Web Clipper: Templates

A template decides what a clipped document looks like. Create several, and the clipper picks the right one automatically for each kind of page.

What a template controls

For each template you customize:

• The document name.
• The destination folder.
• The properties (frontmatter) — see 07 Properties.
• The document content.

Template triggers — automatic selection

This is the feature that makes templates worth setting up.

A template can be selected automatically based on:

• A URL pattern — everything from arxiv.org uses the Paper template.
• Schema.org data — any page that declares itself a Recipe uses the Recipe template.

Set the triggers once and the clipper stops asking. A news article, a research paper and a product page each get filed and formatted correctly without a decision from you.

Template logic

Templates support real logic, not just substitution:

• Conditionals — include a section only if the page has an author.
• Loops — iterate over a list of authors, tags, or ingredients.
• Variable assignment — compute something once and reuse it.

Syntax is validated inline, so a broken template tells you at edit time rather than producing a mangled clip.

Managing templates

• Import and export templates.
• Copy a template as JSON — the easy way to share one, or to hand it to an AI assistant and ask for a modification.
• Reset the default template to its original state if you have experimented it into a corner.

A worked example

A template for research papers, triggered on arxiv.org:

• Name: the paper's title.
• Folder: Research / Papers.
• Properties: authors as a list, published date as a date, the URL as text.
• Content: the abstract, then your notes, then the full text.

Every arXiv page you clip from then on lands correctly filed, correctly named, and correctly structured — with no decisions at clip time.

Where the pieces fit

Templates are the frame. The things you put in them come from elsewhere:

• Variables pull data out of the page — 06 Variables and Filters.
• Filters reshape those values — same document.
• Properties become typed frontmatter — 07 Properties.
• Prompt variables ask a language model for something the page does not state outright — 08 AI Interpreter.

Start with one template and a trigger for a site you read often. That is where the payoff is clearest.