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README.md

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+# mach
+
+A CLI tool that converts Markdown files to rich text and copies the result to your system clipboard.
+Paste formatted text directly into emails, Slack messages, Google Docs, or any app that supports rich text.
+
+## Installation
+
+```bash
+make build
+# binary is at ./build/mach
+
+# or install to /usr/local/bin:
+bash install.sh
+```
+
+## Usage
+
+```
+mach <file> [flags]
+```
+
+Convert a Markdown file and copy to clipboard:
+
+```bash
+mach notes.md
+```
+
+Also display the RTF output in the terminal:
+
+```bash
+mach notes.md -d
+```
+
+Write an RTF file next to the input (e.g. `notes.md` → `notes.rtf`):
+
+```bash
+mach notes.md -o
+```
+
+Write to a specific path:
+
+```bash
+mach notes.md -o=/tmp/output.rtf
+```
+
+### Flags
+
+| Flag | Description |
+|------|-------------|
+| `-i` | Input format (default: `md`) |
+| `-t` | Output format (default: `rtf`) |
+| `-o` | Output to file; `-o` derives path from input, `-o=path` writes to path |
+| `-d` | Display converted text in terminal |
+| `-v` | Print version |
+
+### Config
+
+Optional config file at `~/.config/mach/config.json`:
+
+```json
+{
+  "input_type": "md",
+  "output_type": "rtf"
+}
+```
+
+Flag values override config values.
+
+## Supported Markdown
+
+- Headings (H1–H6)
+- Bold, italic, strikethrough
+- Inline code and fenced code blocks
+- Ordered and unordered lists
+- Task lists (`- [x]` / `- [ ]`)
+- Blockquotes
+- Links (rendered as clickable hyperlinks)
+- Tables (GFM)
+- Horizontal rules
+- Images (rendered as `[image: alt text]` placeholder)
+
+## Technical Details
+
+### Conversion Pipeline
+
+mach uses [goldmark](https://github.com/yuin/goldmark) to parse Markdown into an AST, then walks the tree with a custom renderer that emits RTF directly. There is no intermediate HTML-to-RTF conversion and no dependency on external tools like `textutil` or `pandoc`. The RTF renderer is pure Go.
+
+For clipboard, a second pass converts the Markdown to HTML using goldmark's built-in HTML renderer. Both formats are placed on the clipboard so that every app gets the type it expects.
+
+### Dependencies
+
+- [goldmark](https://github.com/yuin/goldmark) — Markdown parser with GFM extensions
+- [cobra](https://github.com/spf13/cobra) — CLI framework
+- [viper](https://github.com/spf13/viper) — Config file management
+
+### Clipboard: OS Differences
+
+The clipboard is the only OS-specific code in the project. No build tags are used; the binary is cross-platform via a `runtime.GOOS` switch.
+
+**macOS** — Uses a small Swift snippet executed via `swift -` that writes to `NSPasteboard`. Three pasteboard types are set:
+
+| Type | Purpose |
+|------|---------|
+| `public.html` | Web apps (Slack, Gmail, Google Docs) |
+| `public.rtf` | Native apps (TextEdit, Word, Pages) |
+| `public.utf8-plain-text` | Plain text fallback (required by Electron apps like Slack) |
+
+`pbcopy` is not used because it can only set plain text — it has no way to specify the pasteboard type.
+
+**Linux** — Uses `xclip` to set clipboard content with `text/html` MIME type. `xclip` must be installed (`sudo apt install xclip`).
+
+### Build
+
+Version is stored in the `VERSION` file and injected at build time via ldflags:
+
+```
+go build -ldflags "-X mach/cmd.Version=$(cat VERSION)" -o build/mach .
+```
+
+The Makefile handles this automatically with `make build`.