Ink Reader
Intelligently read any URL content. Auto-detect platform, pick the best fetch strategy, output clean Markdown.
When to Activate
Activate this skill when the user:
- Shares a URL and asks to read / fetch / view / grab its content
- Says "read this link", "what does this say", "fetch this article"
- Uses
/ink-reader <url>
Fetch Strategy Overview
Four-layer fallback with platform-specific optimizations:
Layer 0: Camoufox → WeChat-specific, bypasses anti-scraping (requires pip install)
Layer 1: Jina Reader → Free, no API key, covers most public content
Layer 2: WebFetch → Claude Code built-in, direct URL reading
Layer 3: Playwright MCP → Browser automation, handles login-required sitesPlatform Detection
Match the URL domain to determine platform and strategy routing:
| Platform | Domain Contains | Needs Login | Strategy Order |
|---|---|---|---|
mp.weixin.qq.com | Yes | Camoufox → Jina → Playwright | |
| Zhihu | zhihu.com | No | Jina → WebFetch |
| Bilibili | bilibili.com, b23.tv | No | Jina → WebFetch |
| Toutiao | toutiao.com | No | Jina → WebFetch |
weibo.com, m.weibo.cn | Yes | Jina → Playwright | |
| Xiaohongshu | xiaohongshu.com | Yes | Jina → Playwright |
| Douyin | douyin.com | No | Jina → WebFetch |
| X/Twitter | x.com, twitter.com | Partial | See X/Twitter Flow |
| Generic | anything else | No | Jina → WebFetch |
Routing Rules
- No login required: Jina → WebFetch → Playwright MCP (if available)
- WeChat: Camoufox → Jina → Playwright MCP (dedicated flow below)
- Login required (Weibo, Xiaohongshu): Jina → Playwright MCP (skip WebFetch, it won't help)
- X/Twitter: Dedicated flow below
Execution Steps
Step 1: Identify Platform
Parse the URL domain and match against the platform table above.
Step 2: Fetch Content
For normal platforms (no login needed)
- Try Jina Reader:
- Use WebFetch with URL: https://r.jina.ai/{original_url} - Prompt: "Extract the article title, author, publish time, and full body content. Return as-is in Markdown." - If result is meaningful (> 100 chars, no verification page), use it.
- Try WebFetch direct:
- Use WebFetch with the original URL directly. - Prompt: "Extract the article title, author, publish time, and full body content." - If result is meaningful, use it.
- Try Playwright MCP (if available):
- Navigate to the original URL. - Wait for content to load. - Take a snapshot and extract content. - If Playwright MCP is not available, skip this step.
For WeChat (mp.weixin.qq.com)
WeChat articles have aggressive anti-scraping. Jina Reader and WebFetch almost always fail. Use Camoufox as the primary strategy.
Prerequisites check (run once per session):
~/.ink-reader-env/bin/python3 -c "import camoufox; print('camoufox OK')" 2>/dev/null && echo "READY" || echo "NOT_INSTALLED"- Try Camoufox (if installed):
- Check if ~/.agent-reach/tools/wechat-article-for-ai/main.py exists. If yes, use it: cd ~/.agent-reach/tools/wechat-article-for-ai && ~/.ink-reader-env/bin/python3 main.py "{url}" - If that path doesn't exist, use inline invocation: ~/.ink-reader-env/bin/python3 -c " import asyncio from camoufox.sync_api import Camoufox from markdownify import markdownify with Camoufox(headless=True) as browser: page = browser.new_page() page.goto('{url}', wait_until='networkidle', timeout=30000) html = page.content() print(markdownify(html, strip=['script','style','nav','footer','header'])) " - Validate output (Step 3). If valid, use it.
- Try Jina Reader (fallback — occasionally works for WeChat):
- Use WebFetch with URL: https://r.jina.ai/{original_url} - If result is meaningful, use it.
- Try Playwright MCP (if available, last resort):
- Navigate to the original URL. - Wait for content to load. - Take a snapshot and extract content.
- All failed → Show failure output with suggestion: "WeChat articles require Camoufox to bypass anti-scraping. Install with:
pip install camoufox[geoip] markdownify beautifulsoup4 httpx"
WeChat search (bonus — when user asks to search WeChat articles, not read a URL):
Check if miku_ai is installed:
~/.ink-reader-env/bin/python3 -c "import miku_ai; print('miku_ai OK')" 2>/dev/null && echo "READY" || echo "NOT_INSTALLED"If installed, search articles:
~/.ink-reader-env/bin/python3 -c "
import asyncio
from miku_ai import get_wexin_article
async def search():
results = await get_wexin_article('{query}', {count})
for a in results:
print(f'- [{a[\"title\"]}]({a[\"url\"]})')
asyncio.run(search())
"Present results as a list. If user picks one, read it using the WeChat flow above. If miku_ai is not installed, inform user: pip install miku_ai
For login-required platforms (Weibo, Xiaohongshu)
- Try Jina Reader (same as above, sometimes works even for login-required sites).
