Getting started

Markdown API quickstart

Make your first authenticated Markdown Viewer API call in under a minute. This guide walks you through creating a key, sending a request, and reading the response — with copy-paste snippets for curl, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python.

No SDK to install. No webhooks to configure. Just HTTPS, JSON, and a Bearer token.

Step 1

Create an API key

Sign in to your account and head to the API Keys page. Click “New key”, give it a label that identifies the environment (eg. production-web), and copy the secret. We only display the full key once — store it in your secrets manager or environment variables right away.

Production keys look like mdv_live_…. They're hashed on our side with a salted SHA-256, so we can't recover the raw value after creation — keep them safe.

Step 2

Send your first request

Authenticate every request with the Authorization header and pass the markdown in the JSON body. Pick your language:

curl -X POST 'https://trymarkdownviewer.com/api/v1/render' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"markdown":"# Hello world\n\nWelcome to **Markdown Viewer**."}'

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with the value you copied in step 1. In production, read it from process.env or your secrets manager — never hard-code it.

Step 3

Read the response

Successful responses are always wrapped in a data field:

{
  "data": {
    "html": "<h1 id=\"hello\">Hello</h1>\n<p>Welcome to <strong>Markdown Viewer</strong>.</p>",
    "characters": 78
  }
}

Errors use the same shape with an error field instead:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "unauthorized",
    "message": "Missing or invalid API key."
  }
}

The code field is stable — switch on it in your code. See the full error reference for every code and how to recover.

What to explore next

Try every endpoint in the playground with your own key.
Watch your usage on the usage analytics page.
Implement rate-limit handling with exponential backoff before going to production.

Quickstart FAQ

Do I need an SDK to call the Markdown Viewer API?

No — it's a plain REST API. Anything that speaks HTTPS works: curl, fetch in JavaScript or TypeScript, requests in Python, Go's net/http, Ruby's Net::HTTP, etc. We give you snippets for all the common languages.

Where do I find my API key?

Sign in and open the API Keys page from your dashboard. Click 'New key', give it a label, and copy the secret. The full key is shown exactly once — store it in a secrets manager.

Can I test the API without writing code?

Yes. The playground at /api/playground lets you call any endpoint with your own key. Errors there link straight back to the matching docs entry.

What's the request format?

Send a POST with Content-Type: application/json, an Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_KEY> header, and a JSON body containing the markdown field. The response is always wrapped in { data: … } on success or { error: { code, message } } on failure.

Is the API safe to expose from a browser?

Treat API keys like passwords — never embed them in client-side code. For browser use cases, call your own backend which holds the key and forwards requests to the Markdown Viewer API.