Universal Content Conversion to Markdown for AI
Gobbler transforms any content—YouTube videos, web pages, documents, audio files, even live browser sessions—into clean, structured markdown that AI systems can immediately reason about.
AI assistants work best with markdown. But content exists in countless formats—PDFs, videos, web pages behind logins, audio recordings. Getting that content into a format AI can use requires:
- Different tools for each content type
- Custom scripts to extract and format
- Lost metadata and inconsistent output
- No unified way for AI agents to access content
Gobbler solves this. One tool, one output format, multiple access patterns.
# Every content type → Same pattern → Same output format
gobbler youtube "https://youtube.com/watch?v=..." -o transcript.md
gobbler document report.pdf -o report.md
gobbler audio meeting.mp3 -o meeting.md
gobbler webpage "https://docs.example.com" -o docs.mdEvery conversion produces markdown with YAML frontmatter:
---
source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID
type: youtube_transcript
title: "Video Title"
duration: 847
word_count: 2341
converted_at: 2025-01-03T10:30:00Z
---
# Video Title
Content here, ready for AI consumption...# Install
git clone https://github.com/Enablement-Engineering/gobbler.git
cd gobbler && make install
# Start services (for web/document conversion)
make start-docker
# Convert content
gobbler youtube "https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"
gobbler document paper.pdf --no-ocr -o paper.md
gobbler audio interview.mp3 --model small -o interview.mdgobbler youtube URL # YouTube transcripts
gobbler audio FILE # Audio/video transcription
gobbler document FILE # PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX
gobbler webpage URL # Web pages (JS-rendered)
gobbler batch youtube-playlist URL # Batch processingSkills are markdown instruction files (SKILL.md) that teach Claude how to use the gobbler CLI. Each skill contains YAML frontmatter for discovery and CLI commands for completing tasks:
skills/
├── gobbler-youtube/ # YouTube transcription
├── gobbler-audio/ # Audio/video transcription
├── gobbler-document/ # Document conversion
├── gobbler-webpage/ # Web scraping
├── gobbler-browser/ # Browser automation + AI chat integrations
├── gobbler-setup/ # Installation and troubleshooting
└── gobbler-utils/ # Utility commands
The gobbler-browser skill includes integrations for NotebookLM, Claude.ai, ChatGPT, and Gemini (DOM automation - may break with site updates).
Skills use progressive disclosure—Claude only loads skill metadata at startup, then reads full CLI instructions when triggered.
# For Claude Code
claude mcp add gobbler-mcp -- uv --directory /path/to/gobbler run gobbler-mcp// For Claude Desktop (~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json)
{
"mcpServers": {
"gobbler-mcp": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["--directory", "/path/to/gobbler", "run", "gobbler-mcp"]
}
}
}| Type | Command | Backend |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | gobbler youtube URL |
youtube-transcript-api |
| Audio/Video | gobbler audio FILE |
faster-whisper (local) |
| Documents | gobbler document FILE |
Docling (Docker) |
| Web Pages | gobbler webpage URL |
Crawl4AI (Docker) |
Control browsers via the Gobbler extension for authenticated content:
gobbler browser extract # Extract current page
gobbler notebooklm query "..." # Query NotebookLM
gobbler chatgpt query "..." # Send to ChatGPT
gobbler claude query "..." # Send to Claude.ai
gobbler gemini query "..." # Send to GeminiSetup:
-
Load the extension in Chrome:
- Go to
chrome://extensions/ - Enable "Developer mode"
- Click "Load unpacked" → select
browser-extension/folder
- Go to
-
Create a tab group named "Gobbler" (right-click any tab → Add to group → New group)
-
Add tabs you want to control to the Gobbler group
Only tabs in the "Gobbler" group are accessible—this prevents accidental access to sensitive tabs.
gobbler batch youtube-playlist "https://youtube.com/playlist?list=..."
gobbler batch directory ./documents --pattern "*.pdf"
gobbler batch webpages urls.txt --output-dir ./pagesGobbler provides three interfaces that all use the same CLI and backends:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Your Automations │
└──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬───────────────┘
│ │ │
┌────────▼────┐ ┌──────▼─────┐ ┌─────▼─────┐
│ Skills │ │ gobbler │ │ MCP │
│(CLI instrs) │ │ CLI │ │ Server │
└────────┬────┘ └──────┬─────┘ └─────┬─────┘
│ │ │
└──────────────┼──────────────┘
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Provider Layer │
│ (Converters) │
└────────┬────────┘
│
┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│ Whisper │ │ Docling │ │Crawl4AI │
│ (local) │ │ (Docker) │ │(Docker) │
└─────────┘ └───────────┘ └─────────┘
Skills are markdown files that teach Claude which CLI commands to run. MCP exposes the same functionality as tools for Claude Desktop/Code.
- Python 3.11+
- uv (Python package manager)
- Docker Desktop (for web/document conversion)
- ffmpeg (for audio extraction from video)
# Install uv (if not already installed)
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/Enablement-Engineering/gobbler.git
cd gobbler
make install
# Start Docker services
make start-docker
# Verify
gobbler --version- YouTube transcripts - Uses YouTube's API directly
- Audio transcription - Uses local Whisper model
- Document conversion - Docling service (port 5001)
- Web scraping - Crawl4AI service (port 11235)
Config file: ~/.config/gobbler/config.yaml
services:
docling: "http://localhost:5001"
crawl4ai: "http://localhost:11235"
storage:
type: "sqlite"
path: "~/.config/gobbler/jobs.db"
logging:
level: "INFO"# Use --no-ocr for digital PDFs (faster, less memory)
gobbler document file.pdf --no-ocr -o output.mddocker compose up -d
docker compose ps
curl http://localhost:5001/health # Docling
curl http://localhost:11235/health # Crawl4AI# Set up TranscriptAPI.com for reliable access
export TRANSCRIPTAPI_KEY=your_key
gobbler youtube "URL"See gobbler-setup skill for complete troubleshooting.
gobbler/
├── src/
│ ├── gobbler_cli/ # CLI interface (typer)
│ ├── gobbler_core/ # Converters & utilities
│ ├── gobbler_mcp/ # MCP protocol server
│ ├── gobbler_relay/ # Browser extension bridge
│ └── gobbler_queue/ # Background job queue
├── skills/ # AI agent instruction files
├── browser-extension/ # Chrome/Firefox extension
└── docker-compose.yml # External services
📖 Full Documentation - Installation, configuration, and usage guides
Key pages:
- Quick Start - Get running in 5 minutes
- CLI Reference - All commands and options
- Skills Guide - Using skills with AI agents
- Browser Extension - Setup and usage
- Configuration - Customize Gobbler
MIT License - see LICENSE file.
Built on the shoulders of giants:
- Crawl4AI - Web scraping
- Docling - Document conversion
- faster-whisper - Audio transcription
- youtube-transcript-api - YouTube transcripts
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