joeseesun/qiaomu-clipper

What it solves

Qiaomu Clipper is a browser extension designed to streamline the process of consuming and documenting learning materials from the web. It solves the problem of fragmented learning workflows by integrating a clean reader, a media player with timed transcripts, and AI-powered analysis tools directly into the browser, allowing users to save organized notes and excerpts directly into Obsidian.

How it works

The tool operates as a Chrome extension with an optional local "helper" application. It extracts content from articles and media (YouTube, Bilibili, TED, podcasts, and local files) and presents it in a specialized study interface.

• For text: It provides a clean reading mode with highlighting and a Markdown editor for refining content before saving.
• For media: It creates a study player that synchronizes video/audio playback with transcripts. If official captions are missing, it uses local (MLX Whisper, Qwen3-ASR, faster-whisper) or cloud-based ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition) to generate them.
• For AI integration: Users provide their own API keys to translate subtitles, chat with the content of an article, or summarize sections.
• For storage: It uses the helper app to write notes directly to an Obsidian vault or appends learning notes to a daily note.

Who it’s for

Knowledge workers, students, and researchers who use Obsidian as their personal knowledge management system and frequently learn from a mix of web articles, videos, and podcasts.

Highlights

• Integrated Media Study: Synchronized playback and transcripts with timestamp seeking and search.
• AI-Powered Transcription: Supports both local on-device recognition to ensure privacy and cloud-based services.
• Bilingual Subtitles: AI-driven translation of transcripts with original and translated text side-by-side.
• Direct Obsidian Integration: Seamlessly saves refined Markdown notes and learning diaries to specific vaults via a local helper.
• Multi-language Support: Interface available in nine languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese.