Evolving a Markdown Converter with AI and OSS: A Development Story that Revolutionizes Technical Content Publishing

Introduction: Discovering a Brilliant Tool

One day in 2024, I was searching for the ideal Markdown-to-Medium conversion tool. As someone who regularly writes technical articles, I was looking for an efficient way to optimize my Markdown content for various platforms.

Then I discovered a wonderful OSS tool on GitHub. The functionality was perfect, the UI was polished, and it clearly showcased the author's technical skills and design sense. Seeing the potential of this tool, I felt inspired: "I want to build upon this foundation and evolve it further with modern technology stack."

Opportunities in Modern Technical Content Publishing

1. The Multi-Platform Era

Today, technical content publishing platforms have diversified, each fostering wonderful reader communities:

• Medium (global engineering community)
• Substack (readers seeking deep insights)
• Dev.to (active developer community)
• Zenn (Japanese tech community)
• Company blogs (branding and SEO)

This diversity presents fantastic opportunities, but also creates a need for efficient distribution methods.

2. Leveraging Markdown as a Universal Language

For engineers, Markdown is a powerful productivity tool. It's simple, version-control friendly, and editable in any editor:

## Structured Documents
- Clear hierarchy
- **Important emphasis**
- [Reference links](https://example.com)

Our goal was to maximize the potential of this excellent notation across all platforms.

3. Continuous Evolution of the OSS Community

GitHub hosts many excellent Markdown conversion tools. Each was implemented with cutting-edge technology of its time and has helped countless developers. We believed we could create additional value by combining new technologies with these pioneering achievements.

The OSS Evolution Project: Merging Wisdom of Predecessors with AI

Inheriting Excellent Design Philosophy

The tool I discovered had outstanding features:

• Intuitive real-time preview
• Thoughtfully crafted HTML output for Medium
• UI design prioritizing usability

"Let's inherit this excellent design philosophy while creating something even better with the latest technology."

This was our project's starting point.

Efficient Technology Updates with AI

In 2024 development, AI tools like Cursor and Claude became powerful partners. With these tools, we completed the technology stack update in just 4 hours:

Technology Stack Evolution

• JavaScript to TypeScript (improved type safety)
• Support for latest React 19 (performance improvements)
• Fast development environment with Vite (improved DX)
• Automated deployment with GitHub Actions (continuous improvement)

// Type definitions created in collaboration with AI
export interface MarkdownConverterProps {
  source: string;
  onConvert: (html: string) => void;
  platform?: 'medium' | 'substack';
  theme?: 'light' | 'dark';
}

AI wasn't just a code generation tool; it suggested best practices and helped design with future extensibility in mind.

The Evolved Markdown-to-Medium

Core Features: Balancing Simplicity and Power

1. Real-time Preview

   • See actual rendering while writing Markdown
   • Faithful reproduction of each platform's display characteristics

2. One-Click Conversion

   • Instantly generate optimized HTML
   • Automatic clipboard copy

3. Multi-Platform Support

   • Medium (optimized)
   • Substack (newly supported)
   • Continuous expansion planned

Usage: Simple 3 Steps

Step 1: Access

https://m2m.tied-inc.com/

No registration required, free, instant access.

Step 2: Write in Markdown
Create articles using familiar Markdown syntax. Paste existing drafts too.

Step 3: Convert and Publish
After checking the preview, click "Copy HTML". Platform-optimized HTML is generated.

Measured Impact

Actual improvements in our team:

Before Implementation

• Article writing: 30 minutes
• Platform-specific adjustments: 20 minutes
• Review and fixes: 10 minutes
• Total: 60 minutes/article

After Implementation

• Article writing: 30 minutes
• Conversion and posting: 3 minutes
• Total: 33 minutes/article

45% time reduction allows us to dedicate more time to improving content quality.

OSS Development in the AI Era: Collaborative Evolution

Balancing Heritage and Innovation

What we learned through this project:

1. Excellent OSS design philosophy holds value across generations
2. AI tools enable rapid modernization while leveraging existing assets
3. Better tools emerge by gathering community wisdom

Open Development Process

Currently, this tool is actively evolving:

• Substack support (implemented from community request)
• Accessibility improvements (dark mode added)
• Internationalization (multi-language UI)

All features are born from dialogue with users.

Let's Build Together

Start Using Today

For Individual Writers

• Start instantly at https://m2m.tied-inc.com/
• Write efficiently with familiar Markdown
• Easy distribution to multiple platforms

For DevRel Teams and Technical PR

• Significantly improve team-wide writing efficiency
• Quality control with consistent formatting
• Create an environment where engineers can focus on writing

Evolve Together

This tool is published as OSS, and we welcome your participation:

Feedback Examples

• "Dev.to optimization would be great"
• "Want to improve code block syntax highlighting"
• "Writing template features would be convenient"

How to Participate

1. Create issues on GitHub
2. Share improvements and ideas
3. Pull requests are very welcome

The Potential of Technical Communities

In the AI era, OSS development has become more collaborative and efficient:

• Building upon existing excellent projects
• Accelerating development with AI tools
• Determining direction through community collective intelligence

Conclusion: Building the Future Together

1. To All Writers
   
   Publish articles to any platform efficiently with Markdown. Make technical knowledge sharing easier.

2. To All Developers
   
   The combination of AI and OSS shows that individuals can create significant impact. Let's build useful tools together.

3. To the Community
   
   Please share your impressions, improvements, and new feature ideas. Your voice guides the tool's evolution.

Writing and sharing technical articles is a wonderful activity that spreads knowledge and enriches communities. We hope this tool helps support that activity.

Try it now → https://m2m.tied-inc.com/

Develop together → https://github.com/tied-inc/Markdown-to-Medium

This article was also efficiently created with Markdown-to-Medium. 30 minutes writing, 3 minutes converting.