md2

Write once in Markdown, publish to WeChat, Zhihu, Xiaohongshu and X / Threads, and get long images and covers too.

English · 简体中文

Web App · VS Code extension · CLI · MCP / AI agents

Why md2

Every platform's editor has its own quirks. md2 handles them all in one pass:

Also included: Mermaid diagrams (styles fully inlined, so they survive pasting into WeChat), math, fine-tuning (first-line indent, justify, line / paragraph / letter spacing, custom CSS), an AI writing assistant (bring your own key: Claude, DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen or Ollama; writes Xiaohongshu titles and captions, rewrites threads, drafts WeChat headlines and digests, and writes cover copy) and a Chinese / English UI.

Everything renders locally. The web app runs in your browser and the CLI and VS Code extension run on your machine. Only the AI and WeChat API calls you trigger yourself go over the network.

16 contemporary themes + 8 code palettes

The themes follow current design languages: Claude, Linear, Geist (Vercel), Apple keynote, Editorial, Swiss, Neo-Brutal, Bento, Aurora, Midnight, Matcha, Wabi-sabi, Distill, Coral, Stripe docs and 宋韵 (Song dynasty). Code highlighting comes in GitHub Light/Dark, Vitesse, Tokyo Night, Catppuccin and Rosé Pine. Any theme can take a new accent color in one click.

Xiaohongshu cards

Covers

Zhihu & X

Mermaid, fine-tuning, AI

Related MCP server: md2card-mcp-server

Getting started

VS Code extension

Install md2 from the VS Code Marketplace (search md2 in the Extensions view, or run code --install-extension brycewang-stanford.md2). Cursor, VSCodium and Windsurf users can install it from Open VSX. A .vsix is also attached to each release. Open any Markdown file, then click the md2 icon in the editor title bar or press ⌘⌥M (Windows / Linux: CtrlAltM):

• Live preview for every platform, scrolling with your editor.

• From the Command Palette or the right-click menu: copy for WeChat / Zhihu, export Xiaohongshu cards, long images or covers (saved to md2-export/), copy a thread.

• Publish to WeChat drafts (your AppID / AppSecret are kept in VS Code's encrypted SecretStorage).

See the extension README for every command and setting.

Web App

Open https://brycewang-stanford.github.io/md2/. Write Markdown on the left (you can drop in a .md file or paste images) and switch platforms on the right:

• WeChat: click Copy for WeChat and paste into the WeChat Official Account editor.

• Zhihu: click Copy for Zhihu and paste into the article editor. Formulas and code blocks stay editable.

• Xiaohongshu: click Export N cards to download a ZIP (images + caption.txt). Click the title or body on the right to copy it.

• X: copy posts one at a time, or the whole thread at once.

• Cover: pick a template and size, then export a PNG, or export every size at once.

Local development:

pnpm install
pnpm dev          # http://localhost:5173

CLI

git clone https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/md2 && cd md2
pnpm install && pnpm build
cd packages/cli && npm link && cd -   # global `md2` command (once the md2all npm package is published: npx md2all)

md2 wechat post.md --copy -t claude        # WeChat rich text → clipboard
md2 zhihu  post.md --copy                  # Zhihu rich text → clipboard
md2 xhs    post.md -o out/xhs -s bento     # Xiaohongshu cards + caption.txt
md2 thread post.md -p x                    # X thread (-p threads|bluesky|mastodon|linkedin)
md2 long   post.md -t claude               # long image
md2 ai xhs post.md                         # AI Xiaohongshu title / caption (needs ANTHROPIC_API_KEY)
md2 cover  post.md -s wechat -t aurora     # WeChat header image
md2 cover  post.md --all -s xhs            # render every cover template at once
md2 themes                                 # list all themes / card styles / covers / sizes

Image commands (xhs, long, cover) render with your local Chrome or Edge. You can also run npx playwright install chromium, or point MD2_CHROME_PATH at a browser.

