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readwise skill

unsafe

This skill accesses Readwise highlights and Reader saved articles from your Readwise token, exporting and searching content for quick insight.

npx playbooks add skill openclaw/skills --skill readwise

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (4)

SKILL.md

1.6 KB

---
name: readwise
description: Access Readwise highlights and Reader saved articles
homepage: https://readwise.io
metadata: {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"📚","requires":{"bins":["node"],"env":["READWISE_TOKEN"]},"primaryEnv":"READWISE_TOKEN"}}
---

# Readwise & Reader Skill

Access your Readwise highlights and Reader saved articles.

## Setup

Get your API token from: https://readwise.io/access_token

Set the environment variable:
```bash
export READWISE_TOKEN="your_token_here"
```

Or add to ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json under "env".

## Readwise (Highlights)

### List books/sources
```bash
node {baseDir}/scripts/readwise.mjs books [--limit 20]
```

### Get highlights from a book
```bash
node {baseDir}/scripts/readwise.mjs highlights [--book-id 123] [--limit 20]
```

### Search highlights
```bash
node {baseDir}/scripts/readwise.mjs search "query"
```

### Export all highlights (paginated)
```bash
node {baseDir}/scripts/readwise.mjs export [--updated-after 2024-01-01]
```

## Reader (Saved Articles)

### List documents
```bash
node {baseDir}/scripts/reader.mjs list [--location new|later|archive|feed] [--category article|book|podcast|...] [--limit 20]
```

### Get document details
```bash
node {baseDir}/scripts/reader.mjs get <document_id>
```

### Save a URL to Reader
```bash
node {baseDir}/scripts/reader.mjs save "https://example.com/article" [--location later]
```

### Search Reader
```bash
node {baseDir}/scripts/reader.mjs search "query"
```

## Notes
- Rate limits: 20 requests/minute for Readwise, varies for Reader
- All commands output JSON for easy parsing
- Use `--help` on any command for options

Overview

This skill provides command-line access to Readwise highlights and Reader saved articles so you can list, search, export, and save content programmatically. It wraps Readwise and Reader APIs and outputs JSON for easy parsing and automation. Set an API token once and run simple scripts to interact with your library and highlights.

How this skill works

The skill uses your Readwise API token (set via READWISE_TOKEN or the tool's env config) to call Readwise and Reader endpoints. Commands cover listing books/sources, fetching highlights by book, searching, and paginated export of all highlights, plus listing, retrieving, saving, and searching Reader documents. All commands emit JSON and include built-in help and pagination options.

When to use it

Exporting a full archive of your Readwise highlights for backup or migration.
Automating daily or weekly export jobs to sync highlights with other tools.
Searching your saved Reader articles or highlights from scripts or CI pipelines.
Saving new URLs to Reader from other apps or command-line workflows.
Integrating highlights into note-taking systems by consuming JSON output.

Best practices

Set READWISE_TOKEN securely as an environment variable or in the tool's env config file.
Respect API rate limits (Readwise: ~20 requests/minute) and batch requests when exporting.
Use pagination flags and --limit when listing items to avoid large responses.
Pipe JSON output into jq, scripts, or a datastore for automated processing.
Run export commands with --updated-after to incrementally back up recent changes.

Example use cases

Export all highlights updated since a given date to create incremental backups.
Search highlights for a topic and import matching notes into a personal knowledge base.
List Reader documents in the 'later' queue to build a reading agenda.
Save a URL to Reader from a browser extension or automation script.
Fetch full document details to generate summaries or add metadata in bulk.

FAQ

How do I set the API token?

Get your token from readwise.io/access_token and set READWISE_TOKEN or add it to the tool's env config file.

What format does output use?

All commands return JSON, making it easy to parse with jq or programmatically ingest into other tools.

Are there rate limits?

Yes. Readwise is typically 20 requests per minute; Reader limits may vary. Use pagination and batching to avoid throttling.