Cross-Channel Notify

Send the same notification across email (Himalaya) and iMessage (BlueBubbles) in one shot. Use when the user wants to broadcast or notify someone through multiple channels simultaneously, or asks for cross-channel / multi-channel notifications. Handles content formatting via a shared markdown template so both channels receive consistent, well-structured messages.

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:

   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:

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

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.