Markdown is the undisputed champion of simple content creation. It's clean, intuitive, and lets you focus on writing. But what happens when you need more than just text and images? What if you want to embed an interactive chart, a custom call-to-action button, or a live code preview directly into your blog post or documentation?
This is where standard Markdown hits a wall. You either resort to clunky HTML embeds or give up on interactivity altogether.
But there's a better way. Enter MDX: the superset of Markdown that allows you to write JSX directly in your content files. It's the perfect marriage of Markdown's simplicity and React's component-driven power.
At its core, MDX is Markdown that can import and use React components. Think of it as Markdown with superpowers. You can write your content as you normally would, but when you need something dynamic, you can drop in a React component as if it were native HTML.
Let's look at a simple example:
# My Awesome Product Review
This is a fantastic product. Here are the key features:
- Feature A
- Feature B
Words can't do it justice. Here's a custom-styled rating component I built:
<StarRating score={4.5} />
You should definitely buy it. Here's a call to action:
<CallToAction url="/buy-now">Get it Today!</CallToAction>
In this example, <StarRating> and <CallToAction> aren't standard HTML tags. They are custom React components, living in your codebase, that you can now seamlessly use within your content. This opens up a universe of possibilities for creating rich, dynamic, and reusable content.
MDX is incredibly powerful, but browsers don't understand it natively. It needs to be processed—or compiled—into JavaScript that React can understand.
Traditionally, this compilation happens at "build time." When you build your Next.js, Gatsby, or Vite site, a special plugin finds all your .mdx files and converts them. This works great for static content.
But what about dynamic content? What if your blog posts are stored in a headless CMS, or your documentation is generated by users? You can't run a build process every time content changes. You need to compile it in real-time. This is where things get complicated... or at least, they used to.
mdx.do is a service built to solve this exact problem. It provides a simple API that lets you dynamically compile MDX to React in real-time.
Instead of wrestling with complex server-side build tooling, you simply send your raw MDX content to the mdx.do API, and it sends back executable code. It handles all the compilation complexity for you.
Here's how easy it is:
import { mdx } from ".do";
const mdxContent = `
# Hello, MDX!
This is a JSX component rendered from a string:
<MyCustomComponent title="Welcome" />
Expressions are easy: {2024 - 1984} years have passed.
`;
// Compile the MDX string into executable code
const { code, frontmatter } = await mdx.compile(mdxContent);
// `code` can now be safely evaluated and rendered
// in your React application.
With one API call, your dynamic MDX string is transformed into a renderable React component. This is the missing link for using MDX with a headless CMS, user-generated content platforms, and dynamic documentation sites.
Q: What is MDX?
A: MDX is a superset of markdown that lets you write JSX directly in your markdown files. It's a powerful way to add dynamic interactivity and custom components to your content.
Q: How does mdx.do work?
A: mdx.do provides an API endpoint that accepts raw MDX content. It processes this content on the server and returns compiled JavaScript code that can be dynamically rendered as a React component, without a complex local build step.
Q: What are the primary use cases for mdx.do?
A: It's perfect for headless CMS setups, dynamic documentation platforms, interactive blog posts, and any application where you need to render rich, user-generated content on the fly.
Q: Can I use my own custom React components within the MDX content?
A: Yes. The API allows you to provide a scope of components. When mdx.do compiles your content, it will reference your custom components, which you can then provide during the rendering phase in your front-end application.
MDX fundamentally changes what's possible with content on the web. It bridges the gap between static text and interactive applications, allowing you to create more engaging, maintainable, and powerful experiences.
While the compilation step has historically been a barrier for dynamic applications, services like mdx.do have removed that complexity entirely. Now, you can effortlessly compile and render MDX from any source—a CMS, a database, or user input—and bring the full power of React to your content.
Ready to transform your content? It's time to give MDX a try.