diff --git a/ollama-translate/.gitignore b/ollama-translate/.gitignore
index 7545a50..2e1fa2d 100644
--- a/ollama-translate/.gitignore
+++ b/ollama-translate/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1 @@
-test.md
\ No newline at end of file
+*.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ollama-translate/main.go b/ollama-translate/main.go
index 86ed095..7de008e 100644
--- a/ollama-translate/main.go
+++ b/ollama-translate/main.go
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 var (
-	inputFile = flag.String("i", "", "input file")
-	model     = flag.String("m", "llama3", "model file")
+	inputFile  = flag.String("i", "", "input file (markdown, or plain text)")
+	model      = flag.String("m", "llama3", "llm model")
+	outputFile = flag.String("o", "", "output file")
 )
 
 const (
@@ -35,8 +36,22 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
+	chunks := make([]string, 0)
+	for _, par := range strings.Split(string(doc), "\n\n") {
+		last := len(chunks) - 1
+		switch {
+		case last == -1:
+			chunks = append(chunks, par)
+		case last >= 0 && len(par)+len(chunks[last]) > 500:
+			chunks = append(chunks, par)
+		default:
+			chunks[last] = fmt.Sprintf("%s\n\n%s", chunks[last], par)
+		}
+	}
+
+	fmt.Printf("translating %d chunks\n", len(chunks))
 	translated := make([]string, 0)
-	for _, chunk := range strings.Split(string(doc), "\n\n") {
+	for _, chunk := range chunks {
 		prompt := fmt.Sprintf("%s\n---\n%s", promptStart, chunk)
 		res, err := ollama.Generate(*model, prompt)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -47,5 +62,14 @@ func main() {
 		translated = append(translated, res)
 	}
 
+	if *outputFile != "" {
+		if err := os.WriteFile(*outputFile, []byte(strings.Join(translated, "\n")), 0644); err != nil {
+			fmt.Println(err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("\nfile written to %s\n", *outputFile)
+		os.Exit(0)
+	}
+
 	fmt.Printf("\n\n%s\n", strings.Join(translated, "\n"))
 }