Openclaw Skill

Parse, search, filter, and export Kindle highlights and notes from "My Clippings.txt" via a command-line tool with Markdown output.

Security Scan

The skill's requested actions, files, and installation instructions align with its stated purpose of providing a CLI for parsing and exporting Kindle clippings; nothing in the bundle appears disproportionate or unrelated.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description (kindle-clip CLI for parsing/exporting 'My Clippings.txt') match the contents: SKILL.md, EXAMPLES.md, INSTALL.md, README.md and skill.json all describe the same CLI usage and repository. The recommended assets (GitHub releases or build-from-source) are appropriate for this purpose.

Instruction Scope

Runtime instructions instruct the agent to run the kindle-clip binary, optionally set a default path, read/write an agent-local config (~/.config/kindle-clip/config.json), and export Markdown files. These actions are all within scope for processing Kindle clippings. The docs explicitly describe the resolution order for clippings path (explicit arg, KINDLE_CLIP_PATH, saved config), which is expected behavior.

Install Mechanism

No install spec in the registry (instruction-only skill). INSTALL.md recommends downloading releases from GitHub or building from source — both reasonable and lower-risk approaches. URLs point to a GitHub repo (no obscure hosts or shorteners) and the docs recommend checksum verification.

Credentials

The skill declares no required environment variables or credentials; it documents an optional KINDLE_CLIP_PATH and an optional saved config path. These are proportionate to the functionality. There are no requests for unrelated secrets or network credentials.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill does not request elevated or cross-skill privileges. It writes only its own config (~/.config/kindle-clip/config.json) and instructs placing a user-owned binary into PATH, which is normal for a CLI tool.

Assessment

This bundle is coherent and appears to do what it claims. Before installing: (1) install the kindle-clip binary only from the project's GitHub Releases or build from the listed source and verify checksums; (2) be aware the tool will read your local Kindle 'My Clippings.txt' (or any path you point it to) and may write exported Markdown and a small config file at ~/.config/kindle-clip/config.json; (3) avoid running unverified remote install scripts (no curl|sh), and inspect the GitHub repository and recent release notes for legitimacy and recent activity. If you want stronger assurance, review the binary source code or build it yourself from the linked repository.

kindle-clip-cli

Parse, print, search, filter and export Kindle highlights and notes from the command line.

What this skill does

This skill provides the kindle-clip CLI tool for processing Kindle's "My Clippings.txt" file. It's designed to be AI agent-friendly, with clean Markdown output and intuitive filtering options.

Key capabilities:

• Parse and list all books from Kindle clippings
• Print highlights and notes for specific books or all books
• Search across all notes by keyword, date range, author, or book title
• Export results to Markdown files
• Filter by date ranges, book titles, authors, or keywords

Installation

Before using this skill, install the kindle-clip binary using one of the secure methods below.

Recommended: Download from GitHub Releases

This is the safest installation method.

1. Visit GitHub Releases
2. Download the appropriate binary for your platform:
   • macOS Intel: kindle-clip_VERSION_darwin_amd64.tar.gz
   • macOS Apple Silicon: kindle-clip_VERSION_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
   • Linux: kindle-clip_VERSION_linux_amd64.tar.gz or kindle-clip_VERSION_linux_arm64.tar.gz
3. Extract the archive and verify the binary:

   tar -xzf kindle-clip_*.tar.gz
   # Optionally verify checksum from checksums.txt
   

4. Move kindle-clip to a directory in your PATH:

   # User directory (no sudo required)
   mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
   mv kindle-clip ~/.local/bin/
   export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
   
   # Or system-wide (macOS/Linux)
   sudo mv kindle-clip /usr/local/bin/
   

Alternative: Build from Source

If you have Go installed and want to build from source:

git clone https://github.com/emersonding/kindle-clip-processor.git
cd kindle-clip-processor
go build -o ./bin/kindle-clip ./cmd/kindle-clip
# Move ./bin/kindle-clip to your PATH
mv ./bin/kindle-clip ~/.local/bin/

Commands

Set default path

Save a default Kindle clippings file or directory path:

kindle-clip set ~/Documents/Kindle

This saves the path to ~/.config/kindle-clip/config.json. Useful for repeated operations without specifying the path each time.