- Try Playwright MCP (if available):
- Navigate to the original URL. - If a verification/login page is detected, inform the user. - If Playwright MCP is not available, inform the user: "This platform requires login. Install Playwright MCP to enable browser-based reading."
For X/Twitter
- Extract status ID from URL:
- Pattern: x.com/{user}/status/{id} or twitter.com/{user}/status/{id} - Strip query parameters.
- Try Thread Reader App via Jina:
- Use WebFetch with URL: https://r.jina.ai/https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/{status_id}.html - Prompt: "Extract the full thread content including all tweets. Return in Markdown." - If result is meaningful (> 100 chars, contains actual thread content), output as thread.
- Try Jina on original X URL:
- Use WebFetch with URL: https://r.jina.ai/{original_url} - Prompt: "Extract the tweet content, author, and timestamp." - If result is meaningful, output as single post.
- Try Playwright MCP (if available):
- Navigate to https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/{status_id}.html - Extract content from the page.
Step 3: Validate Content
Content is valid when ALL of these are true:
- Length > 100 characters after trimming
- Does NOT contain these verification markers: "环境异常", "完成验证", "请完成验证", "access denied", "please verify", "subscribe to continue", "sign in to read", "create a free account"
- Is NOT a login wall or CAPTCHA page
If content fails validation, treat it as a failure and try the next strategy.
Step 4: Output
Use the output format specified below.
Output Format
Success
# {Title}
**Source**: {Platform Name}
**Author**: {Author name, omit if unavailable}
**Published**: {Time, omit if unavailable}
**URL**: {Original URL}
**Strategy**: {Camoufox / Jina Reader / WebFetch / Playwright MCP}
---
{Body content in Markdown}Rules:
- Only include Author and Published lines if the information is actually available.
- Do NOT fabricate metadata. If it's not in the fetched content, omit it.
- Keep images as remote URLs. Do NOT attempt to download images.
- Clean up excessive whitespace, navigation elements, ads, and cookie banners from the content.
Failure
# Failed to read URL
**URL**: {url}
**Platform**: {detected platform}
**Attempted strategies**:
- {strategy 1}: {error reason}
- {strategy 2}: {error reason}
**Suggestions**:
- {contextual suggestions}Contextual suggestions by scenario:
- Login-required platform + no Playwright → "Install Playwright MCP to enable browser-based reading for this platform."
- WeChat + no Camoufox → "Install Camoufox for reliable WeChat reading:
pip install camoufox[geoip] markdownify beautifulsoup4 httpx" - WeChat + Camoufox failed → "Camoufox could not extract content. The article may have been deleted or restricted. Try opening the link in a browser."
- All strategies returned empty → "The page may require JavaScript rendering. Try using Playwright MCP."
- X/Twitter thread failed → "Try opening https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/{id}.html in your browser."
Save Mode
When the user says "save", "save it", "keep this", or "save to file" AFTER a successful read:
- Create directory
./ink-reader-clips/in current working directory (if not exists). - Write file:
./ink-reader-clips/{YYYY-MM-DD}_{sanitized_title}.md - File content:
---
title: "{Title}"
source: "{Platform Name}"
url: "{Original URL}"
saved_at: "{YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS}"
---
{Body content}- Sanitize title for filename: remove
<>:"/\|?*, replace whitespace with-, truncate to 50 chars. - Report: "Saved to
./ink-reader-clips/{filename}"
Do NOT auto-save. Only save when explicitly asked.
Optional Dependencies
The base skill (Jina Reader + WebFetch) works out of the box with zero setup. For enhanced platform support, install the following optional dependencies into a dedicated virtual environment:
WeChat article reading (Camoufox)
# Create dedicated venv (one-time)
uv venv ~/.ink-reader-env
# Install dependencies
uv pip install --python ~/.ink-reader-env "camoufox[geoip]" markdownify beautifulsoup4 httpxThis enables reliable reading of mp.weixin.qq.com articles by bypassing WeChat's anti-scraping with a stealth browser. No API key or login required.
WeChat article search (miku_ai)
uv pip install --python ~/.ink-reader-env miku_aiEnables searching WeChat public account articles by keyword via Sogou. No API key required.
Verify installation
~/.ink-reader-env/bin/python3 -c "import camoufox; print('camoufox OK')"
~/.ink-reader-env/bin/python3 -c "import miku_ai; print('miku_ai OK')"Important Notes
- No API keys needed: Jina Reader, Camoufox, and miku_ai are all free and keyless.
- Camoufox is optional but recommended: Without it, WeChat articles will fall back to Jina Reader (often fails) or Playwright MCP.
- Playwright MCP is optional: The skill works without it, just with reduced capability for login-required platforms.
- Images stay remote: Never download images. Keep original URLs in the Markdown output.
- Respect content: Output the content faithfully. Do not summarize or modify unless the user explicitly asks.