pp-techmeme

What this skill does

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# Techmeme — Printing Press CLI

## Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the `techmeme-pp-cli` binary. **You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill.** If it is missing, install it first:

1. Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to `$HOME/.local/bin` on macOS/Linux and `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin` on Windows:
   ```bash
   npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install techmeme --cli-only
   ```
2. Verify: `techmeme-pp-cli --version`
3. Ensure the reported install directory is on `$PATH` for the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill.

If the `npx` install fails (no Node, offline, etc.), fall back to a direct Go install (requires Go 1.26.3 or newer):

```bash
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/productivity/techmeme/cmd/techmeme-pp-cli@latest
```

If `--version` reports "command not found" after install, the runtime cannot see the binary directory on `$PATH`. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds.

## When to Use This CLI

Use the Techmeme CLI when you need curated, authoritative tech news without opening a browser. Ideal for morning catch-up ('since 8h'), topic monitoring ('track add OpenAI'), source analysis ('sources'), and AI agents that need to answer 'what's happening in tech right now' with structured data.

## When Not to Use This CLI

Do not activate this CLI for requests that require creating, updating, deleting, publishing, commenting, upvoting, inviting, ordering, sending messages, booking, purchasing, or changing remote state. This printed CLI exposes read-only commands for inspection, export, sync, and analysis.

## Unique Capabilities

These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.

### Time intelligence
- **`since`** — See every tech headline from the last N hours — the perfect catch-up when you've been away

  _When an agent needs to brief a user on what happened in tech while they were in meetings, this is the single command that answers it_

  ```bash
  techmeme-pp-cli since 4h --agent
  ```
- **`digest`** — Get a day's tech news grouped by topic — the briefing you'd write if you had time

  _When an agent needs to produce a tech news briefing for a specific date, this structures raw headlines into a readable summary_

  ```bash
  techmeme-pp-cli digest --date 2026-05-08 --agent
  ```

### Persistent monitoring
- **`track`** — Save topics and get alerts when they hit Techmeme — persistent monitoring without browser tabs

  _Agents monitoring specific companies or technologies can subscribe to exactly what matters without polling the full feed_

  ```bash
  techmeme-pp-cli track add 'OpenAI' && techmeme-pp-cli track check --agent
  ```

### News intelligence
- **`sources`** — See which publications dominate Techmeme and track source frequency over time

  _When analyzing media landscape or choosing which publications to prioritize, this gives hard data on source influence_

  ```bash
  techmeme-pp-cli sources --top 20 --agent
  ```
- **`trending`** — Extract the hottest topics from recent headlines using frequency analysis on cached data

  _When an agent needs to answer 'what's hot in tech right now' with data instead of vibes_

  ```bash
  techmeme-pp-cli trending --hours 24 --agent
  ```
- **`velocity`** — Find stories that are blowing up — multiple sources covering the same topic in a short window

  _When an agent needs to identify breaking news vs steady coverage, velocity shows what's accelerating now_

  ```bash
  techmeme-pp-cli velocity --agent
  ```
- **`author`** — Find all Techmeme headlines by a specific journalist across the cached archive

  _When tracking a specific journalist's coverage or building a media contact list, this surfaces their Techmeme footprint_

  ```bash
  techmeme-pp-cli author 'Kara Swisher' --agent
  ```

## Command Reference

**feed-xml** — Manage feed xml

- `techmeme-pp-cli feed-xml` — Top 15 headlines currently on Techmeme. RSS 2.0 format. Each item has title, link (to Techmeme permalink),...

**lb-opml** — Manage lb opml

- `techmeme-pp-cli lb-opml` — OPML file listing Techmeme's top 51 sources with source name, website URL, and RSS feed URL. Updated regularly based...

**river** — Manage river

- `techmeme-pp-cli river` — 5-day rolling archive of all Techmeme headlines in reverse chronological order. 150+ headlines with timestamp,...

**techmeme-search** — Manage techmeme search

- `techmeme-pp-cli techmeme-search headlines` — Search Techmeme headlines. Supports quoted phrases, wildcards, +/-, AND/OR/NOT, parentheses. Can filter by url,...
- `techmeme-pp-cli techmeme-search rss` — RSS feed of search results. Same query syntax as /search/query. Subscribe in any RSS reader for alerts on specific...


### Finding the right command

When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:

```bash
techmeme-pp-cli which "<capability in your own words>"
```

`which` resolves a natural-language capability query to the best matching command from this CLI's curated feature index. Exit code `0` means at least one match; exit code `2` means no confident match — fall back to `--help` or use a narrower query.

## Recipes


### Morning briefing

```bash
techmeme-pp-cli since 12h --agent --select title,source,time
```

Catch up on overnight tech news with just the essentials — title, source, and timestamp

### Track a company

```bash
techmeme-pp-cli search 'Apple' --agent --select title,source,link
```

Find all recent Techmeme headlines about Apple

### Media landscape

```bash
techmeme-pp-cli sources --top 20 --agent
```

See which 20 publications dominate Techmeme's curated feed

### Breaking news detection

```bash
techmeme-pp-cli velocity --agent
```

Find stories gaining momentum — multiple sources in a short window

### Daily summary

```bash
techmeme-pp-cli digest --agent
```

Today's tech news grouped by topic for a quick read

## Auth Setup

No authentication required.

Run `techmeme-pp-cli doctor` to verify setup.

## Agent Mode

Add `--agent` to any command. Expands to: `--json --compact --no-input --no-color --yes`.

- **Pipeable** — JSON on stdout, errors on stderr
- **Filterable** — `--select` keeps a subset of fields. Dotted paths descend into nested structures; arrays traverse element-wise. Critical for keeping context small on verbose APIs:

  ```bash
  techmeme-pp-cli river --agent --select id,name,status
  ```
- **Previewable** — `--dry-run` shows the request without sending
- **Offline-friendly** — sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
- **Non-interactive** — never prompts, every input is a flag
- **Read-only** — do not use this CLI for create, update, delete, publish, comment, upvote, invite, order, send, or other mutating requests

### Response envelope

Commands that read from the local store or the API wrap output in a provenance envelope:

```json
{
  "meta": {"source": "live" | "local", "synced_at": "...", "reason": "..."},
  "results": <data>
}
```

Parse `.results` for data and `.meta.source` to know whether it's live or local. A human-readable `N results (live)` summary is printed to stderr only when stdout is a terminal — piped/agent consumers get pure JSON on stdout.

## Agent Feedback

When you (or the agent) notice something off about this CLI, record it:

```
techmeme-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive"
techmeme-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt
techmeme-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10
```

Entries are stored locally at `~/.techmeme-pp-cli/f