webscrapbook

PyPI version Python Versions Status License

PyWebScrapBook is a command line toolkit and backend server for WebScrapBook browser extension.

Features

Host any directory(s) as website(s).
Directory listing.
HTZ or MAFF archive file viewing.
Markdown file rendering.
Create, view, edit, and/or delete files via the web interface or API.
HTTP(S) authorization and simple ACL.
Tools for scrapbooks management, such as cache generating and data checking, exporting, importing, and conversion.

Usage

Installation

Install from the package manager

Install Python >= 3.8 from the official site.

Add python to PATH environment variable so that it can be run from the command line interface (CLI).
Install this package

Run below command from CLI to install (or upgrade to) the latest version:
```
python -m pip install -U webscrapbook
```
After installation, wsb will be available from the CLI.

Install from compiled binary

Download the binary package compatible with your system from the latest release, and unzip to anywhere on your device.
Optionally add the parent directory of the executable file to PATH environment variable so that it can be run from the CLI more easily.

Usage overview

Run wsb --help for help about available commands, which looks like:

usage: wsb [-h] [--version] [--root ROOT] COMMAND ...

positional arguments:
  COMMAND      the sub-command to run. Get usage help with e.g. wsb config -h
    serve (s)  serve the root directory
    config (c)
               show, generate, or edit the config
    encrypt (e)
               generate an encrypted password
    cache (a)  update fulltext cache and/or static site pages
    check (k)  check and fix scrapbook data
    export (x)
               export data items into archive files (*.wsba)
    import (i)
               import data items from archive files (*.wsba)
    convert (v)
               convert scrapbook data between different formats
    query (q)  perform queries on the scrapbook(s)
    search (r)
               search for data items in the scrapbook(s)
    help       show detailed information about certain topics
    view       view archive file in the browser

options:
  -h, --help   show this help message and exit
  --version    show version information and exit
  --root ROOT  root directory to manipulate (default: current working directory)

Run wsb <command> --help for help about <command>. For example, wsb config --help for help about wsb config.

Host a scrapbook

Switch current working directory (CWD) to a directory you'd like to host.

cd /path/to/scrapbook

In Windows, an additional command or parameter to change drive may be required. For example, if the directory to host is E:\path\to\scrapbook while the current drive is C, an additional command E: (or parameter /d) is required besides cd E:\path\to\scrapbook.

You can also use the shortcurt: Shift + Right-click on the desired folder and select Open command window here or Open PowerShell window here.

Generate config files for the directory:

wsb config -ba

This step can be skipped if you want PyWebScrapBook default data structure instead. See doc wiki for more details.

Run the generated .wsb/serve.py to start the server, or run below command from CLI:

wsb serve

Alternatively, a backend server can be run with a specialized WSGI server, such as mod_wsgi, uWSGI, or Gunicorn, by providing the generated application script .wsb/app.py to it.

Open an archive file directly (optional)

The wsb executable also supports opening an archive page (HTZ or MAFF) to view in the browser.

Run which wsb (or where wsb in Windows) from CLI to get the path of the executable, and set default application of MAFF/HTZ file to that executable to open them directly in the browser with double-click.

Configuration

Run wsb config -be to edit configs for CWD. For documentation about configs, run wsb help config, or read it online.

Further documentation

For more tips about how to configure PyWebScrapBook alongside WebScrapBook, visit the documentation wiki for WebScrapBook.

Metadata

Release files for webscrapbook 2.10.2

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for webscrapbook 2.10.2
File	Size	Uploaded
webscrapbook-2.10.2.tar.gz	182.7 kB	Aug 11, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for webscrapbook 2.10.2
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
webscrapbook-2.10.2-py3-none-any.whl 216.2 kB Aug 11, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 399.0 kB

Release files / webscrapbook-2.10.2.tar.gz

Download URL	webscrapbook-2.10.2.tar.gz
Size	182.7 kB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`af0e5dac788d42e3c571cbbc4780bd8ab974fc44a1567514d64564e4f825559c`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`60ffe3865ba41912520023e47d24aa59f7671dd439605dcf0172830d4840c5a7`
Upload date	Aug 11, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14`

Release files / webscrapbook-2.10.2-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	webscrapbook-2.10.2-py3-none-any.whl
Size	216.2 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`03a984f208636cfbe424f63d6643e400b1a31331b669bbd541561857fd186b70`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`c31fdd9cd2190067747add5631c137cca910bba7a95948f212ca6cfc6b95fc1c`
Upload date	Aug 11, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.14`