brocket

A command line tool for building Amazon Associates links with as few actions as possible.

If you have a link in the clipboard, run this script, then the link on the clipboard becomes an Amazon Associates link.

OS X Only

This is only for Mac OS X 10.8 or higher but it could easily be enhanced to support other operating systems.

Setup

After you pip install brocket just run brocket. It will prompt you for your tracking-id. Enter it.

Optional: Make sure it's correct by running brocket --show-tracking-id.

How to Make Links

Once it's setup, the easiest thing to do is

1. Browse to an Amazon URL you want an affiliate link for.
2. Copy the URL
3. Run the brocket command. This will tag the URL with your tracking-id and put the new URL on the clipboard.
4. Paste the URL where ever you want it to go.

Upping Your Game

I know what you're thinking "4 steps?!? You mean I have to go to my browser and copy a URL, then run a terminal command, then go back...". Yeah yeah I hear you.

There are probably lots of ways to skin this cat but here's what I did.

Make an AppleScript called Brocket and save it in ~/Library/Scripts. It just needs to be 1 line:

do shell script "/usr/local/bin/brocket"

Then, if you haven't already install the wonderful FastScripts. Your Brocket script should show up in the menu.

Finally assign Brocket a keyboard shortcut and you can skip switching to the Terminal to run the Brocket command.

Brocket Deer

This little utility is named for the Brocket Deer which lives around the Amazon river. It also sounds like Rocket, but with a 'B' and I was looking for something with a fast sounding name.