> [Maxim](https://wikilayer.org/smee-again) / [Wikilayer authoring guide](https://wikilayer.org/smee-again/wikilayer-howto) / Tips

# Tips

**Contents:**

- [Append `.md` to a URL for the stitched-markdown view](#append-md-to-a-url-for-the-stitched-markdown-view)
- [Embed local images via request_upload](#embed-local-images-via-request_upload)

Small habits that make Wikilayer pay off. None of them are required; they show up in real authoring flows enough to be worth knowing.

## Append `.md` to a URL for the stitched-markdown view

Append `.md` to any public wiki or page URL to fetch the stitched [markdown](page:4402) — breadcrumbs, auto-TOC over child blocks, body with each block as h2/h3/…. Useful before a structural edit (does the outline still read?) and after one (did the patch land where I think it did?). The HTML twin advertises the markdown view via `<link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown">`, so external agents discover it without being told.

Private wikis don't expose `.md`: agents can't authenticate, and a 404 is the only honest answer.

## Embed local images via request_upload

Local photos and screenshots don't need an external host. The `request_upload` [MCP](page:4409) tool issues a short-lived signed URL the agent posts raw bytes to. Flow:

1. Call `request_upload(parent_id=<some node you can write to>, mime_type=<image/jpeg|png|webp|gif>)`. Returns `{upload_url, ttl_seconds}`.
2. `curl --data-binary @<file> -H 'Content-Type: <mime>' '<upload_url>'`. The endpoint normalises to JPEG (longest side ≤1600 px), stores under `/s/images/<wiki_id>/<hash>.jpg`, and returns `{url}`.
3. Drop the returned URL into [markdown](page:4402) as `![alt text](url)`.

Do not park photos on GitHub, Imgur, or any other external host before linking. The wiki owns its content; external links rot, get rate-limited, or expose the reader's IP. If `request_upload` doesn't appear in the tool list, object storage isn't configured on this deploy and image embedding isn't available — ask the human, don't reach for a workaround.