article-to-markdown

name	article-to-markdown
description	Convert external URLs into structured Markdown and save to the Obsidian vault. Use when the user provides an external URL (article, blog post, tweet thread, newsletter) and wants it saved as an Obsidian note. Triggers: "save this article", "archive this link to obsidian", "bookmark article", or when user pastes a URL and asks to save/summarize/archive it.
allowed-tools	["Glob","Grep","Read","Write","Bash(open *)","Bash(ls *)","AskUserQuestion","mcp__firecrawl__firecrawl_scrape"]

Article to Markdown

Convert external article URLs into structured Markdown notes and save them to the Obsidian vault.

Workflow

Step 1: Fetch and Detect Environment

1a. Detect vault root — follow ../../_shared/common-steps.md "Vault Detection" section.

1b. Fetch article content:

Use mcp__firecrawl__firecrawl_scrape to scrape the URL. This covers most pages including JS-rendered content.

If firecrawl fails, ask the user to paste the article content directly. Do not attempt other fallback tools.

Special cases:

• Tweet threads: use mcp__firecrawl__firecrawl_scrape, reconstruct thread order
• Paywalled content: ask the user to paste content directly

Step 2: Restructure and Link

2a. Understand and restructure — do NOT simply copy the raw text:

1. Identify the article's core thesis, key arguments, and supporting details
2. Determine author, publication date, and source platform
3. Restructure the content into logical sections with clear headings
4. Generate 3-8 relevant tags and a 1-3 sentence summary

2b. Search for bidirectional links — follow the Bidirectional Link Search in ../../_shared/common-steps.md.

2c. Format as Obsidian Markdown — follow the template in references/article-template.md exactly:

• YAML frontmatter with title, date, tags, summary, source
• Blockquote metadata line with original link, author, date
• Sections: Background → content → Key Conclusions → Further Thoughts
• Include [[wikilink]] connections from Step 2b
• Code blocks with language identifiers

2d. (Optional) Mermaid architecture diagram — if the article has a clear multi-layered architecture or flow worth visualizing, embed a Mermaid diagram after the blockquote metadata and before ## Background. Skip for simple or short articles. Use:

• graph TD / graph LR for flows
• subgraph for logical grouping
• Concise node labels (keywords, not sentences)
• 3-5 layers, 2-5 nodes per layer

Step 3: Save and Confirm

3a. Determine target directory — follow the Directory Mapping Rules in ../../_shared/common-steps.md. For external URL sources, match against the configured categories; if no rule matches, use the configured default directory.

3b. Save — follow the Save and Open in Obsidian section in ../../_shared/common-steps.md.

3c. Update index.md — follow the Index Update section in ../../_shared/common-steps.md. Use the article's title, summary (condensed to under 80 chars), and top 2 tags.

3d. Report to user:

• Article title and brief summary
• File path where it was saved
• Tag list for review
• Related notes linked (list the [[wikilink]] connections made)