md2plain

Markdown in, plain-text email out.

md2plain renders Markdown as a plain-text email and copies it to the macOS clipboard as text/plain. Paste it into Gmail's Plain text mode and the message is sent as a real text/plain message: hard-wrapped, with no HTML, no fonts, and no client-side reflow.

Demo

Input:

# Quarterly Update

This is a **short** note with a [link](https://example.com).

* one
* two

> quoted

Output:

Quarterly Update
================

This is a short note with a link (https://example.com).

* one
* two

> quoted

Why

• Gmail's normal compose always sends HTML, even when you paste plain text.
• Rich text copied from Typora carries its own CSS, which mail clients mangle.
• Plain text has no automatic reflow, so the sender has to control line width.
• A 75-column limit leaves room for > quote prefixes and stays within RFC 5322's recommended 78 characters.

Requirements

• macOS (the clipboard is written through AppKit)
• Python 3.10 or newer

Install

With pipx:

pipx install .

Or from a checkout, in a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -e .

Usage

md2plain note.md

Then in Gmail: open the compose window, click the three-dot menu, choose Plain text mode, and press Cmd+V.

To verify, send a message to yourself and use Show original. The message should contain only:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

No multipart/alternative, no text/html.

Options

Output format

How it works

1. markdown-it-py parses CommonMark plus tables, strikethrough, and autolinks.
2. src/md2plain/render.py wraps text by display width (CJK counts as two columns), renders headings, lists, quotes, and tables.
3. src/md2plain/cli.py reads UTF-8 (BOM tolerant) and writes exactly one clipboard type: text/plain.

Limitations

• macOS only; the clipboard backend is AppKit.
• Plain text has no bold, italics, or clickable links. Link URLs are kept as text, and links inside headings or table cells lose the URL.
• Images become alt text. YAML front matter, footnotes, math, and Mermaid diagrams are not converted.
• Tables are aligned with spaces, so proportional fonts break the alignment.
• Gmail may collapse > quote blocks behind a three-dot control; this is display only and the content stays intact.

Development

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv/bin/python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
.venv/bin/ruff check src tests
.venv/bin/black --check src tests

The ./md2plain script in the repository root is a development launcher; it runs the package from .venv. Installed users get the md2plain command from pyproject.toml.

License

MIT. See CHANGELOG.md for release history.