gobbler

name	gobbler
description	Converts external content into clean structured Markdown, including YouTube videos/playlists, URLs and web pages, PDFs and office documents, audio/video files, local files, batches, and intentionally selected browser tabs. Use when the user asks to convert, extract, transcribe, fetch, download, archive, or save content as Markdown for AI analysis, notes, research, or documentation.
version	1.0.0
author	Enablement Engineering
license	MIT
metadata	{"agent":{"tags":["content-conversion","markdown","youtube","webpage","document","audio","batch","research","cli-first"],"recommended_interface":"cli","requires":{"bins":["gobbler"]},"optional_requires":{"bins":["uv","docker","ffmpeg"]}},"openclaw":{"emoji":"🦃","requires":{"bins":["gobbler"]},"homepage":"https://github.com/Enablement-Engineering/gobbler"}}

Gobbler

Use Gobbler when the task begins with external content that must become markdown before an agent can reason over it: YouTube videos/playlists, URLs/webpages, PDFs/DOCX/PPTX/XLSX files, audio/video, batches of inputs, local files, or intentionally selected browser tabs.

Do not use this skill for ordinary summarization when the source content is already present in the conversation.

Default behavior

• Prefer the gobbler CLI over ad hoc converters so outputs are consistent and reproducible.
• Prefer writing converted content to an explicit .md output file instead of only printing it in chat.
• Verify that the output file exists, has YAML frontmatter, and has a non-empty markdown body before reporting success.
• Report the source, output path, and command used.
• If processing multiple inputs, use deterministic filenames and summarize successes/failures.
• Run gobbler doctor --json before document, webpage, browser, troubleshooting, or large batch workflows.
• Keep private converted content local unless the user explicitly asks to send or publish it.

Quick routing

User intent/input	Command family	Details
YouTube video, playlist, captions, subtitles	gobbler youtube, gobbler batch youtube-playlist	references/youtube.md, references/batch.md
Audio/video file, podcast, recording, voice memo, interview	gobbler audio	references/audio.md
PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, document text extraction	gobbler document	references/document.md
URL, webpage, article, web scrape, selector extraction	gobbler webpage	references/webpage.md
Multiple files, URL lists, playlist, bulk conversion	gobbler batch ...	references/batch.md
Authenticated browser tab/session content	gobbler browser ...	Load gobbler-browser skill
Install, service readiness, Docker, ffmpeg, connection refused	gobbler doctor --json	Load gobbler-setup skill if needed

Common commands

# Check CLI and service readiness
gobbler doctor --json

# YouTube transcript, no Docker required
gobbler youtube "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" -o ./outputs/video.md

# Deterministic visual overview, interpreted by the calling agent
gobbler youtube "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID" \
  --frames-only --frames 8 -o ./outputs/overview.md

# Audio/video transcription
gobbler audio ./meeting.mp3 --model small -o ./outputs/meeting.md

# Document conversion
gobbler document ./paper.pdf --no-ocr -o ./outputs/paper.md

# Webpage conversion
gobbler webpage "https://example.com" -o ./outputs/page.md

If working from a source checkout without a global install, use uv --directory:

uv --directory /path/to/gobbler run gobbler doctor --json
uv --directory /path/to/gobbler run gobbler youtube "URL" -o ./outputs/transcript.md

Output verification

After using -o, verify the file exists and has frontmatter plus a non-empty body:

test -s ./outputs/result.md
python - <<'PY'
from pathlib import Path
p = Path('./outputs/result.md')
text = p.read_text()
assert text.startswith('---'), 'missing YAML frontmatter'
assert len(text.split('---', 2)[-1].strip()) > 0, 'empty markdown body'
print('ok')
PY

Safety boundaries

• Ask before browser automation against authenticated/private pages.
• Never extract secrets, cookies, tokens, private keys, unrelated tabs, or unrelated personal content.
• Use gobbler-browser for detailed browser/session automation instructions; it has a different safety model from normal conversion.

Detailed references

Load only the relevant reference when needed:

• references/youtube.md — YouTube videos/playlists, captions, languages, timestamps, and deterministic frame refinement.
• references/audio.md — audio/video files, Whisper models, ffmpeg, timestamps.
• references/document.md — PDFs and office documents, OCR, Docling readiness.
• references/webpage.md — URLs/webpages, selector extraction, Crawl4AI readiness.
• references/batch.md — playlists, directories, URL lists, JSON progress, skip-existing behavior.