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.manuscripts/20260509-193944	.manuscripts/20260509-193944
.printing-press-patches	.printing-press-patches
cmd	cmd
internal	internal
.golangci.yml	.golangci.yml
.goreleaser.yaml	.goreleaser.yaml
.printing-press-release.json	.printing-press-release.json
.printing-press.json	.printing-press.json
CHANGELOG.md	CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE	LICENSE
Makefile	Makefile
NOTICE	NOTICE
README.md	README.md
SKILL.md	SKILL.md
dogfood-results.json	dogfood-results.json
go.mod	go.mod
go.sum	go.sum
manifest.json	manifest.json
spec.yaml	spec.yaml
tools-manifest.json	tools-manifest.json

Techmeme CLI

Every Techmeme headline, searchable and cached locally — plus topic tracking, trending analysis, and catch-up workflows no other tool has.

The Techmeme CLI puts the tech industry's most trusted news curation into your terminal. Sync headlines to a local SQLite store, then search, filter by time, track topics, and analyze which stories and sources are dominating. The 'since' command answers the question every tech professional asks: 'what did I miss?'

Created by @davemorin (Dave Morin).

Install

The recommended path installs both the techmeme-pp-cli binary and the pp-techmeme agent skill (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, and other agents supported by the upstream skills CLI) in one shot:

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install techmeme

For CLI only (no skill):

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install techmeme --cli-only

For skill only — installs the skill into the same agents as the default command above, but skips the CLI binary (use this to update or reinstall just the skill):

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install techmeme --skill-only

To constrain the skill install to one or more specific agents (repeatable — agent names match the skills CLI):

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install techmeme --agent claude-code
npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install techmeme --agent claude-code --agent codex

Without Node (Go fallback)

If npx isn't available (no Node, offline), install the CLI directly via Go (requires Go 1.26.4 or newer):

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

This installs the CLI only — no skill.

Pre-built binary

Download a pre-built binary for your platform from the latest release. On macOS, clear the Gatekeeper quarantine: xattr -d com.apple.quarantine <binary>. On Unix, mark it executable: chmod +x <binary>.

Install for Hermes

Install the CLI binary first. The installer writes binaries to a per-user managed bin directory by default: $HOME/.local/bin on macOS/Linux and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin on Windows.

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install techmeme --cli-only

Then install the focused Hermes skill.

From the Hermes CLI:

hermes skills install mvanhorn/printing-press-library/cli-skills/pp-techmeme --force

Inside a Hermes chat session:

/skills install mvanhorn/printing-press-library/cli-skills/pp-techmeme --force

Restart the Hermes session or gateway if the newly installed skill is not visible immediately.

Install for OpenClaw

Install both the CLI binary and the focused OpenClaw skill. The installer defaults binaries to a per-user bin directory ($HOME/.local/bin on macOS/Linux, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin on Windows):

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install techmeme --agent openclaw

Restart the OpenClaw session or gateway if the newly installed skill is not visible immediately.

Use with Claude Desktop

This CLI ships an MCPB bundle — Claude Desktop's standard format for one-click MCP extension installs (no JSON config required).

To install:

Download the .mcpb for your platform from the latest release.
Double-click the .mcpb file. Claude Desktop opens and walks you through the install.

Requires Claude Desktop 1.0.0 or later. Pre-built bundles ship for macOS Apple Silicon (darwin-arm64) and Windows (amd64, arm64); for other platforms, use the manual config below.

Manual JSON config (advanced)

If you can't use the MCPB bundle (older Claude Desktop, unsupported platform), install the MCP binary and configure it manually.

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/other/techmeme/cmd/techmeme-pp-mcp@latest

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "techmeme": {
      "command": "techmeme-pp-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Quick Start

# See today's top tech headlines
techmeme-pp-cli headlines

# Sync 5 days of headlines to local SQLite
techmeme-pp-cli sync

# What happened in the last 4 hours?
techmeme-pp-cli since 4h

# Search all cached headlines
techmeme-pp-cli search 'Apple AI'

# What topics are hot right now?
techmeme-pp-cli trending

# Which publications lead the coverage?
techmeme-pp-cli sources --top 10

Unique Features

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

Usage

Run techmeme-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.

