---
id: TASK-016
title: Open text/markdown files in glint by default (OS file associations)
status: "\U0001F7E6 Backlog"
assignee: []
created_date: '2026-06-29 16:38'
labels:
  - feature
  - release-2
dependencies: []
priority: low
ordinal: 16000
---

## Description

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Adoption feature, OS-level (distinct from TASK-015 which handles $EDITOR / per-tool). Make double-click / 'open file.md' / xdg-open launch glint. glint is a terminal TUI, so LaunchServices/xdg can't point at the binary directly — it needs a thin GUI launcher that spawns a terminal running 'glint <file>'.

Provide a setup command (or a glint -c step) that, per platform:
  - macOS: generates a small launcher .app (Automator/AppleScript or a wrapper bundle) that runs '<terminal> -e glint "$file"'; registers it as the default handler for the text/markdown UTIs (public.plain-text, public.text, net.daringfireball.markdown) via 'duti' or LaunchServices.
  - Linux: writes a glint.desktop with Terminal=true and Exec=glint %f; registers via 'xdg-mime default glint.desktop text/markdown text/plain'.
Ask which terminal to spawn (default to $TERM_PROGRAM / a sensible default). Make it idempotent and reversible. Document the manual steps in the README.

Scope note: macOS launcher-app generation + duti is the fiddly part; consider shipping a prebuilt launcher template. This is a nice-to-have for adoption, not core editing.
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## Acceptance Criteria
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- [ ] #1 A setup command registers glint as the default opener for .md/.txt via a terminal launcher (macOS + Linux)
- [ ] #2 Asks which terminal to spawn; idempotent and reversible
- [ ] #3 README documents the manual association steps per OS
<!-- AC:END -->