I know that Notion allows you to import markdown files through their web interface to create new pages. However, I’m wondering if there’s a way to achieve this programmatically.
When I use the official Notion API, it seems like I have to manually create each block element separately, which is quite tedious for large markdown documents. Is there any method through the API that accepts raw markdown content and converts it automatically?
If the native API doesn’t support this functionality, are there any external services or libraries that can help convert markdown to Notion blocks or handle this import process more efficiently?
Used Martian Library for this - super lightweight and handles conversion pretty well. Only catch is you’ll need to manually clean up tables afterward, but it’s way better than building a parser from scratch. Works great for basic documents.
Had this same issue when I migrated our docs repo. Tried a bunch of different methods and ended up going with markdown-to-blocks + Notion API through Python - worked way better than anything else I tested. The trick is setting up a preprocessing pipeline first to handle frontmatter, code blocks, and image refs before you convert. I used the markdown2 library to parse everything, then manually mapped each element to Notion’s block schema. It’s slower than just importing directly, but you get complete control over formatting and can actually handle errors properly. For small projects, honestly just drag-and-drop through the web interface is still your best bet. But if you need automation, building your own converter is definitely worth the upfront work.
I’ve been migrating content with Notion’s API and you need a hybrid approach for markdown-to-blocks conversion. The official API won’t take markdown directly, but I’ve had good luck pairing @notionhq/client with a markdown parser like remark. Here’s what works: preprocess your markdown into AST structure first, then map each node type to Notion block objects. Chunk large documents because of rate limits. There’s an unofficial paste endpoint that mimics the web interface - I found it works but it’s not supported and could break anytime. For production, just do proper block conversion even though it’s more work.
Yeah, that Notion API limitation is super common. I got around it by building a pipeline - run markdown through marked.js first, then send that to a custom block generator. Game changer was making reusable templates for stuff like headers, code blocks, and tables. Fair warning though - you’ll lose some formatting that the web interface handles automatically. Also found that splitting big documents into chunks and using batch API calls helps tons with performance and stops those annoying timeouts. If you’re doing this regularly, set up a webhook that auto-triggers conversion when new markdown files hit your source folder.
honestly, the md2notion npm package is ur best bet. it does the heavy lifting and converts markdown straight to Notion blocks - no manual work needed. great for bulk imports too, tho image handling can be tricky.
Dealing with this same issue right now during our knowledge base migration. I combined pandoc with a custom Node.js script that converts the parsed output into Notion blocks. Pandoc’s markdown parsing is solid and spits out clean JSON that maps nicely to Notion’s block types. Big win over other tools - it actually preserves tricky stuff like nested lists and mixed content that break simpler parsers. You’ll still handle API calls yourself, but conversion accuracy is way better. Takes maybe 30 minutes to set up the mapping functions, then you can churn through hundreds of docs without issues. Really shines if your markdown structure is consistent.
I faced a similar challenge last year when transferring documents from our wiki to Notion. It’s frustrating that the API lacks a built-in markdown import feature, even though the web interface accommodates it. My solution involved using the notion-md-crawler library combined with a custom parser. This approach converts markdown into Notion’s block structure, allowing for batch uploads. Just ensure that your markdown is preprocessed correctly, as nested elements like code blocks and tables can cause issues if misformatted. For ongoing imports, you might explore Zapier or Make.com, as they offer integrated markdown parsing that automates the block conversion, though the results can vary with complex formatting.
I found an unofficial workaround using Notion’s internal clipboard API endpoint. It basically copies what happens when you paste markdown directly into a page. It’s undocumented and could break, but it takes raw markdown and converts blocks automatically. I’ve used it on several client projects when speed mattered. Works just like the web interface paste - keeps most formatting details that you lose with manual block creation. Since it’s unofficial though, always have a backup plan. For production, I’d go with markdown-it library plus proper error handling. Way more reliable long-term than betting on undocumented endpoints.
check out notion-importer on github - handles markdown parsing well and saves tons of time. had some table issues but worked fine for everything else. if u need exact web interface behavior, try browser automation with puppeteer.