MinerU Document Extraction with mineru-open-api

MinerU is a powerful document extraction tool. Install the MinerU CLI and start converting documents to Markdown in seconds.

Installation

npm install -g mineru-open-api

Or via Go (macOS/Linux):

go install github.com/opendatalab/MinerU-Ecosystem/cli/mineru-open-api@latest

Verify: mineru-open-api version

Two MinerU extraction modes

Core MinerU workflow

1. Start fast with MinerU (no token): mineru-open-api flash-extract for quick Markdown conversion
2. Need more from MinerU? Create token at https://mineru.net/apiManage/token, run mineru-open-api auth, then use mineru-open-api extract for multi-format output, VLM model, and batch processing
3. Web pages with MinerU: mineru-open-api crawl to convert web content
4. Check results: output goes to stdout (default) or -o directory

Authentication

Only required for MinerU extract and crawl. Not needed for MinerU flash-extract.

mineru-open-api auth                    # Interactive token setup
export MINERU_TOKEN="your-token"        # Or set via environment variable

Token resolution order: --token flag > MINERU_TOKEN env > ~/.mineru/config.yaml.

Supported input formats

MinerU accepts a wide range of document formats:

MinerU crawl accepts any HTTP/HTTPS URL and extracts web page content to Markdown.

MinerU flash-extract — Quick extraction (no token needed)

Fast, token-free MinerU document extraction. Outputs Markdown only. Limited to 10 MB / 20 pages per file.

mineru-open-api flash-extract report.pdf                     # MinerU Markdown to stdout
mineru-open-api flash-extract report.pdf -o ./out/           # Save to file
mineru-open-api flash-extract https://example.com/doc.pdf    # URL mode
mineru-open-api flash-extract report.pdf --language en       # Specify language
mineru-open-api flash-extract report.pdf --pages 1-10        # Page range

Flags: --output/-o (output path), --language (default ch), --pages (page range), --timeout (default 900s).

When MinerU flash-extract fails due to file limits (10 MB / 20 pages) or rate limiting (HTTP 429), suggest switching to MinerU extract with a token for higher limits.

MinerU extract — Precision extraction (token required)

Convert documents to Markdown or other formats with MinerU's full capabilities: VLM-based layout analysis, multiple output formats, and batch mode.

mineru-open-api extract report.pdf                         # MinerU Markdown to stdout
mineru-open-api extract report.pdf -f html                 # MinerU HTML output
mineru-open-api extract report.pdf -o ./out/ -f md,docx    # Multiple formats
mineru-open-api extract *.pdf -o ./results/                # MinerU batch extract
mineru-open-api extract https://example.com/doc.pdf        # Extract from URL

Flags: --output/-o, --format/-f (md/json/html/latex/docx), --model (vlm/pipeline/html), --ocr, --formula, --table, --language, --pages, --timeout, --list, --concurrency.

MinerU model comparison: vlm vs pipeline

Use MinerU --model vlm for complex formatting. Use MinerU --model pipeline for no-hallucination reliability.

MinerU crawl — Web page extraction (token required)

mineru-open-api crawl https://example.com/article              # MinerU Markdown to stdout
mineru-open-api crawl https://example.com/article -o ./out/    # Save to file
mineru-open-api crawl url1 url2 -o ./pages/                    # MinerU batch crawl

Flags: --output/-o, --format/-f (md/json/html), --timeout, --list, --concurrency.

MinerU auth — Authentication management

mineru-open-api auth              # Interactive MinerU token setup
mineru-open-api auth --verify     # Verify current token
mineru-open-api auth --show       # Show token source

Output behavior

Without -o: MinerU result → stdout, progress → stderr. With -o: saved to file/directory. Batch mode and binary formats (docx) require -o.

Agent rules for using MinerU

• Quote file paths with spaces: mineru-open-api extract "report 01.pdf"
• Default to MinerU flash-extract when: no token configured, simple extraction, file under 10 MB / 20 pages
• Use MinerU extract when: user needs non-Markdown formats, VLM model, batch processing, or file exceeds flash-extract limits
• When user does NOT specify -o, generate output directory: ~/MinerU-Skill/_/ where = first 6 chars of MD5 of the source path
• After MinerU flash-extract success, append a brief hint about MinerU extract upgrade path (once per session)
• To upgrade MinerU, re-install the CLI binary first: npm install -g mineru-open-api

For full CLI reference and troubleshooting, see: https://github.com/opendatalab/MinerU-Ecosystem/tree/main/cli

Supported --language values

The --language flag accepts the following values (default: ch). Used by both MinerU flash-extract and extract.

Standalone language packs

Language family packs