Case study 15 / 18 · Tools
obsidian media fetch plugin
An Obsidian workflow that turns YouTube and Instagram links into structured notes with thumbnails, metadata, and AI-generated summaries. Notes are automatically named and placed into the intended vault folder.
Case study
A set of Templater scripts and templates for Obsidian, rather than a packaged community plugin, that turns YouTube and Instagram links into structured notes.
The problem
Remove the repetitive work of preparing a note every time a media link is saved: gather the right metadata and format it the same way every time.
What was built
- YouTube and Instagram link handling through their supported APIs.
- Structured notes with titles, thumbnails, metadata and AI-generated summaries.
- Automatic note naming and folder placement in the vault.
Key decisions
- Templater scripts fit the existing vault workflow without a separate plugin.
- YouTube summaries come from the description, falling back to the title; Instagram summaries come from the caption, falling back to the link and post type.
- Thumbnails have defined fallbacks when the preferred image is unavailable.
- Stories and private or restricted Instagram accounts are deliberately out of scope.
Where it stands
Built as scripts and templates. It needs Obsidian, Templater, a few supporting plugins and API keys. Summaries are based on descriptions and captions, not on transcribing the video.
How it was built
AI
- Groq API — AI-generated summaries
Integrations
- YouTube Data API — Video metadata and thumbnails
Tooling
- JavaScript — Templater scripts
- Obsidian
- Templater
- Dataview