/defuddle

name: defuddle
description: Extract clean article content from web pages or local HTML files. Removes clutter (ads, sidebars, nav) and returns readable content with metadata.
trigger: Use when user wants to extract/clean web page content, strip clutter from HTML, get article text from a URL, or convert web pages to clean markdown. Triggers include "defuddle", "extract article", "clean this page", "get content from URL", "strip clutter", "web extract".

Defuddle - Web Content Extraction

Extract main article content from web pages, removing ads, sidebars, navigation, and other clutter. Output clean Markdown with metadata.

Prerequisites

Before first use, check if `defuddle` is installed:

command -v defuddle >/dev/null 2>&1 || npm install -g defuddle jsdom

Default Workflow

When user provides a URL, follow this workflow:

Step 1: Extract content as Markdown + JSON metadata

Always use both `-m` and `-j` flags to get markdown content with full metadata:

defuddle parse "<url>" -m -j

Step 2: Present a summary to the user

Show the user:

• **Title**: from JSON `title` field
• **Author**: from JSON `author` field
• **Source**: domain
• **Word count**: from JSON `wordCount` field
• A brief preview (first 2-3 sentences)

Step 3: Ask where to save

If this is the **first time** using defuddle in this conversation, ask the user: > "Save to which directory? (e.g. `~/Documents`, `~/Desktop`, or a custom path)"

Remember the user's chosen directory for subsequent uses in the same conversation.

Step 4: Save as Markdown file

Write the file with frontmatter + full content:

---
title: {title}
author: {author}
source: {url}
date: {published or "Unknown"}
clipped: {today's date YYYY-MM-DD}
wordCount: {wordCount}
---

# {title}

{markdown content}

**File naming**: Use the article title as filename, sanitized for filesystem:

• Replace special characters with spaces
• Trim whitespace
• Example: `The Shape of the Essay Field.md`

Step 5: Confirm to user

Tell the user the file path where it was saved.

CLI Reference

defuddle parse <source> [options]

**Arguments:**

• `<source>` — URL (`https://...`) or local HTML file path

**Options:** | Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | `-m, --markdown` | Convert content to Markdown | | `-j, --json` | Output as JSON with full metadata | | `-o, --output <file>` | Write to file instead of stdout | | `-p, --property <name>` | Extract single property (title, description, domain, author, published, wordCount, content) | | `--debug` | Verbose logging |

JSON Response Fields

When using `-j`, the response includes:

• `title` — Article title
• `author` — Author name
• `published` — Publication date
• `description` — Meta description
• `content` — Extracted Markdown (when `-m` used)
• `domain` — Source domain
• `favicon` — Favicon URL
• `image` — Featured image URL
• `site` — Site name
• `wordCount` — Word count
• `parseTime` — Processing time in ms

Notes

• Requires Node.js and npm
• `jsdom` is required as a peer dependency
• Works best with article-style pages (blogs, news, documentation)
• Not designed for SPAs or JavaScript-heavy pages (e.g. WeChat articles need browser rendering)