# Obsidian Web Clipper > Author and debug Obsidian Web Clipper extension templates: template JSON, variables, filters, template logic, schema.org/CSS selectors, AI interpreter prompts, URL/schema triggers. Use when generating, importing, or fixing a clipper template, or matching one to a target site. Not for general scraping. - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-nweii-agent-stuff-obsidian-web-clipper` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [nweii](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/nweii) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Web & Browser](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/web-and-browser) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [nweii](https://github.com/nweii) - **Source:** https://github.com/nweii/agent-stuff/tree/master/skills/obsidian-web-clipper ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-nweii-agent-stuff-obsidian-web-clipper ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Obsidian Web Clipper Templates Obsidian Web Clipper is a browser extension that saves web content to an Obsidian vault as Markdown notes. Templates define how pages are captured — what metadata to extract, how to format the note, and which sites to auto-match. Templates are configured as JSON. Users can import/export individual templates or full settings backups. When generating templates, output valid JSON the user can import directly. **Single-page scope.** A clip only sees the page it fired on — the DOM loaded in the active tab. The extension is not an agent; it can't crawl, follow links, or visit other URLs. Selector, schema, and interpreter variables all resolve against that one page. If a template needs data spread across multiple pages, it can't gather it in one clip — design around what's on the page being clipped. **Caution:** full settings exports contain interpreter API keys in plaintext (`interpreter_settings.providers[].apiKey`). Never quote them; flag exports stored in version control. ## Adapt to the user's vault conventions Templates hold opinionated conventions for folder layout, frontmatter property names, category/tag conventions, and note body structure. **Match the user's existing conventions rather than inventing.** Before drafting a template, understand: - Vault-level docs (`CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, READMEs) - An existing templates folder, sample notes of the type being clipped, or a previously exported clipper settings file - Any YAML property-sort configuration (Linter or similar) - User preferences uncovered in discussion When conventions aren't discoverable or if the user isn't sure what they want, tailor what you can and fall back to minimal vendor-neutral choices. Flag any assumptions you've made so the user can adjust before import. If the vault has a property sort order, mirror that order in the template's `properties` array. ## Template JSON Schema ```json { "schemaVersion": "0.1.0", "name": "Template Name", "behavior": "create", "noteNameFormat": "{{title}} - {{site}}", "noteContentFormat": "{{content}}", "vault": "VaultName", "path": "folder/subfolder", "context": "", "properties": [], "triggers": [] } ``` | Field | Type | Description | | ------------------- | ------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | `schemaVersion` | string | Always `"0.1.0"` | | `name` | string | Display name shown in the extension | | `behavior` | string | How the note is created (see below) | | `noteNameFormat` | string | Filename for the note, supports variables | | `noteContentFormat` | string | Note body content, supports variables | | `vault` | string | Target vault name (optional — omit to use default) | | `path` | string | Folder path within the vault (optional) | | `context` | string | Limits what page content the interpreter AI sees (optional) | | `properties` | array | Frontmatter properties (optional) | | `triggers` | array | Auto-match rules for URLs/schemas (optional) | When exporting a single template, the JSON is the template object directly (no wrapper). When part of a full settings export, templates are stored as `template_[id]` keys. ### Behaviors | Value | Description | | ------------------ | ----------------------------------- | | `create` | Create a new note | | `append-daily` | Append to today's daily note | | `prepend-daily` | Prepend to today's daily note | | `append-specific` | Append to a specific existing note | | `prepend-specific` | Prepend to a specific existing note | ## Variables All variables use `{{variableName}}` syntax. Filters chain with pipes: `{{variable|filter1|filter2:"arg"}}`. There are four kinds: - **Preset variables** — built-in page metadata: `{{title}}`, `{{url}}`, `{{author}}`, `{{site}}`, `{{published}}`, `{{description}}`, `{{content}}` (full article markdown), `{{date}}`, `{{highlights}}`, etc. Look up the full list in the live docs. - **Schema variables** — extract Schema.org JSON-LD from the page. Patterns: ``` {{schema:name}} — first match anywhere {{schema:@Recipe:name}} — scoped to a specific @type {{schema:author.name}} — nested keys via dots {{schema:image[0].contentUrl}} — array index {{schema:actors[*].name}} — flatten arrays ``` Schema-driven