diff --git a/utils.py b/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..583f968
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import re
+
+# Strip bbcode coming into ircBridge from site chatbox
+def strip_bbcode(text):
+    # Matches BBCode tags like [tag], [tag=value], [/tag]
+    return re.sub(r'\[(\/?)?(color|size|pre|img|url|b|i|u|style)(=[^\]]+)?\]', '', text, flags=re.IGNORECASE)
+
+# Extract username from an IRC line
+def parse_username(line):
+    if line.startswith(":"):
+        return line[1:].split("!")[0]
+    return "UnknownUser"