amperstand 0.1.0

Open-source capture layer that turns anything from the web into markdown files you own.

Amperstand

Amperstand captures articles, YouTube videos, feeds, and newsletters into markdown files you own.

It is local-first. You can run it on any computer with Python and write output directly into a folder or Obsidian vault. The HTTP server is optional and not required for the core workflow.

Install

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd amperstand
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
playwright install chromium

Quick Start

Capture an article:

amperstand capture https://example.com/article

Print markdown to stdout instead of writing a file:

amperstand capture https://example.com/article --stdout

Capture into a specific folder:

amperstand capture https://example.com/article --output ~/notes/inbox

What It Supports

• Articles and web pages
• YouTube videos and transcripts
• RSS and Atom feeds
• Newsletter emails and .eml files

Common Commands

amperstand feed add https://example.com/feed.xml
amperstand feed sync --output ~/notes/inbox

amperstand email parse ./newsletter.eml --output ~/notes/inbox

amperstand config show
amperstand --version

Local State

Amperstand stores local state in ~/.amperstand, including:

• state.json for feed subscriptions and capture history
• config.json for settings
• amperstand.log for logs

Notes

• Some JavaScript-heavy pages need Playwright. If Chromium has not been installed yet, run playwright install chromium.
• YouTube capture uses yt-dlp.
• Vault and git sync are optional. If you just want local files on another computer, you do not need the server at all.