CLI Reference

Usage

wiremd <input> [options]

<input> is a path to a .md file or a directory. Directory mode renders each page-shaped .md file to an adjacent .html or .json file, or serves the folder when --serve is used.

Flags

Flag	Alias	Type	Default	Description
--output <file>	-o	string	<input>.html (or .json)	Output file path
--format <format>	-f	html | json	html	Output format
--style <style>	-s	see below	sketch	Visual style applied to the HTML output
--watch	-w	boolean	—	Watch for file changes and regenerate
--serve [port]	—	number	3000	Start a dev server with live-reload on the given port
--watch-pattern <glob>	—	string	—	Override the glob pattern of files to watch
--ignore <glob>	—	string	—	Additional glob pattern to exclude from watching
--pretty	-p	boolean	true	Pretty-print output
--show-comments	—	flag	off	Render inline <!-- comments --> as sticky-note callouts
--help	-h	—	—	Print help and exit
--version	-v	—	—	Print version and exit

--style values

Value	Description
sketch	Balsamiq-inspired hand-drawn look (default)
clean	Modern minimal design
wireframe	Traditional grayscale with hatching
none	Unstyled semantic HTML
tailwind	Utility-first design with purple accents
material	Google Material Design with elevation
brutal	Neo-brutalism with bold colors and thick borders

--format values

Only html and json are supported by the CLI. (react and tailwind are available via the programmatic API but not as CLI output formats.)

Examples

# One-shot render with default settings (sketch style, HTML output)
wiremd wireframe.md

# Write to a specific file
wiremd wireframe.md -o dist/wireframe.html

# Use the clean style
wiremd wireframe.md --style clean

# Serve with live-reload on port 3000, watching for changes
wiremd wireframe.md --serve --watch

# Output JSON AST
wiremd wireframe.md --format json -o wireframe.json

# Directory mode: render every page in a folder
wiremd ./screens

# Directory mode: watch and regenerate every page
wiremd ./screens --watch

# Directory mode: serve an entire folder of .md files
wiremd ./screens --serve 3001

Flag interactions

--serve starts a server on port 3000 when no port is provided, but does not auto-enable --watch. If port 3000 is busy, wiremd tries the next ports up to 10 times and prints the address it chose. Explicit ports, such as --serve 3001, are used exactly and fail if busy. The server will reflect regenerated output only when --watch is also set (or when the input is a directory, which implicitly watches).

--watch without --serve regenerates the output file on disk but does not start a server.

Default output path: when -o is omitted, wiremd writes <input>.html (or <input>.json when --format json). The input .md extension is replaced.

Directory mode: passing a directory as <input> renders every .md file under the directory to an adjacent output file. Files prefixed with _, such as _nav.md, are treated as partials and skipped as output pages. --watch regenerates the directory on Markdown changes. --serve serves the directory; if an index.md exists it is used as the default page. Single-file output flags (-o) are ignored in directory mode.

--watch-pattern replaces the default watch glob entirely. Use it to watch files outside the input directory, or to narrow the scope (e.g. "src/**/*.md").

--ignore appends to the built-in ignore list (**/node_modules/**, **/.git/**, **/dist/**, **/build/**). It does not replace it.