Publish straight to WeChat drafts

export MD2_WECHAT_APPID=wx...
export MD2_WECHAT_SECRET=...
md2 publish wechat post.md -t linear       # upload body images → upload/generate cover → create draft
md2 publish wechat post.md --dry-run       # rehearse without calling the API

Add your machine's outbound IP to the whitelist under Settings & Development → Basic Configuration (设置与开发 → 基本配置) in the WeChat Official Account platform. md2 only creates drafts. It never mass-sends. Common error codes (40164 IP not whitelisted, 48001 API not authorized, and others) come with an explanation.

Front matter

---
title: Article title         # falls back to the first H1
subtitle: Subtitle           # used on covers
author: Author
tags: [AI, Productivity]     # Xiaohongshu / X hashtags, cover chips
description: Summary         # WeChat digest, first post of a thread
cover: ./cover.png           # WeChat cover (else the first image, else generated)
xhs:
  title: Xiaohongshu title, ≤20 characters
---

Extended syntax: GFM tables / task lists / strikethrough, $inline$ and $$block$$ math, footnotes [^1], GitHub-style alerts > [!TIP], and embedded HTML.

MCP / AI agents

md2 ships an MCP server so Claude, Cursor and other agents can typeset and render images directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "md2": { "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/md2/packages/cli/dist/cli.js", "mcp"] }
  }
}

(Once the npm package is published, use "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "md2all", "mcp"].)

Tools: md2_wechat, md2_zhihu, md2_thread, md2_xhs_cards, md2_long_image, md2_cover, md2_ai, md2_publish_wechat_draft, md2_list_styles.

Claude Code users can also use the skill in this repo: skills/md2/SKILL.md.

Architecture

packages/core   @md2/core  isomorphic rendering engine (browser + Node)
  parse         unified / remark / rehype → hast (front matter, GFM, math, alerts)
  inline-css    CSS inliner built on PostCSS + hast-util-select (WeChat)
  article       formula SVG (MathJax), code highlighting (lowlight), heading decoration, footnotes & references
  platforms/    wechat · zhihu · xhs · x
  cover/        10 cover templates
  dom.ts        Xiaohongshu paginator & cover title fitting (browser; the CLI reuses it via headless Chromium)
packages/cli    md2all     CLI + MCP server + WeChat API
apps/web        Web App (React + CodeMirror 6), also embedded in the VS Code webview
apps/vscode     VS Code extension (preview panel, commands, SecretStorage, draft publishing)

Xiaohongshu pagination and covers run the same DOM code in the web app and the CLI, so both export identical images.

pnpm build && pnpm test

Roadmap

• Mermaid diagrams · AI writing assistant · VS Code extension · long images · Threads / Bluesky / LinkedIn

• Browser autofill for Zhihu / Xiaohongshu (Playwright, with saved login)

• Theme marketplace: import / share custom themes

• Obsidian plugin (reusing @md2/core)

Issues and PRs are welcome, in English or Chinese.

Also from the author: StatsPAI

StatsPAI is an agent-native Python library for causal inference and applied econometrics, a Python-first replacement path for Stata / R workflows (regress, reghdfe, csdid, rdrobust, synth, DoubleML, esttab and more), with machine-readable schemas and an MCP server for Claude Code, Claude Desktop and Cursor. It is developed and maintained by the Stanford REAP team (Rural Education Action Program, Center on China's Economy & Institutions).

pip install statspai

StatsPAI is published in the Journal of Open Source Software: Wang & Rozelle (2026), 11(125), 10604, doi:10.21105/joss.10604.

@article{wang2026statspaijoss,
  author  = {Wang, Biaoyue and Rozelle, Scott},
  title   = {StatsPAI: A Unified, Agent-Native Python Toolkit for
             Causal Inference and Applied Econometrics},
  journal = {Journal of Open Source Software},
  year    = {2026},
  volume  = {11},
  number  = {125},
  pages   = {10604},
  doi     = {10.21105/joss.10604},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.10604}
}

License

MIT © Bryce Wang and contributors. See NOTICE for acknowledgements.