- name
- book-id
- description
- Catalog books from photos or text. Trigger on: book photo, catalog book, log book, add to library.
Book Cataloger
ICM Contract
| Layer 3 inputs | SOUL.md (32-property book schema) |
| Layer 4 inputs | Photo from media/inbound/ or user-provided text |
| Process | Identify book → web search OpenLibrary/Wikipedia → check for duplicates in Files/Books/ → write note → save photo → run fix-md.sh |
| Layer 4 outputs | Files/Books/Title - Author.md, photo saved to Files/Photos/Books/Title - Author.jpg → vault-push to HumanVault/Knowledge Atlas/Outside Knowledge/Books/ |
STEP 0 — READ THE COVER FIRST (mandatory before anything else)
A photo was provided. Before doing anything:
- Look at the book cover in the image
- Read the TITLE exactly as printed on the cover
- Read the AUTHOR exactly as printed on the cover
- State them explicitly: "I can see: Title = X, Author = Y"
If you cannot read the cover clearly → say "I cannot read the cover. Please send a clearer photo." DO NOT proceed. NEVER catalog a book you have not confirmed from the image. NEVER guess or substitute another book.
NON-NEGOTIABLE: WRITE ALL 32 PROPERTIES
Every single one of the 32 properties below MUST appear in the output, in exact order. Empty value = leave blank after the colon. DO NOT omit any property line. A note with missing properties is BROKEN. Obsidian will silently fail.
WRONG — omitting unknowns:
type: book
title: The Stranger
author:
- "Camus, Albert"
tags:
- bookWRONG — inline arrays:
author: ["Camus, Albert"]
tags: [book, fiction]RIGHT — all 32 properties, 2-space indent lists, blanks included:
type: book
title: The Stranger
subtitle:
original_title: L'Étranger
author:
- "Camus, Albert"
translator:
publisher: Vintage International
year: 1989
year_original: 1942
edition:
isbn_13: "9780679720201"
isbn_10:
pages: 123
language: English
original_language: French
format: Paperback
series:
genre:
- fiction
category:
subjects:
- absurdism
audience: Adult
condition:
status: owned
rating:
cover: https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780679720201-L.jpg
date_added: 2026-04-22
wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_(Camus_novel)
goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49552.The_Stranger
openlibrary: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL46933W
aliases:
cssclass: book
tags:
- book
- fiction
- author/camusWRITE THE BODY SECTION TOO. Do not skip it. The body section is mandatory.
WORKFLOW
- READ THE COVER — state title and author explicitly (Step 0 above)
- Web search: title + author on OpenLibrary, Wikipedia, Goodreads
- Check workspace/Files/Books/ for duplicates (title + author match)
- If duplicate: tell Pooh. If new: write file.
- Save to:
workspace/Files/Books/Title - Author.md(filename format: Title first, then Author, ASCII only)
Save photo: cp "/home/node/.openclaw/media/inbound/[FILE]" "/home/node/.openclaw/workspace/Files/Photos/Books/Title - Author.jpg"
- Run: bash /home/node/.openclaw/workspace/fix-md.sh "[FILEPATH]"
- Reply with the full file path and a one-line summary
- Ask: "Push to vault? (yes/no)" — do NOT push unless Pooh confirms
FRONTMATTER TEMPLATE - COPY EXACTLY
type: book title: "Book Title" subtitle: original_title: author: - "LastName, FirstName" translator: publisher: year: 1956 year_original: edition: isbn_13: isbn_10: pages: 147 language: Spanish original_language: format: Paperback series: genre: - "Fiction" - "Philosophy" category: subjects: - "French literature" audience: Adult condition: status: owned rating: cover: date_added: 2026-04-06 wikipedia: goodreads: openlibrary: aliases: cssclass: book tags: - book - fiction - author/camus
BODY TEMPLATE - COPY EXACTLY
Title
By [[LastName, FirstName]] Published YEAR by Publisher Format Paperback | Language Spanish
Synopsis
2-3 sentences about the book from web search.
About the Author
[[LastName, FirstName]] 1-2 sentence bio from web search.
Details
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Name |
| Pages | 000 |
| Language | Language |
| Format | Format |
| ISBN | 0000000000000 |
Themes
Keywords: theme1, theme2, theme3.
Personal Notes
Photo: [[Photos/Books/Title - Author.jpg]]
Quotes
Related
- [[Related Book]]
CRITICAL REMINDERS
- author MUST be a list: 2-space indent, dash, space, quoted name
- genre MUST be a list: 2-space indent, dash, space, quoted genre
- tags MUST be a list: 2-space indent, dash, space, lowercase no quotes
- status: always "owned"
- cssclass: always "book"
- rating: always empty
- year and pages: numbers only, no quotes
- No parentheses () or brackets [] in any values
- Filenames:
Title - Author.mdformat — Title first, then Author. ASCII only, no accents. - Leave blank for unknown. NEVER write "Unknown"
- ALWAYS web search before writing
COVER IMAGE
- Search: https://openlibrary.org/search.json?title=[TITLE]&author=[AUTHOR]&limit=5
- Verify title AND author match in results
- Build URL: https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/[ISBN]-M.jpg or /b/id/[COVER_ID]-M.jpg
- Any size works (-S, -M, -L) — pick whichever is clear and available
- Exact edition match is ideal, but a generic relevant cover is acceptable
- ONLY use OpenLibrary URLs. NEVER Amazon, Google, or descriptions.
- If no covers exist at all on OpenLibrary, leave cover: blank
FORBIDDEN
- No parentheses () or brackets [] in property values
- No accented characters in filenames
- No "Unknown" or "N/A" anywhere
- No guessing. If unsure, ASK Pooh.
- No skipping web search
- No writing author/genre/tags as plain strings instead of lists