quip-to-obsidian

name	quip-to-obsidian
description	This skill should be used when the user asks to "migrate quip to obsidian", "download quip images", "fix quip diagrams", "export quip folder", or mentions migrating Quip documents with images/diagrams to Obsidian. Handles complete Quip folder migration including blob/image downloads.

Quip to Obsidian Migration

Migrate Quip folders and documents to Obsidian with full image/diagram support.

Overview

Quip documents exported to markdown retain image references as /blob/THREAD_ID/BLOB_ID URLs, but the actual images require authenticated API access to download. This skill provides the complete workflow to:

1. Download all blob images from Quip using the API
2. Update markdown references to use local paths
3. Convert reference-style images to inline format for Obsidian compatibility
4. Fix Quip table formatting (removes empty first columns and row numbers)

Prerequisites

Quip API Token

Obtain a Quip API token from: https://quip-amazon.com/dev/token

Configure the token in one of these locations:

# Option 1: Environment variable
export QUIP_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"

# Option 2: amzn-mcp config file
mkdir -p ~/.amazon-internal-mcp-server
echo 'QUIP_API_TOKEN="your-token-here"' > ~/.amazon-internal-mcp-server/.env
chmod 600 ~/.amazon-internal-mcp-server/.env

Quip API Endpoint

For Amazon internal Quip: https://platform.quip-amazon.com/1/blob/{thread_id}/{blob_id} For public Quip: https://platform.quip.com/1/blob/{thread_id}/{blob_id}

Migration Workflow

Step 1: Identify Blob References

Extract all unique blob references from the migrated markdown files:

grep -rhoE '/blob/[A-Za-z0-9]+/[A-Za-z0-9_-]+' /path/to/obsidian/folder | sort -u > /tmp/quip-blobs.txt

Filter out non-Quip patterns (documentation references):

grep -v "main/articles\|pattern/" /tmp/quip-blobs.txt > /tmp/quip-blobs-filtered.txt

Step 2: Download Blobs

Use the download script at scripts/download-quip-blobs.sh:

# Set variables
export QUIP_API_TOKEN="your-token"
export BLOB_LIST="/tmp/quip-blobs-filtered.txt"
export OUTPUT_DIR="/path/to/obsidian/folder/attachments"

# Path to this skill's directory (where SKILL.md and scripts/ live)
export SKILL_DIR="/path/to/claude-skills/skills/quip-to-obsidian"

# Run download script
bash "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/download-quip-blobs.sh"

The script:

• Downloads each blob via the Quip API
• Detects file type (PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG)
• Names files as {thread_id}_{blob_id}.{ext}
• Reports success/failure counts

Step 3: Update Markdown References

After downloading, update all markdown files to reference local images:

# Update blob paths to local attachments
find "$OBSIDIAN_DIR" -name "*.md" -type f -exec sed -i '' -E \
  "s|/blob/([A-Za-z0-9]+)/([A-Za-z0-9_-]+)|attachments/\1_\2.png|g" {} \;

Step 4: Convert to Obsidian Format

Obsidian works better with inline image syntax. Use the Python script at scripts/fix-obsidian-images.py:

python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-obsidian-images.py" \
  --directory "/path/to/obsidian/folder"

This converts reference-style links:

![alt text][1]
[1]: attachments/image.png

To inline format:

![alt text](attachments/image.png)

Step 5: Fix Code Block Formatting

Quip exports code blocks with extra blank lines between every line. Fix the spacing:

python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-code-block-spacing.py" \
  "/path/to/obsidian/folder"

Then add language hints (Quip exports without them):

python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-code-block-langs.py" \
  "/path/to/obsidian/folder"

Detects: mermaid, json, yaml, typescript, python, go, bash, cedar, sql, http, xml, and directory trees.

