Markdown-to-HTML Converter (Rust)

A simple command-line tool written in Rust that converts Markdown files into HTML files. It uses pulldown-cmark for parsing and supports building an entire directory of Markdown files into a corresponding set of HTML outputs.

Features

• Recursive collection of Markdown files from an input directory
• Conversion from .md to .html using pulldown-cmark.
• Automatic output directory creation.
• Optional clean build.
• Simple, type-safe CLI built with clap.
• Extendable build pipeline suitable for static-site workflows.
• Access generated .html files through localhost with serve commannd.

Installation

Clone the repository and build the project:

git clone https://github.com/Niall-Sharma/mkweb.git
cd <project-directory>
cargo build --release

The compiled binary will appear in target/release/.

Usage

Basic build

Convert an entire Markdown directory into HTML:

./mkweb --input ./notes

Specify an output directory

./mkweb --input ./notes --output ./public

Clean output directory before building

./mkweb --input ./notes --output ./public --clean

CLI Options

Example full command:

mkweb --input ./content --output ./site build

Project Structure

src/
main.rs # CLI + command routing
builder.rs # Directory scanning and file operations
parser.rs # Markdown → HTML conversion logic

How It Works

1. Collect Markdown files:
   The program walks the input directory and finds all files ending in .md.

2. Parse Markdown:
   Each file’s contents are fed into pulldown-cmark::Parser.

3. Generate HTML:
   The converted HTML is written into a corresponding .html file in the output directory.

4. Output result:
   If --clean is passed, the output directory is recreated fresh before writing.

Requirements

• Rust 1.70+ (recommended)
• macOS, Linux, or Windows

Future Improvements

• Checkbox support
• Table support
• Front-matter parsing (YAML/JSON)

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.