Haddock to Textile Converter
Processing entirely on your device — large files may take a moment.
Haddock Documentation and Textile Markup exist for different jobs: Haddock is the documentation markup of the Haskell ecosystem: -- comment blocks attached to functions, rendered into the API docs every Hackage package ships. Convert Textile when migrating Redmine wikis or old CMS content into Markdown, Word or modern HTML.
This converter runs entirely in your browser using WebAssembly — your files never leave your device, nothing is uploaded, and there are no watermarks, sign-ups or queues. Drop in several files at once to convert them as a batch.
How Haddock compares to Textile
| Haddock | Textile | |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Comment markup (--, 'links', @mono@) | Plain-text markup (h1., *b*, bq.) |
| Types / schema | UTF-8 text | UTF-8 text, no binary payload |
| Compatibility | Haskell, Hackage, Pandoc | Redmine, Textpattern, Pandoc |
| Best for | Haskell API documentation | Legacy wiki and CMS migration |
How to convert Haddock to Textile
- 1
Select your files
Select your Haddock file.
- 2
Convert instantly
The file is first converted to markdown (an interchange format that keeps headings, lists and paragraphs), then rebuilt into the target format.
- 3
Download results
Download the Textile — structure preserved, heavy layout simplified.
About the Haddock format
Haddock is how Haskell explains itself: documentation comments in -- blocks, marked up with 'links' to identifiers, @monospace@ and /italics/, compiled into the API reference pages every package on Hackage publishes. The markup lives inside source files, but the format is its own small language.
Converted out of source comments, Haddock text becomes ordinary structured prose: Pandoc maps headings, code blocks and identifier links onto Markdown or HTML, so API knowledge can move into handbooks, wikis or static-site generators without retyping.
+Strengths
- ✓Documents live next to the code they describe
- ✓Identifier-aware linking across the API
- ✓Standard for the entire Haskell ecosystem
!Limitations
- −Meaningful only inside Haskell projects
- −Small grammar, few writers outside Haddock itself
- −Embedded in comments — needs extraction first
About the Textile format
Textile, written by Dean Allen in 2002, is the lightweight markup that taught the web that plain text could become HTML. Its grammar is compact and humane: "h1." makes a heading, "*bold*" and "_italic_" style inline, "bq." quotes, "* " builds lists, and "!image.png!" embeds pictures. Textpattern and Redmine standardized it, and thousands of forum posts and issue trackers were written in it through the 2000s.
Reading Textile back into an editable format is the real migration problem: the content is fine, the syntax is just no longer what new tools accept. Pandoc parses the full grammar — tables, footnotes, definition lists — and re-emit it as Markdown, Word, HTML or anything modern. Structure survives; only the plumbing changes.
+Strengths
- ✓Human-readable plain text — diffs and version control work naturally
- ✓Full-featured: tables, footnotes, definition lists, code blocks
- ✓Still the native format of Redmine and Textpattern installs
!Limitations
- −Effectively frozen since the 2000s — few new tools accept it
- −Smaller ecosystem than Markdown for converters and editors
- −Flavors differ slightly between Textpattern and Redmine
Why convert Haddock to Textile?
There is a concrete reason this conversion exists: Meaningful only inside Haskell projects Textile sidesteps that — Human-readable plain text — diffs and version control work naturally If that is your situation, the tool above settles it in seconds, entirely on your device.
Frequently asked questions
Is this Haddock to Textile converter really free?
Yes — completely free, with no sign-up, no watermark and no daily conversion limits. The site is supported by advertising.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. The conversion runs entirely inside your browser using WebAssembly, so your files never leave your device — that is what makes it instant and private.
Does it work on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android?
Yes. Anything with a modern browser works: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. No software installation is required.
Is there a file size limit for Haddock to Textile?
The only limit is your device's memory, since nothing is uploaded. Files up to a few hundred megabytes work fine on a modern desktop browser; very large files simply take a little longer.
Will the layout of my Haddock file be preserved exactly?
This converter renders your Haddock content into Textile with pages, proportions and images kept as close to the original as the target format allows. Use the preview before downloading to confirm it looks the way you expect.
Does the conversion work offline?
Yes. Once the page has loaded, the conversion itself runs entirely inside your browser — you can even disconnect and keep converting. No file ever touches a server.