Step 6: Remove Invisible Characters

Quip exports contain zero-width space characters (U+200B) that break markdown rendering:

python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-zero-width-spaces.py" \
  "/path/to/obsidian/folder"

Step 7: Fix Table Formatting

Quip exports tables with extra empty columns, row numbers, and escaped characters. Fix with:

# Fix table structure (empty columns, row numbers, escaped chars)
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-quip-tables.py" \
  "/path/to/obsidian/folder"

# Fix separator lines to match column count
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-table-separators.py" \
  "/path/to/obsidian/folder"

# Remove any remaining escaped characters
find "/path/to/obsidian/folder" -name "*.md" -exec sed -i '' 's/\\(/(/g; s/\\)/)/g; s/\\_/_/g' {} \;

This converts malformed tables:

|     | Header1 | Header2 |
| --- | ------- | ------- |
| 1   | Cell1   | Cell2   |

To proper markdown:

| Header1 | Header2 |
| ------- | ------- |
| Cell1   | Cell2   |

Quick Migration Command

For a complete migration in one go:

# Set environment
export QUIP_API_TOKEN="your-token"
export OBSIDIAN_DIR="/path/to/obsidian/migration/folder"
export SKILL_DIR="/path/to/claude-skills/skills/quip-to-obsidian"

# 1. Extract blob list
grep -rhoE '/blob/[A-Za-z0-9]+/[A-Za-z0-9_-]+' "$OBSIDIAN_DIR" | \
  grep -v "main/articles\|pattern/" | sort -u > /tmp/quip-blobs.txt

# 2. Create attachments folder
mkdir -p "$OBSIDIAN_DIR/attachments"

# 3. Download blobs
BLOB_LIST=/tmp/quip-blobs.txt OUTPUT_DIR="$OBSIDIAN_DIR/attachments" \
  bash "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/download-quip-blobs.sh"

# 4. Update references and convert format
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-obsidian-images.py" \
  --directory "$OBSIDIAN_DIR"

# 5. Fix code block formatting
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-code-block-spacing.py" "$OBSIDIAN_DIR"
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-code-block-langs.py" "$OBSIDIAN_DIR"

# 6. Remove invisible characters (zero-width spaces)
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-zero-width-spaces.py" "$OBSIDIAN_DIR"

# 7. Fix table formatting
python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/fix-quip-tables.py" ""
python3  
find  -name  - sed -i   {} \;

Troubleshooting

Token Verification Failed (400)

• Verify token is correctly quoted (contains | and = characters)
• Check token hasn't expired
• Ensure using correct API endpoint (amazon vs public)

Images Not Rendering in Obsidian

1. Check relative paths are correct from markdown file to attachments folder
2. Verify inline image syntax (not reference-style)
3. Try Obsidian wikilink format: ![[attachments/filename.png]]

Missing Images

Some blob references may be to non-existent or deleted images. Check the download script output for failed downloads.

Tables Not Rendering

Quip exports tables with extra leading columns (||) and row numbers (|1|, |2|). Run fix-quip-tables.py to correct the format.

Also check for zero-width space characters (U+200B) before tables - these invisible characters can prevent table recognition. Run fix-zero-width-spaces.py to remove them.

Blob URL Format Reference

Quip blob URLs follow this pattern:

• Markdown reference: /blob/THREAD_ID/BLOB_ID
• Full API URL: https://platform.quip-amazon.com/1/blob/THREAD_ID/BLOB_ID
• Local path: attachments/THREAD_ID_BLOB_ID.png

Thread IDs and Blob IDs are base64-like strings (alphanumeric with - and _).

Scripts Reference

Script	Purpose
scripts/download-quip-blobs.sh	Download all blobs from a list file
scripts/fix-obsidian-images.py	Convert reference-style to inline images
scripts/fix-code-block-spacing.py	Remove extra blank lines from code blocks
scripts/fix-code-block-langs.py	Auto-detect and add language hints to code blocks
scripts/fix-zero-width-spaces.py	Remove invisible Unicode characters that break rendering
scripts/fix-quip-tables.py	Fix Quip table formatting (empty columns, row numbers, escapes)
scripts/fix-table-separators.py	Ensure table separators match column count

Additional Resources

• references/quip-api.md - Detailed Quip API documentation and authentication