Substack Article Formatter

Transform plain text into professional Substack format. Ensures proper HTML formatting so bold/italic/headers work correctly when pasted into Substack editor.

✨ Key Features

Clean formatting for better readability
Proper HTML output that Substack editor recognizes
Copy-paste ready with formatting preserved
Minimal or standard formatting options

🚀 Quick Start

# Basic formatting
python3 formatter.py "Your content here"
 
# With specific structure  
python3 formatter.py "Your content here" micro-story
 
# Format and copy to clipboard (Linux)
python3 formatter.py "Your content here" | python3 copy_to_substack.py

📋 Copy-Paste Process

Format your content using the formatter
Copy as HTML using the copy script
Paste into Substack - formatting preserved automatically!

Linux/WSL:

# Install dependencies
sudo apt install pandoc xclip  # Ubuntu/Debian
sudo pacman -S pandoc xclip    # Arch
 
# Format and copy
python3 formatter.py "Your text" > output.html
python3 copy_to_substack.py "$(cat output.html)"

macOS:

brew install pandoc
# Use pbcopy instead of xclip (modify copy script as needed)

🎯 Formatting Options

Standard Formatting

Clean paragraph structure with proper HTML tags

Minimal Formatting

Pure spacing improvements with exact content preservation

🛠 Files

formatter.py - Main formatting engine
copy_to_substack.py - HTML clipboard utility
test_formatter.py - Test all formats
examples.md - Before/after examples
SKILL.md - Complete documentation

🧪 Testing

# Test all formatting types
python3 test_formatter.py
 
# Test specific format
python3 formatter.py "Your content" micro-story

🔧 Integration with Clawdbot

Just tell Clawdbot:

"Format this for Substack: [your content]"

Or be specific:

"Format this for Substack as a micro-story: [your content]"

The skill handles:

Viral pattern application
HTML conversion
Copy instructions
Formatting verification

⚠️ Technical Notes

Why HTML conversion is needed: Substack editor treats raw markdown as plain text. The solution is converting to HTML and copying as text/html format so Substack recognizes the formatting.

Dependencies:

pandoc - Markdown to HTML conversion
xclip (Linux) - Clipboard management with MIME types
pbcopy (macOS) - Alternative clipboard tool

🎯 Philosophy

Format for readability, preserve your voice. This tool improves visual presentation while keeping your message and personality intact.

Substack Formatter