Convert text to the NATO phonetic alphabet from the command line.

(Blatently vibe-coded with Claude)

Spell out any text letter-by-letter using the standard NATO phonetic alphabet:

$ nato hello
H - Hotel
E - Echo
L - Lima
L - Lima
O - Oscar

Digits use the ICAO standard words (0 → Zero, 9 → Niner). Spaces are silently skipped; any other unrecognised character prints (no NATO equivalent).

For fun.

From source:

git clone https://github.com/ubahmapk/nato
cd nato
cargo install --path .

From crates.io (once published):

cargo install nato-cli

Pass text as an argument:

nato SOS
nato "call sign bravo"
nato 007

Or pipe text from stdin — useful in scripts:

echo "alpha bravo" | nato
printf "hello" | nato

When no argument is given the tool reads one line from stdin.

The conversion logic lives entirely in src/lib.rs as a public library, separate from the CLI in src/main.rs. The core function convert() returns structured data (Vec<NatoEntry>) rather than a pre-formatted string, so future interfaces — a web API, a GUI, a WASM module — can call the same engine and format the output however they need.

• Additional output modes (--format json, --format compact)
• Multi-line stdin support (process all lines, not just the first)
• Web interface (WASM or small HTTP server)
• GUI front-end
• Full punctuation support (ITU/ICAO special characters)

This project is licensed under the MIT License.