Sygal - Local document to Markdown converter
Show HN: Sygal – Convert PDFs, scans and web pages to Markdown, locally
Sygal converts PDFs, Word, Excel, images, scans, web pages, and YouTube links into clean Markdown and structured JSON entirely on your machine. It solves the problem of messy, token-heavy documents that waste AI credits by producing 2-7x lighter output for visual and web content. With 29 supported formats, native preview, editable results, and optional OCR using your own API key, Sygal is ideal for developers building RAG pipelines, professionals handling sensitive documents, and everyday users. Available as a desktop app and CLI, with a one-time purchase and 14-day free trial.
I built Sygal to stop using tools that upload everything, lock you into a subscription, and still hand back messy text; and to stop burning through my AI credits. Sygal is the tool I wanted for myself: local, paid once, built to hand my AIs clean text.
- axm997
https://github.com/amitxm/AIDocPrep is the one I built that is true local OCR. I made sure there is NO internet use, even accidentally. Also, added redaction.
- kennywinker
Seems like it sends your documents to the LLM of your choice. In what world is that “locally”??
- cameronbedard
How does this differ from open source cli tools such as Marker (https://github.com/datalab-to/marker)?
Also, it seems disingenuous to have “locally” in the title when your default is cloud inference providers and I don't see you naming a recommended LLM that could be hosted locally and is proven to work well for this task. You list “Your files” under “Stays on your machine” and then require an API key for a cloud provider.