Thomashighbaugh/web-to-markdown

web-to-markdown

Convert web pages to clean Markdown by driving a locally installed browser (via web2md).

Hard trigger gate (must enforce)

This skill MUST NOT be used unless the user explicitly wrote exactly a phrase like:

• use the skill web-to-markdown ...
• use a skill web-to-markdown ...

If the user did not explicitly request this skill by name, stop and ask them to re-issue the request including: use the skill web-to-markdown.

What this skill does

• Handles JS-rendered pages (Puppeteer → user Chrome).
• Works best with Chromium-family browsers (Chrome/Chromium/Brave/Edge) via puppeteer-core.
• Extracts main content (Readability).
• Converts to Markdown (Turndown) with cleaned links and optional YAML frontmatter.

Non-goals

• Do not use Playwright or other browser automation stacks; the mechanism is web2md.

Inputs you should collect (ask only if missing)

• url (or a list of URLs)
• Output preference:
  • Print to stdout (--print), OR
  • Save to a file (--out ./file.md), OR
  • Save to a directory (--out ./some-dir/ to auto-name by page title)
• Optional rendering controls for tricky pages:
  • --chrome-path <path> (if Chrome auto-detection fails)
  • --interactive (show Chrome and pause so the user can complete human checks/login, then press Enter)
  • --wait-until load|domcontentloaded|networkidle0|networkidle2
  • --wait-for '<css selector>'
  • --wait-ms <milliseconds>
  • --headful (debug)
  • --no-sandbox (sometimes required in containers/CI)
  • --user-data-dir <dir> (login/session; use a dedicated profile directory)

Workflow

1. Confirm the user explicitly invoked the skill (use the skill web-to-markdown).
2. Validate URL(s) start with http:// or https://.
3. Ensure web2md is installed:
   • Run: command -v web2md
   • If missing, instruct the user to install it (assume the project exists at ~/workspace/softaworks/projects/web2md):
     • cd ~/workspace/softaworks/projects/web2md && npm install && npm run build && npm link
     • Or: cd ~/workspace/softaworks/projects/web2md && npm install && npm run build && npm install -g .
4. Convert:
   • Single URL → file:
     • web2md '<url>' --out ./page.md
   • Single URL → auto-named file in directory:
     • mkdir -p ./out && web2md '<url>' --out ./out/
   • Human verification / login walls (interactive):
     • mkdir -p ./out && web2md '<url>' --interactive --user-data-dir ./tmp/web2md-profile --out ./out/
     • Then: complete the check in the browser window and press Enter in the terminal to continue.
   • Print to stdout:
     • web2md '<url>' --print
   • Multiple URLs (batch):
     • Create output dir (e.g. ./out/) then run one web2md command per URL using --out ./out/
5. Validate output:
   • If writing files, verify they exist and are non-empty (e.g. ls -la <path> and wc -c <path>).
6. Return:
   • The saved file path(s), or the Markdown (stdout mode).

Defaults (recommended)

• For most pages: --wait-until networkidle2
• For heavy apps: start with --wait-until domcontentloaded --wait-ms 2000, then add --wait-for 'main' (or another stable selector) if needed.