Obsidian Templater Helper to Insert Clipboard Contents into MD Notes

asset-helper.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

"""Obsidian Templater Helper to Insert Clipboard Contents into MD Notes

Use Templater to control how Obsidian processes images pasted into notes.
N.B. Its functionality would be better as a plugin. This solution is fairly hacky.
Only tested on MacOS with Python 3.8.

Image in clipboard is saved to:
./_resources/{note_basename}.assets/imgpaste.png

If the content of the clipboard is a file path (image, zip archive, etc.), 
that file is copied to `./_resources/{note_basename}.assets/`.

__DEPENDENCIES__

Obsidian: https://obsidian.md
Templater plugin: https://silentvoid13.github.io/Templater
obsidian-hotkeys-for-templates plugin: https://github.com/Vinzent03/obsidian-hotkeys-for-templates

__USAGE__

- In Templater preferences, "Enable System Commands".

- Make a User Function with name "assethelper" and replace the `path_to_python_executable` 
  and `path_to_this_script` placeholders:

path_to_python_executable path_to_this_script "<% tp.file.path(false) %>"

- E.g. the function might be:

~/anaconda3/envs/myenv/bin/python ~/templater-helpers/asset-helper.py "<% tp.file.path(false) %>"

- In your vault's Template Folder make the template file `attach-asset.md` containing:

<% tp.user.assethelper() %>

- Optional: Use obsidian-hotkeys-for-templates plugin to assign attach-asset.md to a hotkey.

- Copy an image (e.g. screenshot) or file path (e.g. the text `/User/daeh/archive.zip`) to 
  your clipboard, then activate the `attach-asset` template (e.g. by using a hot-key). The image 
  in the clipboard or the file pointed to will be added to `./_resources/{note_basename}.assets/` 
  and a wiki link or an url encoded MD link added to the note.
"""

import sys
from pathlib import Path
from shutil import copy
from PIL import ImageGrab
from urllib.parse import quote
from subprocess import check_output
import traceback


def main(mdpathstr):

    ### map note assets directory ###
    mdpath = Path(mdpathstr)
    resource_dir_path = mdpath.parent / "_resources" / f"{mdpath.with_suffix('').name}.assets"

    img = ImageGrab.grabclipboard()

    if isinstance(img, type(None)):
        ### if clipboard content is a string representing the path to a file (image or otherwise) ###

        cbpath = Path(check_output('pbpaste', env={'LANG': 'en_US.UTF-8'}).decode('utf-8'))
        file_suffix = cbpath.suffix

        if not cbpath.is_file():
            print(f"pbpaste content:: \n. . .\n{cbpath}\n. . .\n")
            raise Exception

        ### copy image to assets directory ###
        fnamebase = cbpath.with_suffix('').name
        imgpath = resource_dir_path / f"{fnamebase}{file_suffix}"
        ii = 0
        while imgpath.exists():
            ii += 1
            imgpath = resource_dir_path / f"{fnamebase}-{ii}{file_suffix}"

        resource_dir_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
        copy(cbpath, imgpath)

    else:
        ### if clipboard content is an image ###

        file_suffix = '.png'

        ### copy image to assets directory ###
        fnamebase = "imgpaste"
        imgpath = resource_dir_path / f"{fnamebase}{file_suffix}"
        ii = 0
        while imgpath.exists():
            ii += 1
            imgpath = resource_dir_path / f"{fnamebase}-{ii}{file_suffix}"

        resource_dir_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
        img.save(str(imgpath), 'PNG')

    ### return md link ###
    imgpathstr = str(imgpath).split(str(mdpath.parent))[-1].lstrip('/')
    imgpath_encoded = quote(imgpathstr, safe="/@,")

    ### as wiki link ###
    print(f"![[{imgpathstr}]]")
    ### as url encoded link ###
    # print(f"![]({imgpath_encoded})")


if __name__ == '__main__':
    try:
        main(sys.argv[1])
    except Exception:
        print("Error when running user template.")
        print("```")
        traceback.print_exc(file=sys.stdout)
        print("```")

attach-asset.md

<% tp.user.assethelper() %>

There's now a good plugin that let you specify relative paths for assets: https://github.com/RainCat1998/obsidian-custom-attachment-location