Commands

feed-xml

Manage feed xml

techmeme-pp-cli feed-xml get-main-feed - Top 15 headlines currently on Techmeme. RSS 2.0 format. Each item has title, link (to Techmeme permalink), description (HTML with source attribution, image, and excerpt), pubDate, guid.

lb-opml

Manage lb opml

techmeme-pp-cli lb-opml get-leaderboard-opml - OPML file listing Techmeme's top 51 sources with source name, website URL, and RSS feed URL. Updated regularly based on headline prominence over the past 180 days.

river

Manage river

techmeme-pp-cli river get - 5-day rolling archive of all Techmeme headlines in reverse chronological order. 150+ headlines with timestamp, author, source publication, headline text, and article link. HTML page.

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, author, date, sourcename. Default searches title+summary; can extend to full text. Results available as HTML or RSS.
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 topics.

Output Formats

# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
techmeme-pp-cli river

# JSON for scripting and agents
techmeme-pp-cli river --json

# Filter to specific fields
techmeme-pp-cli river --json --select id,name,status

# Dry run — show the request without sending
techmeme-pp-cli river --dry-run

# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
techmeme-pp-cli river --agent

Agent Usage

This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:

Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
Pipeable - --json output to stdout, errors to stderr
Filterable - --select id,name returns only fields you need
Previewable - --dry-run shows the request without sending
Read-only by default - this CLI does not create, update, delete, publish, send, or mutate remote resources
Offline-friendly - sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless --human-friendly is set

Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.

Cookbook

# Morning catch-up: what happened overnight?
techmeme-pp-cli sync && techmeme-pp-cli since 12h

# Track a company and check for mentions
techmeme-pp-cli track add "OpenAI" && techmeme-pp-cli track check

# Find breaking stories (multiple sources covering the same topic)
techmeme-pp-cli velocity --hours 4

# Get a daily briefing grouped by source
techmeme-pp-cli digest --date 2026-05-08

# Who are the top 10 publications on Techmeme?
techmeme-pp-cli sources --top 10 --json

# Search for a topic across all cached headlines
techmeme-pp-cli search 'Apple AI'

# Find all headlines by a specific journalist
techmeme-pp-cli author 'Kara Swisher'

# What's trending in the last 24 hours?
techmeme-pp-cli trending --hours 24

# Export all synced data for analysis
techmeme-pp-cli export --format jsonl --output techmeme-backup.jsonl

# Agent pipeline: sync, then get compact JSON digest
techmeme-pp-cli sync && techmeme-pp-cli digest --agent

# Pipe trending topics to another tool
techmeme-pp-cli trending --json | jq '.[].topic'

# Full archive sync for offline access
techmeme-pp-cli workflow archive

Health Check

$ techmeme-pp-cli doctor --json
{
  "api": "reachable",
  "auth": "not required",
  "base_url": "https://www.techmeme.com",
  "cache": {
    "status": "unknown",
    "hint": "sync_state is empty; run 'techmeme-pp-cli sync' to hydrate."
  },
  "config": "ok",
  "version": "1.0.0"
}

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/techmeme-pp-cli/config.toml

Variable	Description
`TECHMEME_CONFIG`	Override config file path
`TECHMEME_BASE_URL`	Override API base URL (default: `https://www.techmeme.com`)
`TECHMEME_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT`	URL for sending CLI feedback upstream
`TECHMEME_FEEDBACK_AUTO_SEND`	Set to `true` to auto-send feedback on submit

No API key is required. Techmeme's public feeds are openly accessible.

Troubleshooting

Not found errors (exit code 3)

Check the resource ID is correct
Run the list command to see available items

Empty results from since or search (exit code 0, no output)

Run techmeme-pp-cli sync first to populate the local cache from the 5-day river archive

Only 15 headlines from headlines

The RSS feed carries only the top 15 items. Use river or sync for the full 5-day archive (150+ headlines)

Search finds nothing for a recent topic

The search endpoint indexes Techmeme headlines only. Topics that haven't made Techmeme's curated feed won't appear

API error (exit code 5)

Run techmeme-pp-cli doctor to verify connectivity
Check that TECHMEME_BASE_URL is not set to an invalid URL

Rate limited (exit code 7)

Use --rate-limit 1 to throttle requests to 1 per second

Generated by CLI Printing Press

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