Ways to save

Markdown · Agent index

There are two kinds of save. A computer running sponge can capture a page immediately. Everything else adds a link to your account’s save queue, and one of your computers captures it on its next sync.

From	How	Status
Terminal	sponge add URL --wait captures now	Available
Coding agent	The save_url and queue_save MCP tools	Available
Web library	Save in the top bar, or paste a link into search	Available
Mac app	Share menu, Services, menu bar, ⌃⌥⌘S, or the Dock	Available
Chrome	Sponge for Chrome: toolbar button, right-click, Alt+Shift+S	Available on the Chrome Web Store
iPhone and iPad	Share, then Sponge	Available on the App Store
Your own tool	The Clip API	Available

Capture now, from a terminal

sponge add https://example.com/essay --wait
sponge add /absolute/path/paper.pdf --kind pdf --wait

--wait captures before the command returns. Without it, add queues a local job that sponge run --drain or the background worker processes. PDF capture needs Poppler; see Requirements and platforms.

Two flags help with pages that are gone or closed:

• --archive captures the newest Internet Archive copy instead. Only this flag sends the address to archive.org, and the item keeps its original address.
• --browser reads the page through your own signed-in Chromium browser on macOS. It uses a separate capture extension that ships inside the sponge package and is loaded by hand; sponge browser setup prints the steps. Sponge receives only the page, never cookies or passwords. This is not Sponge for Chrome.

From a coding agent

With sponge mcp connected, an agent has two tools. save_url captures a page into the local library now. queue_save adds a link to your account’s queue for the capturing computer. Use a coding agent has setup for Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode.

From the web library

Save opens a dialog that queues a link and lists the queue with each request’s state, Retry for failures and Cancel for links still waiting. Pasting a link into search offers Save this link. When no computer is connected, the dialog says so and links to setup.

From the Mac app

Sponge for Mac saves from anywhere on the Mac:

1. Share menu. Share › Sponge from Safari, Chrome, Mail, News, Notes or any app with a Share menu.
2. Services. Select a link, or text containing links, and choose Services › Save to Sponge.
3. Menu bar. The Sponge item saves the front browser tab or a pasted link.
4. Keyboard shortcut. ⌃⌥⌘S saves the front browser tab from any app.
5. Dock. Drop a link, a .webloc file or a downloaded PDF on the Sponge icon.

A link of the form sponge://save?url=… also saves, for scripts and automation tools.

From Chrome

Install Sponge for Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. It saves the current tab from its toolbar button, from the right-click menu (the page, a link, or the page with selected text as a note), or with Alt+Shift+S. It sends the page’s address and title, and any text you selected. It has no content scripts and cannot read pages or your library.

From iPhone and iPad

Install the iPhone and iPad app from the App Store. It adds Sponge to the share sheet: tap Share, then Sponge. The privacy policy describes what each app sends.

How the queue works

A save request holds the link, an optional note of up to 500 characters, its state, and a short error code if it fails. The cloud never fetches the page.

1. A request starts as queued.
2. One signed-in computer claims it during sponge sync, sponge sync --watch or sponge saves run. A claim lasts 10 minutes; after that another computer can take it.
3. The computer captures the page, summarizes it if it has a summary model, and syncs the item back. The request becomes saved, or failed with a code.
4. A failed request can be retried and a queued one cancelled, from the Save dialog or the terminal.

sponge saves                              # the queue and which computer captures
sponge saves add https://example.com/a    # queue a link from a terminal
sponge saves run                          # capture queued links on this computer now
sponge sync --watch                       # keep capturing every 30 seconds

There is one open request per link, so saving the same link twice returns the first request. An account can hold 500 open requests. On the free plan the queue pauses at the cloud limit; see Sponge Plus.

To keep a computer capturing without a terminal open, install the background worker with sponge worker install on macOS, or follow Linux for systemd.