# Extract Spark Meetings > Extract Spark Mail +AI Meeting Notes into tagged markdown files with YAML frontmatter (participants, action items, decisions, next steps). Use when the user has one or more Spark meeting links (sparkmailapp.com/dpl/bl?token=… deep links or readdle-spark:// links) to convert into a searchable local meeting archive, in single-link or batch mode from a links.md checklist. - Skill: `johnie/extract-spark-meetings` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add johnie/extract-spark-meetings` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/johnie/extract-spark-meetings/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - Author: johnie (https://skillmd.com/u/johnie) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/johnie/extract-spark-meetings --- # Extract Spark Meetings Spark Mail (the email client) records and summarizes meetings as +AI Meeting Notes and lets the owner share each note as a link. This skill converts those links into local markdown files with structured frontmatter, so meetings become greppable, taggable, and visible to future search. Output is plain markdown + YAML — no Spark dependency once extracted. Target link, if given: `$ARGUMENTS`. If that is blank or still shows the literal placeholder, run batch mode against `links.md`. Reference files live in `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/`. ## Link shapes Spark deep links look like `https://sparkmailapp.com/dpl/bl?token=…`; the same link can also arrive as `readdle-spark://bl=…` or `readdlespark://bl=…`. Treat any of these as a Spark meeting link. Spark may also hand out other share-link forms — if the user says it is a Spark meeting link, try it rather than rejecting it on shape. ## When NOT to use - The source isn't a Spark meeting link (e.g., Google Meet transcripts, Zoom cloud recordings, Otter.ai) — different link shapes and page structures; this skill's extractor will miss fields. - You need a one-line summary, not a structured file — read the meeting directly and answer inline. - Live-meeting capture (as it happens) — this skill reads already-saved meeting notes. ## Expected layout ```text {current-directory}/ ├── spark-meetings/ # Output directory (auto-created) │ └── YYYY-MM-DD-*.md # Extracted meeting files └── links.md # Optional: links checklist for batch mode ``` ## Modes ### Single link Given one link, process it and write one file. Update `links.md` only if it exists and contains that link. ### Batch (`links.md`) Given no link, treat `links.md` as a checklist and process every unchecked entry: ```markdown - [ ] https://sparkmailapp.com/dpl/bl?token=AbC123... - [x] https://sparkmailapp.com/dpl/bl?token=XyZ789... # already processed — skipped ``` ## Workflow Process links **sequentially, one at a time** — do not parallelize. The CLI talks to a single Spark Desktop process over IPC, and web endpoints can throttle or return partial pages when hit concurrently; sequential runs also produce per-link errors you can act on rather than a jumbled burst of failures. Parallelism looks faster but costs you correctness and debuggability. For each link: ### 1. Fetch the content Try sources in this order and stop at the first that returns real meeting content. Each fallback exists because the one before it has a precondition that may not hold. **a. Official `spark` CLI** — check with `which spark`. If present, run: ```bash spark meeting --transcript --notes "https://sparkmailapp.com/dpl/bl?token=..." ``` The positional accepts a numeric meeting ID or a Spark deep link. Prefer this path because it reads the note straight from the user's Spark Desktop — no scraping, no rate limits, works offline, and it is the only route for `readdle-spark://` links, which no browser can fetch. It requires Spark Desktop running on the same machine with CLI access enabled (Settings → AI Agents), and the note must belong to an account signed in there. If the command is missing, errors, or reports that the meeting isn't found, fall through. **b. Browser-automation MCP** — Playwright MCP and Chrome DevTools MCP are the common ones. Don't hard-code a server name: check what's actually available, since tool names differ per server. Use this when the link opens a JS-rendered page; a browser waits for the DOM instead of returning an empty shell. **c. `WebFetch`** — last resort, with the prompt: _"Extract all meeting content including participants, discussion points, action items, decisions, and next steps."_ Fast and needs no browser, but a deep link may render as an app-launch landing page rather than the transcript. A near-empty body means the page is JS-rendered or gated: retry once with a browser MCP, not with `WebFetch` again. If every route fails after a single retry, mark the link as failed (leave it unchecked in `links.md`) and move on. ### 2. Parse content Extract in the **original language** of the meeting. Use English for section headings so filenames and frontmatter stay consistent across languages. Fields: - **date** — meeting date (YYYY-MM-DD) - **title** — brief descriptive title - **participants** — list of attendees - **duration** — if mentioned - **summary** — 2-3 sentence overview - **discussion_points** — key topics - **action_items** — tasks with owners and due dates - **decisions** — decisions made - **next_steps** — follow-ups ### 3. Write the file Filename: `spark-meetings/YYYY-MM-DD-{title-slug}.md`. Collisions append `-2`, `-3`, etc. before the extension. ```yaml --- date: 2024-03-15 title: Quarterly Planning Meeting participants: - Alice Johnson - Bob Smith - Carol Davis duration: 60 min tags: - planning - quarterly - strategy spark_url: https://sparkmailapp.com/dpl/bl?token=AbC123... extracted_date: 2024-03-15 --- # Quarterly Planning Meeting ## Summary Brief 2-3 sentence summary of the meeting's purpose and outcomes. ## Discussion Points - **Q1 Goals Review**: Discussed progress on Q1 objectives... - **Q2 Planning**: Outlined key initiatives for next quarter... - **Resource Allocation**: Reviewed team capacity and hiring needs... ## Action Items - [ ] @alice Prepare Q2 budget proposal (Due: 2024-03-20) - [ ] @bob Schedule follow-up with design team (Due: 2024-03-18) - [ ] @carol Draft hiring plan for Q2 (Due: 2024-03-22) ## Decisions Made 1. Approved $50K budget for marketing initiative 2. Decided to postpone feature X to Q3 3. Agreed on weekly check-ins starting April ## Next Steps - Schedule Q2 kickoff meeting - Review and approve budget by March 20 - Begin hiring process for two engineering roles ``` ### 4. Apply tags Pick tags from [`references/tagging-guide.md`](references/tagging-guide.md): one primary meeting-type tag, 1-3 topic tags, optionally a cadence tag. The guide's tag set is deliberately generic — extend it in that file with your organization's own tags (product names, team names, initiatives) and keep the additions checked in so everyone's archive uses the same vocabulary. ### 5. Update `links.md` Mark the link as `[x]` only after **both** content extraction and file write succeed. If either step failed, leave it unchecked and surface the failure in the output summary — this way a re-run will retry only the failed links. - **Single link mode**: update `links.md` only if it already exists and contains the link; otherwise skip the update. - **Batch mode**: walk unchecked (`- [ ]`) links in order, update the checkbox after each successful extraction, continue on failures. ## Output summary Report: - Files created, with paths - Links skipped or failed, each with a one-line reason (CLI error, fetch error, parse failure, etc.) If batch mode ran zero links (all already checked), say so explicitly so the user knows nothing was missed.