How it works
When you save a link, Backpocket automatically triggers a snapshot — an asynchronous process that:- Fetches the page content
- Extracts the article using Mozilla Readability
- Sanitizes the HTML for safe rendering
- Stores both HTML and plain text versions
- Deduplicates content using SHA-256 hashing
Snapshots are processed in the background. Most complete within a few seconds of saving. You can monitor the status on the save detail view.
Snapshot status
Each snapshot progresses through a status flow:| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Queued for processing |
| Processing | Currently fetching and extracting content |
| Ready | Content extracted successfully — reader mode available |
| Failed | Extraction failed (will retry automatically) |
| Blocked | Page cannot be snapshotted (see reasons below) |
Blocked reasons
Some pages can’t be snapshotted:| Reason | Description |
|---|---|
noarchive | Page has a noarchive meta tag |
forbidden | Server returned 403 |
not_html | Content is not HTML (PDF, image, etc.) |
too_large | Page content exceeds size limit |
Domain-specific extractors
For certain websites, standard Readability extraction doesn’t capture the best content. Backpocket includes custom extractors for these domains:| Domain | Extraction method | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Twitter / X | oEmbed API | Full tweet content, author, media, and engagement |
| HTML scraping | Post title, body, comments summary, subreddit | |
| OG meta extraction | Caption, author, image, content type (post/reel/story) |
More extractors are planned for YouTube, GitHub, Hacker News, TikTok, and more. See the roadmap for the full list.
Snapshot versioning
Backpocket keeps a version history of snapshots for each save:- Each new snapshot gets a sequential version number (v1, v2, v3…)
- The active version is displayed by default in reader mode
- You can view all versions and restore any previous version
- If a re-snapshot produces identical content, the duplicate is discarded automatically
Re-snapshotting
You can manually request a new snapshot at any time:- Open the save detail view
- Click Re-snapshot (or equivalent action)
- A new version is created if the content has changed
Content storage
Backpocket uses content-addressable storage for efficient deduplication:- Content is hashed with SHA-256
- Identical content across different saves is stored only once
- Reference counting ensures content is cleaned up when no longer needed
Viewing reader mode
- Web
- Mobile
Click the reader mode icon on any save to open the clean reading view. The article renders with proper typography, headings, images, and code blocks.
Related
Saves
Snapshots are triggered automatically when you save a link.
Offline Mode
Reader mode content is cached for offline reading on mobile.