Capcat - A command-line tool designed to solve content preservation challenges with Ethical Scraping.
v2.0.33 | Python 3.9+ | capcat.org
Captures articles from 12 built-in sources as clean Markdown files with optional self-contained HTML output. Includes 5 specialized URL processors for platforms like Medium, YouTube, and X. Supports interactive TUI and batch automation.
Installation
pipx install capcat
Requires Python 3.9+.
Quick Start
# Interactive TUI
capcat catch
# Fetch a bundle
capcat bundle tech --count 10
# Fetch specific sources
capcat fetch hn,bbc --count 15
# Archive a single article
capcat single https://example.com/article
# List available sources
capcat list sources
# Show version
capcat --version
Capcat initializes the vault automatically on first run.
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
catch |
Launch the interactive TUI |
single <url> |
Archive a single article |
fetch <sources> |
Batch fetch from sources (comma-separated) |
bundle <name> |
Fetch a pre-configured bundle |
list sources |
List all available sources |
list bundles |
List all available bundles |
add-source --url <url> |
Add a custom RSS/news source |
remove-source |
Remove a source |
generate-config |
Generate a YAML config |
init |
Explicitly scaffold vault (runs automatically on first use) |
Options
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--count N |
Number of articles to fetch (default: 30) |
--output DIR |
Output directory (default: current dir) |
--media |
Download images, video, audio, and PDF files |
--pdfs |
Download PDF files only (independent of --media) |
--html |
Generate self-contained HTML output |
--update |
Re-fetch and update existing articles |
-V, --verbose |
Verbose output |
-q, --quiet |
Quiet output |
-L <file> |
Log output to file |
--version |
Show version and exit |
--help |
Show help and exit |
Bundles
Pre-configured topic collections:
| Bundle | Sources | Description |
|---|---|---|
tech |
IEEE, Mashable | Consumer technology news |
techpro |
HN, Lobsters, InfoQ | Professional developer news |
ai |
MIT News, Google Research | AI research and developments |
science |
Nature, Scientific American | Scientific publications |
news |
BBC, Guardian | General news |
sports |
BBC Sport | Sports coverage |
Available Sources
Tech Pro: Hacker News (hn), Lobsters (lb), InfoQ (iq)
Tech: IEEE Spectrum (ieee), Mashable (mashable)
AI: Google Research (google-research), MIT News (mitnews)
News: BBC (bbc), The Guardian (guardian)
Science: Nature (nature), Scientific American (scientificamerican)
Sports: BBC Sport (bbcsport)
Custom: Medium, Substack (add via capcat add-source)
Output Structure
Batch mode (fetch / bundle)
News/news_DD-MM-YYYY/
├── Hacker-News_DD-MM-YYYY/
│ ├── 01_Article_Title/
│ │ ├── article.md
│ │ ├── comments.md
│ │ ├── html/
│ │ │ ├── article.html
│ │ │ └── comments.html
│ │ └── images/
│ └── 02_Another_Article/
└── BBC_DD-MM-YYYY/
Single article mode
Capcats/cc_DD-MM-YYYY-Title/
├── article.md
├── html/
│ └── article.html
└── images/
HTML output is fully self-contained - embedded CSS, no external dependencies. Open in any browser, share via email, archive permanently.
Configuration
Optional capcat.yml in your project directory:
output_base_dir: "../MyNews"
max_workers: 8
download_media: false
Config priority: CLI flag, TUI prompt, per-source Config/sources/active/<source>/config.yaml, Config/Global-settings.yaml.
Automation
# Daily tech news
0 9 * * * cd ~/news && capcat bundle tech --count 20 --html
# Weekly science digest
0 10 * * 0 cd ~/news && capcat bundle science --count 30 --media
Privacy and Ethics
- Usernames anonymized as "Anonymous" in comment archives
- Respects
robots.txt - Rate limiting: 1 request per 10 seconds
- Prefers RSS/APIs over HTML scraping
- No paywall circumvention
- Proper source attribution
Archive Isolation
Every archived file passes through a content sanitizer before saving. The sanitizer silently removes:
- Tracking pixels and analytics beacons
- Embedded scripts and iframes
- DNS prefetch/preload hints
- Hidden elements with external references
- Known tracker domain resources (Google Analytics, DoubleClick, Facebook Pixel, etc.)
Heuristic detection catches unlisted trackers by identifying:
- 1x1 pixel images
- Query-heavy image URLs (fingerprinting patterns)
- URLs with /collect, /pixel, /beacon, /analytics paths
- Hidden elements containing external references
Article links and source URLs are preserved. The archive is yours to read offline with zero external connections.
Documentation
Full documentation at capcat.org:
Contributing
Open an issue or pull request on GitHub.
License
MIT License - see LICENSE.txt
Links
- Website: capcat.org
- Repository: github.com/stayukasabov/capcat
- Issues: github.com/stayukasabov/capcat/issues
1 maintainer
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