templates are usually the right choice for domain-specific clippers (recipes, films, books, jobs) since one `schema:@Type` trigger matches across many sites. - **Selector variables** — pull content via CSS selectors when there's no schema: ``` {{selector:h1}} — text content {{selector:img.hero?src}} — attribute value {{selectorHtml:article}} — raw HTML {{selectorHtml:body|markdown}} — HTML → Markdown ``` - **Interpreter variables** — natural-language prompts evaluated by an LLM (requires the user has an LLM provider configured in extension settings): ``` {{"a summary of the page"}} {{"3 tags describing this content"}} {{"return JSON array with fields: author, text"|map:item => item.text|join:"\n"}} ``` The `context` field at the template top level controls what page content the AI sees. Use `{{selectorHtml:#main}}` or wrap structured context like `\nTitle: {{title}}\n{{content}}\n` to keep prompts focused. ## Filters Chain filters with `|`. Look up specific filter signatures in the live docs (see Reference at the bottom). The patterns and gotchas below are the operationally non-obvious parts. ### Filter gotchas (verified via testing) Minutiae that might trip up template authors: - **String concatenation with `+` doesn't work inside `map` callbacks.** The expression parser treats `+` as an unexpected character and fails the template import with `"Unexpected character '+' in template"`. Use template literals instead: ``` ✗ |map:item => "- " + item (parse error on import) ✓ |map:item => "- ${item}" (template literal — correct) ``` - **Built-in filters cannot be chained inside `map`.** Flatten or transform inside `map`, then apply filters to the result outside: ``` ✗ |map:item => item.text|trim (filter not allowed inside map) ✓ |map:item => item.text|join:"\n"|trim (filter chain outside map) ``` - **For arrays of objects with multi-line per-item output, use `map` to flatten to flat keys, then `template`.** Nested key access in `template` literals is not documented and unreliable; flattening first is the safe pattern: ``` |map:item => ({name: item.author.name, body: item.reviewBody}) |template:"${name}:\n> ${body}\n\n" ``` - **`duration` outputs `HH:mm:ss`, not compact human format.** For something like `45m` or `1h 30m`, skip the filter and chain `replace` on the raw ISO 8601 string: ``` {{schema:@Recipe:prepTime|replace:"PT":""|replace:"H":"h "|replace:"M":"m"|trim}} → "PT1H30M" becomes "1h 30m" → "PT45M" becomes "45m" ``` - **`|list` works on string arrays directly** — no need to map a `"- " + item` prefix yourself. Use `|list` for bullets, `|list:numbered` for numbered, `|list:task` for checkboxes. ### Common Filter Chains ``` {{url|split:"?"|slice:0,1}} — strip query params {{schema:actors[*].name|wikilink|slice:0,4|join}} — first 4 actors as wikilinks {{highlights|map:item => item.text|join:"\n\n"|blockquote}} — highlights as blockquote {{date|date:"YYYY-MM-DD-ddd"}} — formatted date with day name {{"return JSON..."|map:item => item.title|join:"\n"}} — AI → structured → formatted ``` ## Template logic Templates support Twig/Liquid-style logic in `noteContentFormat`, `noteNameFormat`, and property values: `{% if %}`/`{% elseif %}`/`{% else %}` conditionals, `{% for %}` loops (with a `loop` object: `loop.index`, `loop.first`, `loop.last`, etc.), `{% set %}` variable assignment, and `??` fallbacks (`{{title ?? "Untitled"}}`). Full syntax lives in `Logic.md` in the live docs (see Reference). The non-obvious parts: - **Evaluation order: template logic runs first, interpreter prompts after.** Logic can construct a prompt dynamically, but a prompt's *result* can never feed a conditional or loop. - **Filters bind tighter than `??`** — `{{title|upper ?? "X"}}` applies `upper` before the fallback check; parenthesize if the fallback needs the filter instead. - `{% set %}` accepts selector results (`{% set comments = selector:.comment %}`), which pairs with bracket indexing (`{{timestamps[loop.index0]}}`) to walk two parallel arrays in one loop. ## Properties Properties become Obsidian frontmatter fields. **Order matters:** the extension writes properties to frontmatter in the order they appear in the array. If the target vault uses a YAML sort plugin (Linter, etc.), match the template's property order to the user's sort order so freshly clipped notes don't reshuffle on lint. Each property in the array: ```json { "name": "property_name", "value": "{{variable|filter}}", "type": "text" } ``` | Type | Description | | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | `text` | Single string value | | `multitext` | Array (comma-separated values become list items) | | `date` | Date value (ISO format or use `date` filter) | | `number` | Numeric value | | `checkbox` | Boolean — expects `"true"` or `"false"` | ### JSON Escaping for Interpreter Prompts in Properties Interpreter prompts inside JSON property `value` strings require escaped quotes. The inner `"` that delimit the prompt must be escaped as `\\\"` in the JSON: ```json { "name": "description", "value": "{{\\\"Summarize in 1-2 sentences\\\"}}", "type": "text" } ``` The escaping layers: 1. Outer `"` → JSON string delimiter 2. `\\\"` → produces literal `\"` in the parsed string 3. Template engine sees `{{"Summarize