PyWebScrapBook is a command line toolkit and backend server for WebScrapBook browser extension.

Features

• Host any directory(s) as website(s).
• Directory listing.
• HTZ or MAFF archive file viewing.
• Markdown file rendering.
• Create, view, edit, and/or delete files via the web interface or API.
• HTTP(S) authorization and simple ACL.
• Tools for scrapbooks management, such as cache generating and data checking, exporting, importing, and conversion.

Usage

Install Python

Install Python >= 3.7 from the official site.

Add python to PATH environment variable so that it can be run from the command line interface (CLI).

Install this package

Run below command from CLI to install (or upgrade to) the latest version:

python -m pip install -U webscrapbook

After installation, wsb will be available from the CLI.

Usage overview

Run wsb --help for help about available commands, which looks like:

usage: wsb [-h] [--version] [--root ROOT] COMMAND ...

positional arguments:
  COMMAND      the sub-command to run. Get usage help with e.g. wsb config -h
    serve (s)  serve the root directory
    config (c)
               show, generate, or edit the config
    encrypt (e)
               generate an encrypted password
    cache (a)  update fulltext cache and/or static site pages
    check (k)  check and fix scrapbook data
    export (x)
               export data items into archive files (*.wsba)
    import (i)
               import data items from archive files (*.wsba)
    convert (v)
               convert scrapbook data between different formats
    query (q)  perform queries on the scrapbook(s)
    search (r)
               search for data items in the scrapbook(s)
    help       show detailed information about certain topics
    view       view archive file in the browser

options:
  -h, --help   show this help message and exit
  --version    show version information and exit
  --root ROOT  root directory to manipulate (default: current working directory)

Run wsb <command> --help for help about <command>. For example, wsb config --help for help about wsb config.

Host a scrapbook

Switch current working directory (CWD) to a directory you'd like to host.

cd /path/to/scrapbook

In Windows, an additional command or parameter to change drive may be required. For example, if the directory to host is E:\path\to\scrapbook while the current drive is C, an additional command E: (or parameter /d) is required besides cd E:\path\to\scrapbook.

You can also use the shortcurt: Shift + Right-click on the desired folder and select Open command window here or Open PowerShell window here.

Generate config files for the directory:

wsb config -ba

This step can be skipped if you want PyWebScrapBook default data structure instead. See doc wiki for more details.

Run the generated .wsb/serve.py to start the server, or run below command from CLI:

wsb serve

Alternatively, a backend server can be run with a specialized WSGI server, such as mod_wsgi, uWSGI, or Gunicorn, by providing the generated application script .wsb/app.py to it.

Open an archive file directly (optional)

The wsb executable also supports opening an archive page (HTZ or MAFF) to view in the browser.

Run which wsb (or where wsb in Windows) from CLI to get the path of the executable, and set default application of MAFF/HTZ file to that executable to open them directly in the browser with double-click.

Configuration

Run wsb config -be to edit configs for CWD. For documentation about configs, run wsb help config, or read it online.

Further documentation

For more tips about how to configure PyWebScrapBook alongside WebScrapBook, visit the documentation wiki for WebScrapBook.