Advanced Web Clipper Templates

Clip Templates are JSON files that control how the Web Clipper processes a web page: what metadata fields appear in the clip sheet, how page content is formatted into the document body, which pages the template activates on, and how images are handled.

Atlas uses the .atlasclip.json format, which is fully compatible with the Obsidian Web Clipper template format (schema version 0.1.0). Templates exported from Atlas can be imported directly into Obsidian, and Obsidian Web Clipper templates can be imported into Atlas.

Template Structure

Every .atlasclip.json template is a JSON file with the following top-level fields:

Metadata Properties

The properties array defines the metadata fields that appear in the clip sheet's Details tab. Each item defines one field:

The value field can be a static string or a Rosetta markup expression — for example, "{{schema:@Recipe:author.name ?? author}}" to auto-populate an author field from Schema.org data with a fallback to the page's meta author.

Triggers

Triggers determine which template activates for a given page. When you clip a page, Atlas evaluates triggers in order — your custom templates first, then bundled templates — and uses the first match. If nothing matches, the Default template is used.

Each trigger is a string in one of these forms:

The order of templates in your list matters — the first matching trigger wins.

Atlas Extension Fields

The atlas object inside a template contains Atlas-specific settings that extend the base format:

Tag Mappings

Each item in tagMappings has a source field that controls where tags come from:

Variables

Variables are written as {{variableName}} and are replaced with values extracted from the page. Unknown variables resolve to an empty string — no error is produced.

Preset Variables

Content cascade: {{content}} follows a priority order rather than always returning the full article:

1. If the user highlighted text before sharing — use only the highlights
2. Otherwise, if the user selected text before sharing — use the selection
3. Otherwise — use the full extracted article body

This means selecting a specific passage before tapping Share will clip only that passage.

Meta Tag Variables

Access any HTML <meta> tag using the meta: prefix:

{{meta:og:image}}       → content of <meta property="og:image">
{{meta:author}}         → content of <meta name="author">
{{meta:keywords}}       → content of <meta name="keywords">
{{meta:description}}    → same as {{description}}

Schema.org Variables

Access JSON-LD and Schema.org structured data embedded in the page using schema:@Type:path:

{{schema:@Recipe:author.name}}               → Author name from Recipe schema
{{schema:@Recipe:recipeIngredient}}          → Array of ingredient strings
{{schema:@Recipe:recipeInstructions[*].text}} → Extract .text from each instruction
{{schema:@Book:image ?? image}}              → Book cover image, fallback to meta image
{{schema:@Product:offers.price}}             → Product price

Path syntax:

• . for nested property access: author.name → name inside the author object
• [*] for array extraction: recipeInstructions[*].text → array of text values from each item

CSS Selector Variables

Extract content from the page HTML directly using CSS selectors:

{{selector:h1}}                  → Text content of the first <h1> element
{{selector:.article-author}}     → Text content of .article-author element
{{selectorHtml:article}}         → Inner HTML of the <article> element

Fallback Chains

Use ?? to try alternatives left-to-right, returning the first non-null, non-empty value:

{{schema:@Recipe:image ?? image}}
{{schema:@Book:author.name ?? schema:@Book:author ?? author}}

Filters

Filters transform a variable's value using the pipe operator |. They chain left-to-right:

{{title | upper | trim | truncate: 60}}

Text Filters

Number and Math Filters

Array Filters

Markdown Output Filters

HTML Processing Filters

Date Filters

Logic

Conditionals

Use {% if %} / {% else if %} / {% else %} / {% endif %} to include content conditionally:

{% if author %}
By {{author}}
{% else if site %}
From {{site}}
{% else %}
Author unknown
{% endif %}

Truthiness: A value is falsy if it is null, false, 0, "", [], or {}. Everything else is truthy.

Comparison operators:

{% if author == "Jane Doe" %}    → equality
{% if count != 0 %}              → inequality
{% if price > 10 %}              → greater than
{% if price < 100 %}             → less than
{% if score >= 90 %}             → greater than or equal
{% if length <= 5 %}             → less than or equal

Loops

Use {% for item in collection %} / {% endfor %} to iterate over an array:

{% for item in schema:@Recipe:recipeIngredient %}
- {{item}}
{% endfor %}

A loop object is available inside each iteration:

Example with numbered steps:

{% for step in schema:@Recipe:recipeInstructions[*].text %}
{{loop.index}}. {{step}}
{% endfor %}

To iterate over the keys of an object (in sorted order):

{% for key in meta:og %}
{{key}}: {{meta:og[key]}}
{% endfor %}

Variable Assignment

Use {% set name = value %} to create a local variable:

{% set slug = title | safe_name | lower %}
File: {{slug}}.md

{% set displayDate = time | date: "MMMM D, YYYY" %}
Saved on {{displayDate}}

Set variables can use filters and are scoped to the template render.

Full Example

A complete Recipe template:

{
  "schemaVersion": "0.1.0",
  "name": "Recipe",
  "behavior": "create",
  "noteNameFormat": "{{title | safe_name}}",
  "path": "Recipes/",
  "properties": [
    { "name": "author",    "value": "{{schema:@Recipe:author.name ?? author}}", "type": "text" },
    { "name": "prep_time", "value": "{{schema:@Recipe:prepTime}}",              "type": "text" },
    { "name": "yield",     "value": "{{schema:@Recipe:recipeYield}}",           "type": "text" }
  ],
  "triggers": ["schema:@Recipe"],
  "noteContentFormat": "# {{title}}\n\n{{description}}\n\n## Ingredients\n\n{% for item in schema:@Recipe:recipeIngredient %}- {{item}}\n{% endfor %}\n\n## Instructions\n\n{% for step in schema:@Recipe:recipeInstructions[*].text %}{{loop.index}}. {{step}}\n{% endfor %}",
  "atlas": {
    "synopsisFormat": "{{description}}",
    "tagMappings": [
      { "source": "schemaType" },
      { "source": "fixed", "fixedTags": ["recipe", "cooking"] }
    ],
    "imageHandling": "prompt"
  }
}

See Also

• Web Clipper — The Web Clipper feature overview
• Templates — Document templates in Atlas
• Metadata — How metadata fields work in Atlas