Cross-Channel Notify

Send a single notification to both email and iMessage with unified markdown formatting applied from config.

Workflow

1. Collect inputs — recipient email, iMessage target (phone/email/chat_guid), and message content.
2. Format content — apply markdown formatting rules from config (see Formatting below).
3. Send email — use himalaya CLI (himalaya message send).
4. Send iMessage — use the message tool with channel: "bluebubbles".
5. Report results — confirm delivery status per channel; surface any failures clearly.

If any channel fails, report the failure but still attempt the remaining channels. Never silently skip a channel.

Formatting

Content is formatted according to rules defined in config. The formatting script at scripts/format_message.sh applies these rules:

1. Normalize line breaks and whitespace
2. Apply config-specified heading styles (ATX vs underline)
3. Convert raw URLs to markdown links
4. Strip disallowed HTML (configurable allowlist)
5. Enforce max line length (default 80 chars, configurable)

Config location: ~/.config/cross-channel-notify/config.sh

If no config exists, the script uses sensible defaults and creates a template config on first run. See references/config-reference.md for all options.

Sending Email (himalaya)

himalaya message send \
  --from "sender@example.com" \
  --to "recipient@example.com" \
  --subject "Notification Subject" \
  < formatted_message.md

• For HTML email, pipe through a markdown-to-html converter first (e.g., pandoc -f markdown -t html).
• Himalaya must be configured with IMAP/SMTP credentials. See himalaya skill for setup.

Sending iMessage (BlueBubbles)

{
  "action": "send",
  "channel": "bluebubbles",
  "target": "+15551234567",
  "message": "<formatted message text>"
}

• Prefer chat_guid:... for target when available.
• BlueBubbles channel must be configured in OpenClaw config.

Channel-Specific Adaptations

When sending to iMessage, strip markdown formatting to plain text. The formatted (markdown) version goes to email.

Error Handling

• If himalaya is not installed or not configured: report the error, skip email, still send iMessage.
• If BlueBubbles channel is not configured: report the error, skip iMessage, still send email.
• If both fail: report both errors clearly.

Quick Example

User: "Notify alice@example.com and +15551234567 that the deployment is done"

1. Format the message per config rules.
2. Send email via himalaya with subject "Deployment Complete".
3. Send iMessage via BlueBubbles with plain-text version.
4. Confirm: "✅ Sent to both email and iMessage."

References

• references/config-reference.md — full config options for formatting rules