Kindle Clip CLI

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

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

Recommended: Manual Install (macOS/Linux)

1. Download the latest binary for your platform from GitHub Releases.
2. Make it executable: chmod +x kindle-clip
3. Move kindle-clip to a directory in your PATH (e.g., ~/bin or /usr/local/bin):

   bash

   mv kindle-clip /usr/local/bin/kindle-clip
   

Build from Source

bash

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

Commands

Set default path

Save the path to your Kindle clippings (usually found in ~/Documents/Kindle/):

bash

kindle-clip set ~/Documents/Kindle/My\ Clippings.txt

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:

bash

# 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:

bash

# 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:

bash

# 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:

markdown

# Books

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

Verbose mode adds clip counts and date ranges:

markdown

# 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:

markdown

# 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?":

bash

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

Book Summary

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

bash

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

Reading Timeline

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

bash

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":

bash

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.