# text_utils.py
from markdown_it import MarkdownIt
from mdit_plain.renderer import RendererPlain

def convert_markdown_to_plain_text(markdown_text: str) -> str:
    """
    Converts a Markdown string to plain text.
    """
    if not markdown_text:
        return ""
    try:
        parser = MarkdownIt(renderer_cls=RendererPlain)
        plain_text = parser.render(markdown_text)
        return plain_text
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error converting Markdown to plain text: {e}")
        return markdown_text