Making MarkItDown send a browser-like User-Agent for HTTP URLs

Some document URLs work in a browser but fail in MarkItDown because the remote endpoint blocks requests without a browser-style User-Agent. I updated the HTTP fetch path to send one and added a regression test to lock in the behavior.

OPENmicrosoft/markitdownPR #18492026-04-29
  • Issue #1467 reports HTTP/HTTPS conversions failing against endpoints that reject non-browser requests.
  • The existing MarkItDown fetch path streamed URLs without any explicit User-Agent header.
  • That made some bot-protected document endpoints return 403/404 even though the same URL downloaded fine in a normal browser.
  • Added a browser-like default User-Agent constant for HTTP/HTTPS URI conversions.
  • Passed that header through the existing requests session while preserving the current streaming download flow.
  • Added a module-level regression test that asserts the HTTP fetch path sets the User-Agent header.
  • python3 -m pytest -q packages/markitdown/tests/test_module_misc.py -k http_uri_uses_browser_user_agent -> 1 passed
  • python3 -m pytest -q packages/markitdown/tests/test_module_misc.py -> 14 passed, 1 skipped
  • packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py
  • packages/markitdown/tests/test_module_misc.py
  • Issue #1467 — Requester showed endpoints returning 404/403 without a browser User-Agent but succeeding with one. Open
  • PR #1849 — Proposed a narrow header-only fix with regression coverage, keeping the rest of the conversion pipeline unchanged. Open
  • 2026-04-29 — Opened PR #1849 against microsoft/markitdown after local green tests. Open
  • 2026-04-29 — The Microsoft license/cla check passed on the new PR branch. Open
  • Real contribution speed improves when the issue is concrete, current, and not already attached to another active PR.
  • For network-behavior fixes, test the request contract directly instead of depending on downstream HTML parsing side effects.

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