Federico Viticci from MacStories created an incredible **Universal Clipper** that uses a powerful combo of Apple Shortcuts + Generative AI + Obsidian. [Automation Academy: How I Built a Smarter Web Clipper for Obsidian Using Shortcuts and AI](https://club.macstories.net/posts/automation-academy-how-i-built-a-smarter-web-clipper-for-obsidian-using-shortcuts-and-ai) ## Build Log - 2025-06-17 - Started implementing this from the ground up. - Chose `{obsidian_vault_root}/personal/UniversalClipper` as the bucket to place all the notes in. - Signed up for Diffbot / API token is in 1Password. - Installed Homebrew packages: - `brew install yt-dlp` - `brew install llm` - [GitHub - simonw/llm: Access large language models from the command-line](https://github.com/simonw/llm) - Install `llm` plugins: - `llm install llm-gemini` - Configured API keys for Gemini 2.5 Pro - [Google Gemini API Keys](https://aistudio.google.com/apikey) - `llm keys set gemini` - keys stored in 1Password - Configured API keys for GPT 4.1 - Signed up for OpenAI API Account --> added billing + auto replenishment to enable API access - `llm keys set openai` - keys stored in 1Password - Installed [Universal Clipper - Video Extract Shortcut](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/e490cecfb83d4f7a86bc7faedefdadd9) - Installed [Sanitize Titles](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ef5652e315c143239deca59014486d72) - Installed [URL Cleaner Shortcut](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/91c45fd3fd3b427897d9ba485efb1227) - Installed [Actions on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/actions/id1586435171) - Installed [Actions For Obsidian](https://actions.work/actions-for-obsidian/) - Signed up for Pushover. - Created *ErikUniversalClipper* application. - Stored User Key and API key in 1Password. - I don't currently care about *Function Mode*; I'm just in it to win it with Obsidian. - Installed [Universal Clipper Shortcut](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/2aac263620984e90bfd857ebefa20d83) - Edit the shortcut - Adjust the vault and folder path towards the end inside both Actions for Obisidian shortcut actions. - ![[Pasted image 20250617161313.png]] - Add the `uc` alias in Raycast to trigger the Universal Clipper shortcut - ![[Pasted image 20250617161828.png]] - Error! ![[Pasted image 20250617162011.png]] - Hmm, time to dig into this. - Fix the Token variable in this field: ![[Pasted image 20250617162747.png]] - and here ![[Pasted image 20250617162812.png]] - and here ![[Pasted image 20250617162855.png]] - and here ![[Pasted image 20250617162913.png]] - and here ![[Pasted image 20250617162937.png]] - and here ![[Pasted image 20250617162955.png]] - Re-run --> hit allow all a million times to grant future permissions. -