Save a link to your reading queue¶
This guide saves one supported public URL as a background reference job. Capture returns at once and does not fetch the URL. The job files the PDF, reference note, and reading task later. Success of the capture is the queued job; the reading list updates when the clip finishes.
Before you start¶
Install the CLI and point it at your vault. The host that runs the clip needs
the usual import dependencies. Mac
Capture submits the same draft through bob capture.
1. Preview and queue a supported URL¶
bob capture --dry-run 'https://example.com/article'
[dry-run] ok would queue example.com/article → mac_inbox
new to your library · reading task lands in mac_inbox.md · file it later
Confirm the headline says would queue and names a parent. Then submit:
bob capture 'https://example.com/article'
✓ queued example.com/article → mac_inbox
new to your library · reading task lands in mac_inbox.md · file it later
queued … → reading queue names the job. It is not yet a row in
bob ref list. Quote the URL when the shell would treat # as a comment.
Add @workshop (or -r workshop) to file the reading task under that
route. -R / --no-ref keeps the URL as an ordinary task.
On a Mac, paste the same URL into the capture panel, confirm the preview says it would queue, and submit.
2. Inspect the job, then the reading queue¶
bob ref jobs
Pending, clipping, and stuck jobs always show. A finished clip from the last
7 days shows without --all. When the worker files the note you should see
filed (or clipped if the PDF is waiting in xlib/).
bob ref list
bob ref list is the reading queue: queued and started reference notes
under ref/. A job that only clipped to xlib/ appears here after
bob ref scan -i. already in library at capture time means the link was
already known and no new job was queued.
Hosts without a dot, IP literals, and configured exclude hosts stay tasks.
See URL routing. To import immediately instead of
queueing, run bob ref create 'https://example.com/article' -P mac_inbox.
If it goes wrong¶
If bob ref jobs still shows pending after an hour, the detached kick did
not run. Run bob ref jobs run and read worker.log. A failed clip writes
the URL as a task plus a ⚠️ retry bullet; a failed fallback parks the job as
stuck. Recover that with
Recover a stuck reference job. Extra words,
tags, or child lines on the draft keep the URL as a task.