WeChat Article → Obsidian

Save WeChat MP articles (微信公众号) as clean Markdown notes in Obsidian. No browser, no CDP, no plugins needed.

How it works

WeChat articles are server-side rendered — the full content is in the HTML, just CSS-hidden. A curl with browser UA fetches it, a Node.js script converts it to clean Markdown (with images, merged section headings, promotional tails stripped), and the result goes into the user's Obsidian vault via the obsidian CLI.

Dependencies

• curl (pre-installed on macOS/Linux)
• Node.js >= 18
• obsidian CLI (for writing to vault — if not available, fall back to direct file write)

First-time setup

On first use, check <skill-path>/config.json. If obsidian_vault or default_path is empty, ask the user:

1. "What is your Obsidian vault name?" — this is the vault name used with obsidian CLI (e.g., vault=MyVault)
2. "Where should I save WeChat articles by default?" — a path inside the vault (e.g., notes/wechat, articles/wechat)

Then write the answers to <skill-path>/config.json:

{
  "obsidian_vault": "MyVault",
  "default_path": "notes/wechat"
}

This only needs to happen once. After that, the skill uses the saved config automatically.

Configuration

Natural language override (per-request)

The user can override the default path anytime:

• "把这篇文章存到 reading/tech 目录"
• "save this under articles/ai/"
• "导入到 Obsidian 的 inbox 文件夹"

Parse the target path from the user's message and use it instead of default_path.

Config file (persistent default)

<skill-path>/config.json:

• obsidian_vault: the vault name for obsidian CLI
• default_path: where to save articles when the user doesn't specify a path

Workflow

Single article

SKILL_PATH="<skill-path>"

# Step 1: Fetch HTML
bash "$SKILL_PATH/scripts/fetch.sh" "URL" /tmp/wx_article.html

# Step 2: Get metadata (to determine filename)
node "$SKILL_PATH/scripts/parse.mjs" /tmp/wx_article.html --json

# Step 3: Parse to Markdown
node "$SKILL_PATH/scripts/parse.mjs" /tmp/wx_article.html > /tmp/wx_article.md

# Step 4: Read the parsed output, then save to Obsidian
obsidian create path="<target_path>/<filename>.md" content="<markdown_content>" vault=<vault_name>

The filename should be derived from the article title, keeping it readable: strip special characters, keep Chinese characters. Example: 从Claude Code源码看AI Agent工程架构.md

Batch save (multiple URLs)

For 2+ URLs, process them sequentially. For 4+ URLs, consider using subagents in parallel (each with its own temp file).

# Per URL:
bash "$SKILL_PATH/scripts/fetch.sh" "$url" "/tmp/wx_${i}.html"
node "$SKILL_PATH/scripts/parse.mjs" "/tmp/wx_${i}.html" > "/tmp/wx_${i}.md"
# Then save each to Obsidian

Output format

The parser produces clean Markdown with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: "Article Title"
author: "公众号名称"
publish_date: "2026-03-31 19:45:08"
saved_date: "2026-03-31"
source: "wechat"
url: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/..."
---

The parser automatically:

• Preserves all article images (WeChat CDN URLs)
• Removes WeChat decoration text (THUMB, STOPPING)
• Merges "PART.XX" + title into proper ## PART.XX Title headings
• Strips promotional tails (关注/点赞/在看, author bios, QR codes)
• Preserves bold, italic, code blocks, blockquotes, lists, links

Post-processing by Claude

After the parser runs, review the output and apply any remaining cleanup:

1. If the user specified tags, add them to the frontmatter
2. Verify the filename is clean and descriptive
3. Confirm save location with the user if ambiguous

Troubleshooting

curl returns empty or verification page

WeChat may rate-limit. Wait 30 seconds and retry. If persistent, the article may require login — inform the user.

Empty content / no #js_content

Some special article types (mini-programs, video-only) aren't supported. Inform the user.

obsidian CLI not available

Fall back to direct file write using the Write tool to the vault's disk path.