marklip

A lightning-fast clipboard utility for seamless Markdown ⇄ HTML conversion.

Copy Markdown, convert to HTML with one command. Copy HTML, convert back to Markdown just as easily. No files, no pipes—just your clipboard.

Why marklip?

When you're writing in Markdown but need to paste into rich text editors, email clients, or CMSs, you're constantly context-switching. marklip eliminates that friction:

• One command: marklip auto, marklip to-html, or marklip to-md
• Clipboard-native: No intermediate files or stdin/stdout juggling
• Fast: Built in Rust with native clipboard backends
• Scriptable: Clean exit codes for automation

Perfect for technical writers, developers, and anyone who lives in Markdown but works across multiple platforms.

Quick Start

# Install via Homebrew (macOS)
brew install dayflower/tap/marklip

# Or download a release binary (macOS/Linux/Windows)
# https://github.com/dayflower/marklip/releases/latest

# Or install from source
git clone https://github.com/dayflower/marklip.git
cd marklip && cargo install --path .

# Copy some Markdown, then:
marklip to-html

# Copy some HTML, then:
marklip to-md --notify

# Let marklip decide based on clipboard:
marklip auto

Usage Examples

Basic Conversion

# Write Markdown in your editor → Copy → Convert
marklip to-html

# Now paste rich text into Gmail, Notion, etc.

With Notifications

# Get visual feedback when conversion completes
marklip to-md --notify

Installation

Requirements

• Rust 1.84+ (for building from source)
• A supported clipboard and notification backend (clipboard-rs, notify-rust) on your platform (macOS, Linux, Windows)

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install dayflower/tap/marklip

Download Binaries (GitHub Releases)

Grab the latest tarball/zip for your platform from the Releases page, extract, and place marklip on your PATH.

From Source

git clone https://github.com/dayflower/marklip.git
cd marklip
cargo install --path .

Package Managers

• Homebrew (macOS): brew install dayflower/tap/marklip

Features

• Three commands: auto, to-html, and to-md
• Clipboard-only workflow: Reads from clipboard, writes back converted result
• Clean output: Clears clipboard before writing to avoid format mixing
• Optional notifications: Visual feedback via Notification Center
• Quiet mode: Perfect for scripting
• Reliable exit codes: Easy integration with shell scripts

Documentation

Commands

marklip auto

Automatically converts based on clipboard content:

• If HTML is present, converts to Markdown (same behavior as to-md).
• Else if plain text is present and not empty, converts to HTML (same as to-html).
• Otherwise, returns an error.

Uses the same options and exit codes as the explicit commands.

marklip to-html

Converts Markdown (plain text) to HTML.

Options:

• -q, --quiet: Suppress stderr
• -n, --notify: Show Notification Center alert

Exit codes:

• 0: Success
• 1: No Markdown text in clipboard
• 2: Conversion failed

marklip to-md

Converts HTML to Markdown.

Same options and exit codes as to-html.

Global Options

• -h, --help: Show help
• -v, --version: Show version

Troubleshooting

Q: "Required clipboard format missing" error
A: Make sure you've copied the correct format—plain text for to-html, HTML for to-md.

Q: Notification doesn't appear
A: Check System Settings → Notifications and ensure Terminal (or your shell) has notification permissions.

Roadmap

• Pre-built binaries for releases
• Homebrew formula

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

Built with:

• pulldown-cmark for Markdown parsing
• html2md for HTML conversion
• clipboard-rs for clipboard access