@toddiuszho/markdown-convert

Convert Markdown to styled RTF, HTML, or macOS clipboard rich text via pandoc.

Quick Start

# file → RTF (default)
npx @toddiuszho/markdown-convert README.md

# file → HTML
npx @toddiuszho/markdown-convert --html README.md

# file → macOS clipboard as rich text
npx @toddiuszho/markdown-convert --copy README.md

# pipe from stdin
cat notes.md | npx @toddiuszho/markdown-convert --html

Prerequisites

Pandoc must be installed:

# macOS
brew install pandoc

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install pandoc

Install

# run directly (no install needed)
npx @toddiuszho/markdown-convert [OPTIONS] [FILE.md]

# or install globally
npm install -g @toddiuszho/markdown-convert
markdown-convert [OPTIONS] [FILE.md]

Usage

markdown-convert [OPTIONS] [FILE.md]
cat FILE.md | markdown-convert [OPTIONS]

Formats

Flag	Description
--rtf	Output RTF (default)
--html	Output standalone styled HTML
--copy	Copy rich text to macOS clipboard (pbcopy)

Input

Flag	Description
FILE.md	Read from a Markdown file
(stdin)	Pipe Markdown via stdin
-p, --paste	Read Markdown from macOS clipboard (pbpaste)

Output

Flag	Description
-o, --output FILE	Write to a specific file
(default)	Derive filename from input (e.g. README.md → README.rtf), or write to stdout

Styling

Flag	Description
--css FILE	Use a custom CSS file instead of the built-in style

The built-in style is designed for clean, readable email-friendly output. To override it, pass your own CSS file with --css.

Other

Flag	Description
-h, --help	Show help
-v, --version	Show version

Examples

# Markdown file to RTF file
markdown-convert README.md                  # → README.rtf

# Markdown file to HTML file
markdown-convert --html README.md           # → README.html

# Explicit output path
markdown-convert -o out.rtf README.md

# Copy styled rich text to macOS clipboard
markdown-convert --copy README.md

# Read Markdown from clipboard, copy rich text back
markdown-convert -p --copy

# Pipe from stdin to stdout
cat notes.md | markdown-convert             # RTF to stdout
cat notes.md | markdown-convert --html      # HTML to stdout

# Use custom CSS
markdown-convert --css my-style.css README.md

Platform Notes

The --copy and --paste flags use macOS-specific tools (pbcopy via osascript and pbpaste) and are only available on macOS. All other functionality works on any platform where pandoc and Node.js are installed.

License

MIT