Collect web pages with the Web Clipper

The Web Clipper sends a web page, a text selection or a YouTube transcript to your engine. The item waits in the Cockpit Inbox until you review it. Collecting alone never turns anything into knowledge or a skill.

The path is always the same: collect → review in chat → confirm → knowledge or skill.

What you need #

Google Chrome. Other browsers are untested.
The sk CLI, signed in to your engine. See "Use the sk CLI on your machine".
An engine address that uses HTTPS. Plain HTTP works only on localhost, 127.0.0.1 or [::1]. In SubKit Cloud it is https://subkit-cloud.mikebild.info, without /cockpit.
An account with intake:read and intake:write. If it lacks them, ask an administrator.

The Web Clipper is not in the Chrome Web Store. You install it from the CLI.

Install the extension #

The installer copies your active profile's engine address into the extension. You only add an API key later.

Run sk clipper install. The command unpacks the extension to ~/.sk/clipper and tries to open Chrome's extension page. text sk: clipping extension installed to /Users/you/.sk/clipper sk: in Chrome, enable Developer mode, select Load unpacked, and choose the directory above. Reload the extension there after a future install. The output names the install folder and the next steps in Chrome.
In Chrome, open chrome://extensions.
Turn on Developer mode (top right).
Select Load unpacked and choose the folder the command printed.
Pin the "SubKit Clipper" extension to the toolbar.

If Chrome does not open, the command prints sk: could not open Chrome automatically. Open chrome://extensions yourself.

Update the extension #

After you update the sk CLI, install the Web Clipper again. Your connection settings stay.

Run sk clipper install.
On chrome://extensions, reload the "SubKit Clipper" extension.

Connect it to your engine #

The Web Clipper signs in with its own API key.

In the Cockpit, open API access.
Select Create key and pick the Web Clipper preset. It grants exactly intake:read and intake:write. (opens in a new tab)Screenshot from build 10.4.12
Copy the key.
In the Web Clipper, select the gear icon (⚙). The settings open in a new tab.
Check the Engine address and paste the key into API key.
Select Save connection.
Allow access when Chrome asks for it.

The Web Clipper checks the connection, loads your categories and confirms that the key may save clips.

If the engine address changes, you also need the key for the new engine. Clear API key removes the stored key from the extension.

Collect a page #

In the toolbar, select the Web Clipper icon ("SubKit Clipper").
Check the Title.
Optional: fill in Why is this interesting?.
Pick a Category, or select New category. Names use lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, up to 40 characters.
Check the preview.
Optional: open Details and edit content to see author and date and to edit the Markdown.
Select Collect.

You can also right-click and select Save page to SubKit or Save selection to SubKit, or press Alt+Shift+K.

On success, the popup says for example "Collected: research. Not yet admitted as knowledge or a skill." Select Review in chat to start the review right away.

Good to know:

If saving fails, your draft stays in the Web Clipper.
The same page is never collected twice.
Change the shortcut at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.

What happens next #

Inbox: in the Cockpit, open Inbox. There you read, edit, move or discard the item.
Review: select Review in chat in the Web Clipper or on the item. The chat prepares a proposal: the exact content, its sources and the destination (knowledge or skill).
Confirm: only a person signed in to the Cockpit in the browser confirms the proposal as knowledge or skill.

To confirm, that person needs intake:confirm and the right of the destination:

Destination	Needed rights
Knowledge	`knowledge:write`
Skill	`skill:write` and `skill:activate`
Skill that replaces others	also `skill:archive` for each replaced skill

API keys, MCP clients and the Web Clipper cannot confirm.

Until someone confirms it, a clip is not knowledge, and ordinary knowledge search does not find it. Moving or editing it does not admit it either. If the proposal changes, you review it again. The chapter "Collect ideas and turn them into knowledge or skills" walks through review and confirmation.

What the Web Clipper captures #

A page: the main article text as Markdown, links as absolute addresses, without navigation and recommendations.
A selection: only the selected text. From the toolbar or the shortcut, the Web Clipper uses your selection if there is one, otherwise the whole article.
A YouTube video: title, author, publish date, description and the transcript in the original audio language. Include or exclude description and transcript under Details and edit content.

It also keeps the source address, author and publish date when the page provides them. Image links stay in the text. Image files and screenshots are not uploaded.

Privacy #

Destination: clips go only to the engine you configured. For the transcript, the Web Clipper may also load the page and captions directly from YouTube.
Originals stay: the engine keeps the original captured snapshot. Later edits do not overwrite it, and the clip stays linked to the knowledge or skill made from it.
Secrets are replaced: before saving, SubKit replaces recognizable secrets (API keys, tokens, private keys, signed-link signatures) with a marker. The values are never stored. Personal data is kept. Don't clip pages that show passwords or keys.
Your API key is stored in the extension on this device. Revoke it in the Cockpit when you no longer need it.
Visibility: items follow the permissions of your workspace. Categories are shared, not private.

Install options #

Option	What it does
`--dir <directory>`	Installs to another folder.
`--engine-url <url>`	Uses this engine address instead of the active profile's.
`--no-open`	Does not open Chrome.

If something does not work #

The Web Clipper shows messages in the selected language. Help in the popup and in the settings opens this chapter on your engine. If a capture from the context menu or the shortcut fails, the Web Clipper opens its popup in a tab and shows the error there.

Connection and key

What you see	What to do
"Set an engine address and API key first." or "Set an engine address before capturing."	Enter both in the settings (⚙) and save.
"The API key is invalid or expired. …"	Create a new key with the Web Clipper preset under API access and save it in the settings.
"The API key lacks intake:read. …" or "… lacks intake:write. …"	Create a key with the Web Clipper preset under API access. Your draft stays.
"The SubKit API could not be reached. …"	Check the engine address, your internet connection and whether Chrome may access the address.
"Use an HTTPS address or HTTP on localhost."	Use `https://`, or `http://` only with `localhost`, `127.0.0.1` or `[::1]`. The address must not contain a user name, a password, a `?query` or a `#fragment`.
"Allow access to this engine to save the connection."	Save again and allow access when Chrome asks.
"Enter an API key for the new engine."	You changed the engine address. Paste the key for the new engine.
"Categories currently unavailable"	Select Check connection.

Capturing

What you see	What to do
"The main content could not be captured reliably. …"	Select the relevant text, then select Capture again.
"The content was captured as simplified text. …"	Check the preview for completeness.
"No text was captured. …"	Select Capture again. For an excerpt, select the text first.
"No transcript is available."	The Web Clipper could not read a transcript for this video.
"Open the clipper from the toolbar on this page again."	Chrome needs access to this site. Select the toolbar icon on that page.
"The page changed while it was being captured. Capture it again."	Capture again.
"The page could not be captured."	Reload the page and try again.

Collecting

What you see	What to do
"Saving is not confirmed yet. Retry; your draft remains available."	The network or the engine failed. Select Try again.
"SubKit rejected the clip. …"	Check the category and the content, then try again.
"This clip already exists."	It was already collected.
"Choose a valid category before collecting." or "Enter a valid category."	Use lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, at most 40 characters.
"The saved category is unavailable. Choose another category."	Pick another category.
"This draft belongs to a different engine."	Switch back to the engine it was made for to send it.