Import Your Pocket, Instapaper or Raindrop Links Into a Library Your AI Can Search

Most people who read on the web have a read-later graveyard somewhere: a Pocket account from years ago, an Instapaper folder, a Raindrop collection with hundreds of links and no memory of why each one mattered. The export files are easy to get. The hard part is putting them somewhere you will actually search.

I build BrainTube, so this walkthrough uses it as the destination. The steps on the export side work the same whatever you pick.

What you can import

Bulk-import a list of links from a Raindrop, Instapaper or Pocket export, any CSV with a URL column, or one URL per line, up to 500 links per import.

That covers most of what people have lying around. A CSV from a spreadsheet you kept by hand works, as long as one column holds the links. So does a text file you pasted together from browser tabs, one link per line.

The same Import page handles other sources too. The Import Hub takes Kindle clippings, Readwise CSV exports, Obsidian and Markdown files, Pocket and Instapaper exports, browser bookmarks and YouTube channels, plus a two-way Notion connection.

Step one: get the export

Each read-later tool has an export in its settings, and the file you want is the one that contains the original URLs. Download it and keep the original file as a backup. It is the one copy of your list that doesn't depend on any app still existing next year. If you are not sure which export to pick, choose the CSV; it is the easiest to check by eye before you import.

Step two: import the file

Open Import in BrainTube, choose the link list option, and drop the file in. BrainTube reads the file, finds the links, and shows you a preview before anything is saved: how many distinct links it found, how many are already in your library, and how many rows had no link.

Duplicates are skipped, both repeats inside the file and links you saved before, so you can run the same export twice without making a mess. Tags from the export come across onto the saved items where the file has them.

If your file has more links than one import allows, one batch goes in and you upload the same file again for the rest. The links already imported are recognised as duplicates the second time.

The free plan allowance

On Free there is one more limit. Free accounts also get a one-time allowance of 200 items through the Recall and link-list importers. If your export is larger, import the links you care about most, or move to a paid plan for the full file.

Saving itself costs nothing on any plan. Saving, transcripts and automatic summaries are free and unlimited on every plan, including saves made by an AI over MCP. Chat with your library is free up to a daily allowance (50 chats a day on Free) and MCP searches up to a monthly one (1,000 a month on Free); past those, and for AI actions such as quizzes and deep research, you spend credits.

What happens to each link

Each link is saved the same way as a link you paste by hand. BrainTube saves YouTube videos, web articles, PDFs, EPUB and MOBI ebooks, podcasts and audio, voice memos, Notion pages, screenshots and social posts (Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok), and transcribes and indexes each one.

That is the real difference from a read-later list. A link in Pocket is a title and a URL. A link in a searchable library has its text behind it, so a search for an idea finds the article that contains it even if the title doesn't mention it. Search is hybrid (semantic plus keyword, fused by reciprocal rank), and Bulgarian (Cyrillic) queries are also searched in English.

Some links will fail. Pages that have gone offline, paywalled articles and pages that block automated reading won't come through with their text. The import tells you which ones errored, so you can decide whether any of them are worth finding again.

Step three: ask the library, not the list

Once the links are in, the useful move is to stop browsing and start asking. You can search in the app, or let your assistant do it. BrainTube runs a remote MCP server at https://mcp.brain-tube.com/mcp; in Claude.ai you add it as a custom connector and sign in with OAuth, with no API key to paste.

Questions that suit an old read-later pile:

• "What did I save about onboarding, and which pieces disagree?"
• "Find the article I saved about pricing pages with the long FAQ."
• "Which of my saved links are about the same topic as this new one?"

Your AI can save into the library as well. In the same MCP session it can search your library and also save content, add notes and tag items, so new links found during a chat go into the same place as the old export.

When to skip the import

If you saved thousands of links on autopilot, importing the whole lot may bury the few you care about. A quick pass through the CSV, deleting the rows you won't reopen, makes the library more useful than the full dump. The same goes for links to tools and products you were just browsing: they rarely answer a question later. A good order is to start with the folder or tag you used most, check a handful of results, and then import the rest.

FAQ

Can I import a Pocket export into BrainTube?

Yes. Bulk-import a list of links from a Raindrop, Instapaper or Pocket export, any CSV with a URL column, or one URL per line, up to 500 links per import.

What if my file has more than one import allows?

Import one batch, then upload the same file again. Links already in your library are skipped as duplicates.

Is there a limit on the free plan?

Yes. Free accounts get a one-time allowance of 200 items through the Recall and link-list importers.

Can Claude search the links after I import them?

Yes. Connect BrainTube to Claude over MCP and Claude can search the imported links alongside the rest of your library.