Cross-Channel Notify#

Send a single notification through both email and iMessage with unified markdown formatting.

Prerequisites#

• Email: Himalaya CLI configured ( himalaya --version). See references/channels.md for setup.
• iMessage: BlueBubbles channel enabled in gateway config ( channels.bluebubbles).

Workflow#

1. Collect inputs: to_email, to_imessage (E.164 or chat_guid), subject (email), body (markdown).

2. Format content: Run scripts/format_message.sh to apply the shared markdown template. This produces two outputs:

   • email_body: full markdown (headers, bullet lists, signature block)
   • imessage_body: compact plain-text (stripped markdown syntax, ≤2000 chars)

3. Send email: bash

   cat << 'EOF' | himalaya template send
   From: <sender>
   To: <to_email>
   Subject: <subject>
   
   <email_body>
   EOF
   
   

4. Send iMessage: Use the message tool with channel: "bluebubbles", target: <to_imessage>, message: <imessage_body>.

5. Report: Confirm both sends or surface any failures.

Format Template#

scripts/format_message.sh reads the body and applies:

• Title line ( ## Notification) prepended
• Timestamp line appended
• For email: keeps full markdown
• For iMessage: strips #, **, bullet markers, and truncates to 2000 chars

Usage:

bash

scripts/format_message.sh "Your message body here"
# Outputs two lines: EMAIL_BODY <tab> IMESSAGE_BODY

Channel Selection#

Both channels are sent by default. To skip a channel:

• Email only: set SKIP_IMESSAGE=1
• iMessage only: set SKIP_EMAIL=1

bash

SKIP_EMAIL=1 scripts/format_message.sh "Urgent: server down"

Error Handling#

• If Himalaya send fails, log the error and continue to iMessage.
• If iMessage send fails, log the error and report partial failure.
• Always report which channels succeeded/failed.