in 1-2 sentences"}}` and sends to interpreter Static values and preset variables don't need this escaping — only interpreter prompts inside JSON strings. Filters on interpreter prompts in properties also need escaping: ```json "value": "{{\\\"author's full name\\\"|wikilink}}" ``` ## Triggers Auto-select this template when the URL or page schema matches. | Type | Format | Example | | ----------- | ---------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | URL prefix | Plain URL string | `"https://letterboxd.com/film/"` | | Regex | Enclosed in `/` | `"/^https?:\\/\\/docs\\.google\\.com\\/forms/"` | | Schema type | `schema:@Type` | `"schema:@NewsArticle"` | Multiple triggers in the array act as OR — any match selects the template. ## Example: Full-Text Article Template A vendor-neutral article clipper. Captures the full article body and a small set of metadata; mixes preset variables with optional AI-interpreter prompts. Treat the folder, tag, and prompt choices as illustrative — substitute the user's own conventions before delivering. ```json { "schemaVersion": "0.1.0", "name": "Article", "behavior": "create", "noteNameFormat": "{{title}} - {{site}}", "noteContentFormat": "{{content}}", "path": "Clippings", "properties": [ { "name": "title", "value": "{{title}}", "type": "text" }, { "name": "url", "value": "{{url|split:\\\"?\\\"|slice:0,1}}", "type": "text" }, { "name": "author", "value": "{{author}}", "type": "text" }, { "name": "site", "value": "{{site}}", "type": "text" }, { "name": "published", "value": "{{published}}", "type": "date" }, { "name": "description", "value": "{{description}}", "type": "text" }, { "name": "tags", "value": "{{\\\"2-3 comma-separated topical tags, lowercase, max two words each\\\"}}", "type": "multitext" }, { "name": "created", "value": "{{date}}", "type": "date" } ], "triggers": [] } ``` Key patterns in this example: - `noteContentFormat: "{{content}}"` captures the full article body in Markdown. - `noteNameFormat` combines page title with site name; swap to whatever filename shape the user prefers. - URL stripped of query/tracking params: `{{url|split:\\\"?\\\"|slice:0,1}}`. - `description` uses the page's own description (`{{description}}`); replace with an interpreter prompt only if the user wants AI-generated summaries. - `tags` uses an AI-interpreter prompt for topical tags. Drop or replace with a static value if the user doesn't have the interpreter enabled. - Dates use preset variables directly. For domain-specific templates (recipes, films, books, jobs, etc.), prefer schema-driven extraction (`{{schema:@Type:key}}`) and `schema:@Type` triggers — schema-based templates auto-match across many sites of the same conceptual domain. ## Adapting AI Prompts into Interpreter Variables To convert an existing AI prompt into a web clipper interpreter variable: 1. Place the prompt text inside `{{"..."}}` for use in `noteContentFormat` or `noteNameFormat` 2. For use inside a JSON property `value`, escape as `{{\\\"...\\\"}}` 3. Add filters after the closing quote: `{{"prompt"|filter1|filter2}}` 4. If the prompt should return structured data, instruct it to return JSON, then chain `map` and `template` filters 5. Keep prompts focused — the AI only sees page content (or whatever `context` provides) ## Validating before delivery Template parse errors are silent until the user tries to import — and the import error is often laconic (`"Unexpected character 'X' in template"` with a line number pointing at the JSON, not the template body). Before declaring a template done: - Mentally walk through every `map`, `template`, and `replace` chain for the gotchas above. - If the user has access to the extension, ask them to test-import the JSON before iterating further on the body or properties — a clean import is the fastest signal that filter syntax is valid. - If iterating with the user on a working template, ship one change at a time so a reintroduced parse error is easy to attribute. ## Reference For exhaustive filter signatures, the full preset variable list, schema variable edge cases, and anything not covered above, fetch the live docs. Two source-of-truth locations: - The clipper repo's `docs/` (e.g. `obsidianmd/obsidian-clipper`, look for `docs/Filters.md`, `docs/Variables.md`, `docs/Templates.md`, `docs/Logic.md`, `docs/Interpret web pages.md`) - The official Obsidian help docs' Web Clipper section (e.g. `obsidianmd/obsidian-help`) Canonical human-facing docs: `https://obsidian.md/help/web-clipper` (subpages `/filters`, `/logic`, etc.). These are JS-rendered; a plain fetch returns an empty shell. Link users there, but read from GitHub. Use whatever retrieval tool fits — context7, WebFetch, direct GitHub raw URLs, or anything else. Pick the one that's faster or more accurate in the moment. Prefer the live docs over guessing from memory. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [nweii](https://github.com/nweii) - **Source:** [nweii/agent-stuff](https://github.com/nweii/agent-stuff) - **License:** MIT Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-nweii-agent-stuff-obsidian-web-clipper - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/nweii - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.