---
title: Install the Basalt Chrome Web Clipper
excerpt: >-
  Capture complete articles, selections, bookmarks, images, and highlights
  directly into your Basalt inbox.
sort_order: 2
slug: web-clipper
canonical_url: 'https://basaltnotes.com/guides/web-clipper'
markdown_url: 'https://basaltnotes.com/guides/web-clipper.md'
---
# Install the Basalt Chrome Web Clipper

The Basalt Notes Web Clipper is a Manifest V3 Chrome extension with Readability-powered article extraction, selection and bookmark capture, image clipping, tags, vault targeting, context-menu actions, a side-panel preview, and an offline queue. Article mode produces GitHub-flavored Markdown while preserving headings, links, lists, tables, code blocks, quotes, images, and available publication metadata.

## Chrome Web Store

When the production listing is available, select **Install clipper** in the Basalt workspace banner and approve **Add to Chrome**. Return to Basalt and select **Check again** if the banner does not disappear immediately. Chrome may require the existing Basalt tab to be refreshed after installation.

## Load the development build

Until the store listing is configured:

1. Download or clone the Basalt Notes source repository.
2. Open `chrome://extensions`.
3. Enable **Developer mode**.
4. Choose **Load unpacked** and select the repository's `extension` directory.
5. Refresh Basalt. The installation banner should disappear after the extension handshake completes.

## Connect the capture inbox

1. Open **Inbox** in Basalt.
2. Select **Connect clipper** and copy the one-time capture token.
3. Open the Basalt Clipper side panel.
4. Open its connection settings, enter your Basalt URL and capture token, and save.

The capture token can only deliver captures. Generating another token invalidates the previous one.

When an article is delivered to a hosted account, Basalt securely imports up to 25 PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, or AVIF images into private attachment storage and rewrites the note to durable attachment references. Images that cannot be safely retrieved or exceed the plan's storage limit keep their original remote link, so the article remains usable.

## Capture modes

- **Article** isolates the primary article and converts it into high-fidelity Markdown.
- **Selection** preserves formatting and links within the selected passage.
- **Bookmark** saves the page title and URL without copying the article.
- The context menu can also capture linked pages and images.
- Offline captures remain in the extension queue until the configured Basalt service is reachable.