List books

List all books with highlights:

# Using saved path
kindle-clip list

# Using explicit path
kindle-clip list ~/Documents/Kindle

# Filter by author
kindle-clip list --author "Yuval Noah Harari"

# Verbose mode (includes clip counts and date ranges)
kindle-clip list --verbose

# Export to file
kindle-clip list --export-md ./books.md

Print highlights

Print all highlights and notes:

# Print all highlights from all books
kindle-clip print

# Print highlights for a specific book
kindle-clip print --book "Sapiens"

# Filter by date range
kindle-clip print --from 2024-01-01 --to 2024-12-31

# Combine filters
kindle-clip print --book "Thinking, Fast and Slow" --from 2024-01-01

# Export to Markdown file
kindle-clip print --book "Sapiens" --export-md ./sapiens-notes.md

# Verbose mode (includes Kindle metadata)
kindle-clip print --verbose

Search notes

Search for specific keywords across all notes:

# Search for a keyword
kindle-clip search confidence

# Search with filters
kindle-clip search bias --author "Daniel Kahneman"

# Search and export results
kindle-clip search metacognition --export-md ./metacognition-notes.md

# Search with date range
kindle-clip search "system 1" --from 2024-01-01

Common Options

All list, print, and search commands support:

• --from YYYY-MM-DD - Include notes created on/after this date
• --to YYYY-MM-DD - Include notes created on/before this date
• --book TEXT - Include only notes whose book title matches TEXT (case-insensitive)
• --author TEXT - Include only notes whose author matches TEXT (case-insensitive)
• --query TEXT - Include matching note text (used in search command)
• --export-md PATH - Save Markdown output to a file
• --verbose - Include Kindle metadata in output

Output Format

Book List

Compact by default:

# Books

- **Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari)**
- **Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)**

Verbose mode adds clip counts and date ranges:

# Books

- **Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari)**
  - clips: 42
  - first: 2024-01-15T10:30:00Z
  - last: 2024-02-20T14:22:00Z

Highlights and Notes

Organized by book with Markdown formatting:

# Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari)

> Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural.

> **Note**: This connects to the social construction argument in sociology.

# Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)

> The confidence that individuals have in their beliefs depends mostly on the quality of the story they can tell about what they see, even if they see little.

Notes are prefixed with > **Note**: while highlights use plain > blockquotes.

Path Resolution

kindle-clip resolves the clippings file path in this order:

1. Explicit file or directory argument
2. KINDLE_CLIP_PATH environment variable
3. Saved config in ~/.config/kindle-clip/config.json

If you provide a directory instead of a file, it looks for:

• <dir>/documents/My Clippings.txt (Kindle's typical location)
• <dir>/My Clippings.txt (fallback)

Use Cases for AI Agents

Research Assistant

When a user asks "What did I highlight about cognitive biases?":

kindle-clip search "cognitive bias" --export-md ./cognitive-bias-notes.md

Book Summary

When a user asks "Show me my notes from Sapiens":

kindle-clip print --book "Sapiens" --export-md ./sapiens-summary.md

Reading Timeline

When a user asks "What books did I read in 2024?":

kindle-clip list --from 2024-01-01 --to 2024-12-31 --verbose

Cross-Book Research

When a user asks "Find all my notes about decision-making":

kindle-clip search "decision making" --export-md ./decision-making-research.md

Tips for AI Agents

1. Always use --export-md when the user might want to save or review results later
2. Use --verbose when users need full context or metadata
3. Combine filters for precise results (e.g., --book "Sapiens" --from 2024-01-01)
4. Case-insensitive matching - filters are case-insensitive, so "sapiens" matches "Sapiens"
5. Partial matches work - --book "Think" will match "Thinking, Fast and Slow"
6. Set the path once - Use kindle-clip set at the start of a session for cleaner commands

Error Handling

If kindle-clip is not installed, guide the user to install it using the installation instructions above.

If no path is configured, prompt the user to either:

1. Run kindle-clip set <path> to save a default path
2. Provide a path explicitly in each command
3. Set the KINDLE_CLIP_PATH environment variable

Dependencies

• Go binary (no runtime dependencies once built)
• Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows (amd64 and arm64)

Repository

Source code and releases: https://github.com/emersonding/kindle-clip-processor

License

See the main repository for license information.