Voice Note Transcriber → Obsidian

Fetch voice-note emails from IMAP, transcribe audio attachments with OpenAI Whisper, and save the result as a fleeting note in your Obsidian vault.

Quick start

python3 {skillDir}/scripts/transcribe_voice_notes.py

Configuration

Set environment variables (or let the skill read from OpenClaw config):

Variable	Required	Description
`EMAIL_ADDRESS`	✅	IMAP login address
`EMAIL_PASSWORD`	✅	App-specific password
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	✅	OpenAI API key
`OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH`	✅	Absolute path to Obsidian vault root
`EMAIL_PROVIDER`		Provider key: `gmail` (default), `outlook`, `163.com`, `126.com`
`FLEETING_FOLDER`		Vault subfolder for fleeting notes (default: `0-Inbox`)
`VOICE_NOTE_KEYWORD`		Subject filter keyword (default: `Voice Note`)
`MARK_EMAIL_READ`		`true` / `false` (default: `true`)

OpenClaw config example

{
  skills: {
    "voice-note-transcriber": {
      obsidianVaultPath: "/home/user/Documents/MyVault",
      fleetingFolder: "0-Inbox",
      emailProvider: "gmail",
      subjectKeyword: "Voice Note",
      markEmailRead: true,
    },
  },
}

What it does

Connects to IMAP and fetches unread emails whose subject contains the configured keyword.
Downloads audio attachments (.mp3, .wav, .m4a, .webm, .ogg, .flac) to a temp directory.
Transcribes each attachment via the OpenAI Whisper API (whisper-1).
Writes a Markdown note with YAML frontmatter to the vault's fleeting folder.
Optionally marks the source email as read.

Output note format

---
tags:
  - type/transcript
  - source/voice-note
date: 2025-05-12
email_subject: "Voice Note — weekly recap"
email_from: sender@example.com
---

# Voice Note Transcript — 2025-05-12

## Transcript

(transcribed text here)

## Source

- **Subject:** Voice Note — weekly recap
- **From:** sender@example.com
- **Date:** Mon, 12 May 2025 08:00:00 +0800

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
"Missing OPENAI_API_KEY"	Export `OPENAI_API_KEY` or set it in OpenClaw config
Notes not appearing in Obsidian	Check `OBSIDIAN_VAULT_PATH` is the vault root (not a subfolder) and `FLEETING_FOLDER` exists inside it
No emails found	Verify `EMAIL_PROVIDER`, credentials, and `VOICE_NOTE_KEYWORD` match your mailbox
Attachment not transcribed	Ensure the attachment has a recognised audio extension

Publishing to ClawHub

clawhub publish ~/.openclaw/skills/voice-note-transcriber \
  --slug voice-note-transcriber \
  --name "Voice Note Transcriber" \
  --version 1.0.0 \
  --changelog "Initial release"

voice-note-transcriber

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