Import markdown files as strings in Next.js

Question

How can I import markdown files as strings in Next.js to work on client and server side?

Answer 1

You can configure your Next.js webpack loaders to load markdown files and return them as strings, for example:

docs/home.md

# Home

This is my **awesome** home!

pages/index.js

import React from 'react';
import markdown from '../docs/home.md';

export default () => {
  return (
    <div>
      <pre>{markdown}</pre>
      <small><i>Import and render markdown using Next.js</i></small>
    </div>
  );
};

package.json

{
  "name": "example",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "next",
    "build": "next build",
    "start": "next start"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "file-loader": "^1.1.6",
    "next": "^4.2.1",
    "raw-loader": "^0.5.1",
    "react": "^16.2.0",
    "react-dom": "^16.2.0"
  }
}

next.config.js

module.exports = {
  webpack: (config) => {
    return Object.assign({}, config, {
      externals: Object.assign({}, config.externals, {
        fs: 'fs',
      }),
      module: Object.assign({}, config.module, {
        rules: config.module.rules.concat([
          {
            test: /\.md$/,
            loader: 'emit-file-loader',
            options: {
              name: 'dist/[path][name].[ext]',
            },
          },
          {
            test: /\.md$/,
            loader: 'raw-loader',
          }
        ]),
      }),
    });
  }
};

When running:

$ npm run dev

Something like this would appear:

With the markdown string you can do whatever you would like. For example, process it with marksy.

Answer 2

Quicker and "Next.js way" is to use plugin next-mdx

Documentation: https://github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/packages/next-mdx

// next.config.js
const withMDX = require('@zeit/next-mdx')({
  extension: /\.mdx?$/
})
module.exports = withMDX({
  pageExtensions: ['js', 'jsx', 'mdx']
})

Answer 3

Just install raw-loader

npm install --save raw-loader

then edit your next.config.js

 webpack: (config) => {
  config.module.rules.push({
    test: /\.md$/,
    use: 'raw-loader',
  });
  return config;
},