there is one.
2. Otherwise, an order or nav_order frontmatter field, then a numeric file name prefix such as 01-intro.md, then the file name.

handbook/_book.yaml

title: Engineering handbook
author: Platform team
parts:
  - intro.md
  - onboarding.md
  - on-call.md

_book.yaml can also set date, lang, theme, and template.

Related

Data export

JSONL, CSV, and Parquet.

Publishing

Share pages on the web without exporting.