JotBird CLI – Publish Markdown from the terminal

CLI

The JotBird command line interface (CLI) is all it takes to go from Markdown file to shareable link. Three commands. No browser needed. Used by developers, educators, and researchers worldwide.

$npm install -g jotbird

How it works

From install to published link in under a minute. Perfect for LLM workflows, CI pipelines, and Markdown-first publishing.

Install

One command to install. Works anywhere Node.js runs:

npm install -g jotbird

Authenticate

Run

jotbird login

to link your account. One-time setup, takes seconds. Don't have an account?

Create one for free.

Publish

Run

jotbird publish file.md

to get a shareable link. Update anytime with the same command.

Unlike gists, pastebins, and wikis, JotBird links are readable, unlisted, and designed to be shared — not browsed. Noindex by default.

How it looks

Every published page gets a responsive URL — no ads, no tracking, no clutter, just your content. Markdown is rendered with proper typography, code blocks, headings, and lists. Here's an example.

Example of a published JotBird page showing rendered Markdown with headings, lists, and code blocks

Ready to publish Markdown from the terminal?

Create a free JotBird account to get your API key and start publishing.

Reference

CLI Documentation

Everything you need to know about the JotBird CLI.

Install the JotBird CLI globally with npm. Requires Node.js 18 or later.

npm install -g jotbird

Verify the installation:

jotbird --version

Link your JotBird account by running the login command. This is a one-time setup.

jotbird login

The CLI will open your browser to authenticate. Once you sign in, the CLI automatically receives your API key — no copy-pasting required.

Your token is stored locally on your machine. You won't need to log in again unless you revoke the key.

Publish a new Markdown document or update an existing one. Free accounts get 90-day links. Pro makes links permanent.

jotbird publish meeting-notes.md

Supported file types: .md, .markdown, .mdx, .txt, .text, and files without an extension (e.g. README). You can also pipe any Markdown content via stdin (see below).

The CLI creates a .jotbird file in your working directory to track which files map to which published slugs. Running the same command again updates the existing document in place — same URL, fresh content.

# First publish → creates new document
jotbird publish README.md
✨ Published → share.jotbird.com/bright-calm-meadow

# Second publish → updates in place
jotbird publish README.md
✓ Updated → share.jotbird.com/bright-calm-meadow

Local images referenced in your Markdown (e.g. ![photo](./images/photo.png)) are automatically uploaded and hosted when you publish. Your original file is not modified. Supported formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, SVG (max 10 MB each).

To update a specific document by its slug — regardless of file tracking — use the --slug flag:

jotbird publish --slug bright-calm-meadow meeting-notes.md

This replaces the content at share.jotbird.com/bright-calm-meadow with the contents of meeting-notes.md. The --slug flag also works with stdin:

echo "# Updated content" | jotbird publish --slug bright-calm-meadow

This is useful when you know the slug but don't have a .jotbird mapping file — for example, when updating from a CI pipeline or a different machine.

View all your published documents.

jotbird list

bright-calm-meadow   Meeting Notes
                     share.jotbird.com/bright-calm-meadow

swift-red-fox        README
                     share.jotbird.com/swift-red-fox

Documents published via the CLI also appear in the web app, where you can view them and share the link. Editing is only available through the CLI — the web app shows CLI-published documents as read-only.

Permanently delete a document from your account. This removes the public URL, stored content, and all associated data. You can pass either the original filename or the slug.

jotbird remove meeting-notes.md
jotbird remove bright-calm-meadow

Permanent action

This permanently deletes the document and link. There is no way to recover them.

Advanced

Piping from stdin

You can pipe Markdown directly into the CLI without a file. Useful for scripts and CI pipelines.

cat notes.md | jotbird publish

echo "# Quick note" | jotbird publish

When publishing from stdin, the CLI won't track a file mapping — each publish creates a new document.

The CLI tracks file-to-slug mappings in a .jotbird file in your working directory. Each line maps a filename to its published slug:

meeting-notes.md = bright-calm-meadow
README.md = swift-red-fox

This file is created automatically on first publish and updated on subsequent publishes. It allows jotbird publish meeting-notes.md to update the existing document without needing --slug. You can commit .jotbird to version control so that collaborators and CI pipelines update the same documents.

The JotBird CLI is open source. View on GitHub

Also available as an agent skill: npx skills add jotbirdhq/skill