How do I process the RTF data in a paste buffer?

[ComplexPoint]

Preliminary conversion from RTF to TXT ?

The textutil shell command is the first option that comes to mind, but before that it may also be worth checking that there is definitely no plain text available on the clipboard:

Clipboard Viewer

Allows us to inspect all clipboard type bundle ids, and any textually representable data that they contain, in JSON format. For example, if we we copy an object in OmniGraffle, it gives us a JSON representation of all the object properties, which we can use in a Javascript action.

OmniGraffle arrow as clipboard data

{ "com.omnigroup.OmniGraffle.GraphicType as propertyList": { "Layers": [ { "Print": true, "Lock": false, …