Pretty Page

/pretty-page — Convert Markdown to Styled HTML Page

Convert markdown content into a beautifully styled, shareable HTML page using the JFDI design system (Risograph-inspired aesthetic). Renders locally and uploads to any S3-compatible host.

Usage

/pretty-page <file-path-or-inline-content> [--title "Page Title"] [--slug custom-slug] [--nav '<JSON>'] [--wide]

--wide — widens the content column from 720px to 1100px. Use for table-heavy pages so wide tables render without horizontal scrolling.

What It Does

1. Takes markdown content (file path or inline text)
2. Converts to styled HTML using render.py and template.html
3. Uploads to S3-compatible storage via upload.py
4. Returns a shareable public URL

When to Use

Instead of posting raw .md files or sending markdown attachments, use this to create a readable, styled page that anyone can open in a browser.

Good for:

• Meeting notes with action item checklists
• Analysis reports
• Research summaries
• Blog post drafts for review
• Any markdown content that needs to be shared and read comfortably
• System architecture docs with interactive animations

Source Sync Guardrails

The MD is always the source of truth. The pretty-page is a rendered artifact.

1. MD-first workflow — If the user asks to update content on a pretty-page, always write the change to the source .md first, then regenerate.
2. Regenerate = overwrite — The upload always uses the same slug derived from the source file, so regenerating overwrites the previous version at the same URL.
3. Never guess URL slugs — When adding links to source .md files, always verify URLs exist before writing them.

Setup

Install the Python dependency:

pip install boto3

Set these environment variables (add to your .env or shell profile):

# Required
export S3_BUCKET=your-bucket-name
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=your-key
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=your-secret

# Optional — for non-AWS providers (DO Spaces, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2)
export S3_ENDPOINT_URL=https://nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=nyc3

# Optional — prefix for uploaded files (default: "pretty-page/")
export S3_PREFIX=public/

# Optional — override public URL base (e.g. your CDN domain)
export S3_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=https://cdn.yourdomain.com

Template

The template uses the JFDI design system:

• Fonts: Fraunces (headings) + DM Sans (body) + DM Mono (code)
• Colors: Cream paper (#F7F3ED), dark ink (#1C1C1C), red (#E63946), blue (#457B9D), yellow (#F4A261), green (#2A9D8F)
• Features: Paper noise texture, offset box-shadows on blockquotes, styled code blocks, responsive layout

Interactive Features

Checkboxes with localStorage

Markdown - [ ] and - [x] render as styled, clickable HTML checkboxes. State persists in browser localStorage (keyed by page title slug).

A notice appears under each h2 section containing checkboxes: "Checkbox changes are stored locally on your device, not synced with other devices or people."

Copy as Markdown

Floating button in the top-right corner copies the full raw markdown source to clipboard. Shows "Copied!" feedback with green styling for 2 seconds.

Table of Contents (Auto & Manual)

• Auto-TOC: Pages with 4+ headings automatically get a collapsible "On this page" TOC generated from all h2/h3/h4 headings
• Manual TOC: If the markdown starts with a metadata block containing anchor links (#section-name), the auto-TOC is suppressed and the manual version is used instead
• Collapsible: Both auto and manual TOCs are collapsible with a [+]/[-] toggle — starts open, state persists in localStorage

Floating Sidebar TOC

On wide-screen displays (>1300px), a fixed sidebar TOC appears on the left side of pages with 4+ h2 headings. It highlights the active section as you scroll.

Collapsible h3 Sections

All h3 headings are collapsible — click the heading to toggle the section. State persists in localStorage.

Sticky Nav Bar

Pass --nav with a JSON array of {label, url, active} objects to add a fixed nav bar:

NAV='[{"label":"Home","url":"https://example.com/","active":true},{"label":"Docs","url":"https://example.com/docs"}]'
python3 render.py source.md --nav "$NAV"

Heading Anchors

All h2/h3/h4 headings get slug-based id attributes for in-page linking. scroll-margin-top provides breathing room when jumping to anchors.

Metadata Box

Consecutive **Bold:** lines at the start of content are wrapped in a styled .metadata div. First line renders slightly larger for visual hierarchy. Lists following bold labels are included in the box.

Blockquote Cards (Person/Item Cards)

Use blockquotes to create visually distinct cards — great for staff rosters, contact profiles, or any list of items that need their own box.

Pattern — header + bullets + connections paragraph:

> **Name** — Title
> - Career stop 1
> - Career stop 2 (current role)
> - Education
>
> *Connections:* Cross-reference notes as prose here.

How it renders:

• First line (**Name** — Title) → styled as a card-header (1.1em, semi-bold)
• Bullet lines → rendered as <ul><li> list
• Blank > line separates paragraphs within the same card
• Blank line (no >) between cards creates separate blockquote boxes

Horizontal Rules and Back-to-Top Links

Every --- in the markdown generates a styled back-to-top link + <hr> in the rendered HTML on archive-style pages (3+ HRs). Use --- sparingly — only between major ## sections.

Output Filename Behavior

The render script derives its output filename from the document's H1 slug. Use --slug to control the name:

python3 render.py source.md --slug my-slug
# → writes /tmp/pretty-page-my-slug.html

Raw HTML Passthrough & Gmail-Style Email Cards

Block-level lines starting with an HTML tag (<div ...>, </div>, etc.) pass through render.py unchanged, enabling template components to be embedded directly in markdown sources.

The template ships CSS for a Gmail-style email card (.gmail-card):

<div class="gmail-card">
<div class="gmail-header">
<div class="gmail-subject">Subject line here</div>
<div class="gmail-meta">
<div class="gmail-avatar">A</div>
<div class="gmail-sender-info">
<div class="gmail-sender-name">Sender Name</div>
<div class="gmail-sender-email">sender@example.com</div>
<div class="gmail-to">to Recipient</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-date">Apr 7, 2026</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-body">
<p>Body paragraphs as HTML.</p>
</div>
</div>

Rules: every line of the block must start with < (passthrough is line-based); body content must be pre-converted to HTML (<p>, <ul>/<li>, <a>).

Interactive Animations

For system documentation, architecture explanations, or any page where the sequence or timing is the point, you can add interactive JS animations. These are hand-authored in HTML rather than generated from markdown — build the page as a standalone .html file, use the JFDI design system CSS variables (--paper, --ink, --red, --blue, --yellow, --green) and fonts, then upload directly.

Key JS rule: All choreographed animations use async/await + const sleep = ms => new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, ms)). Never callback chains.

Footer Customization

The footer is set in render.py:

html = html.replace('{{FOOTER}}', 'Prepared by <a href="https://example.com">Your Name</a>')

Edit this line to personalize the footer for your deployment.

Implementation

1. Read the markdown content (from file path or inline)
2. Use render.py to convert markdown to HTML using template.html
3. The script handles: markdown-to-HTML conversion, frontmatter stripping, checkbox rendering, heading ID generation, metadata block detection, raw HTML passthrough, and raw markdown embedding
4. NEVER redirect stdout to the output file. The script writes the HTML itself and prints the output path to stdout. Correct invocation:

   python3 render.py source.md --slug my-slug
   # Script writes to /tmp/pretty-page-my-slug.html and prints that path
   

5. Link-check before upload — Extract all markdown URLs and verify them:

   grep -oP 'https?://[^)"\s]+' file.md | sort -u | while read url; do
     code=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" -L --max-time 10 "$url")
     echo "$code $url"
   done
   

6. Use upload.py to upload and get a public URL
7. Return the URL