markdown-web

markdown-web

Convert web pages, YouTube videos, and RSS/Atom feeds to Markdown using markitdown and Playwright.

Plugin root: this SKILL.md is at skills/markdown-web/SKILL.md inside the plugin. All paths below are relative to the plugin root (two directories up from this file). Resolve them from this file's location before running.

Setup

Run once before first use:

bash <plugin-root>/setup.sh

Usage: URLs

bash <plugin-root>/url2md.sh <url> [-o output.md] [--js] [--wait MS]

Option	Description
<url>	URL to convert (required)
-o FILE	Output file (default: stdout)
--js	Use Playwright to render JS-heavy pages (SPAs, dynamic content)
--wait MS	Milliseconds to wait after page load, only with --js (default: 2000)

URL examples

bash <plugin-root>/url2md.sh https://example.com -o example.md
bash <plugin-root>/url2md.sh https://app.example.com -o app.md --js
bash <plugin-root>/url2md.sh https://dashboard.example.com -o dash.md --js --wait 5000

Usage: YouTube

Pass a YouTube URL directly to markitdown (extracts title, metadata, and full transcript):

<plugin-root>/.venv/bin/markitdown "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" -o transcript.md

Usage: RSS/Atom feeds

Pass a feed URL directly to markitdown (extracts all entries as structured Markdown):

<plugin-root>/.venv/bin/markitdown "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml" -o bbc-feed.md

Docker alternative

No Python/venv needed — just Docker:

bash <plugin-root>/run.sh "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" -o transcript.md
bash <plugin-root>/run.sh "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml" -o feed.md

The run.sh wrapper auto-detects: uses Docker if available (builds image on first run), falls back to venv. For web pages with JS rendering:

docker run --rm -v "$(pwd):/work" --entrypoint url2md cliskills/markdown-web https://app.example.com -o app.md --js

Build the image once with: docker build -t cliskills/markdown-web <plugin-root>/

How Claude Code should use this skill

1. Determine PLUGIN_ROOT by resolving ../.. from this SKILL.md file's path
2. Preferred: use bash $PLUGIN_ROOT/run.sh <url> [options] — auto-detects Docker or venv
3. Fallback: ensure setup has been run (bash $PLUGIN_ROOT/setup.sh) and use commands directly
4. Choose the right mode:
   • Most sites: bash $PLUGIN_ROOT/url2md.sh <url> -o output.md (uses curl, fast)
   • JS-heavy SPAs: add --js (uses Playwright, slower but accurate)
   • YouTube videos: bash $PLUGIN_ROOT/run.sh "<youtube-url>" -o transcript.md
   • RSS/Atom feeds: bash $PLUGIN_ROOT/run.sh "<feed-url>" -o feed.md
5. If default mode returns mostly empty or broken content, retry with --js

Do NOT use this skill for local files — use markdown-file instead.

Requires Python 3.10+ (venv mode) or Docker.