Support markdown with your agent built with XMTP

Use the markdown content type to send rich formatted text messages with your agent. Markdown allows you to include headers, lists, tables, code blocks, and other formatting elements to create more engaging and structured messages.

Install the package

In some SDKs, the MarkdownCodec is already included in the SDK. If not, you can install the package using the following command:

npm

npm i @xmtp/content-type-markdown

Configure the content type

After importing the package, you can register the codec.

Node

import {
  ContentTypeMarkdown,
  MarkdownCodec,
} from '@xmtp/content-type-markdown';
 
// Create the XMTP agent
const agent = await Agent.create(signer, {
  env: 'dev',
  codecs: [new MarkdownCodec()],
});

Send markdown content

With XMTP, markdown content is sent as a string containing markdown formatting:

Node

// Basic markdown message
const markdownContent = `## Welcome to XMTP
 
This is a **bold** message with *italic* text and \`inline code\`.
 
- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 3`;
 
await ctx.conversation.send(markdownContent, ContentTypeMarkdown);

Supported markdown patterns

The markdown content type supports the following formatting patterns:

Headers

# H1 headers
## H2 headers
### H3 headers
#### H4 headers
##### H5 headers
###### H6 headers

Text formatting

**bold text** or __bold text__
*italic text* or _italic text_
~~strikethrough text~~
`inline code`

Lists

Unordered lists with -, *, or +
Ordered lists with numbers
Nested lists with proper indentation

Tables

Standard markdown table syntax with | separators
Header rows with --- separators

Code blocks

Fenced code blocks with triple backticks
Language-specific syntax highlighting
Inline code with single backticks

Other elements

Blockquotes with >
Horizontal rules with ---
Links with [text](url)
Images with ![alt](url)

Example usage

Node

const content = `## Results Summary
 
- **Total items:** ${count}
- *Status:* ${status}
- \`Processing time:\` ${duration}ms
 
### Next Steps
1. Review results
2. Update configuration
3. Deploy changes
 
| Metric | Value | Status |
|--------|-------|--------|
| Total  | ${total} | ✅ |
| Active | ${active} | 🟡 |
| Errors | ${errors} | ❌ |
 
\`\`\`javascript
const agent = await Agent.create(signer, {
  env: 'dev',
  codecs: [new MarkdownCodec()],
});
\`\`\``;
 
await ctx.conversation.send(content, ContentTypeMarkdown);

Receive markdown content

Node

agent.on('message', async (ctx) => {
  if (ctx.usesCodec(MarkdownCodec)) {
    const markdownContent = ctx.message.content;
    console.log('Received markdown:', markdownContent);
 
    // Process the markdown content
    // You can parse it, extract data, or display it formatted
  }
});

Filter for markdown content

Node

// Check if the message contains markdown
if (ctx.usesCodec(MarkdownCodec)) {
  const markdown: string = ctx.message.content;
  // Handle markdown content
}