Skill

Printing Press

Open-source CLI factory for agents. One command (/printing-press <api>) takes any API spec, website, or HAR and emits a token-efficient Go CLI + Claude Code skill + OpenClaw skill + MCP server — sharing one local SQLite mirror with FTS5 search, compound commands, and --compact token compression (60-80% fewer tokens for high-gravity fields).

Verified: 2026-05-09 (vendor-self-reported-plus-github-research-2026-05-09)

When to use Printing Press

Choose if

You need an agent-native interface to an API that doesn't already have a curated MCP server or skill in auxiliar.ai's catalog. Especially valuable when the API is large (full endpoint surface) AND the agent will hit it iteratively (where token efficiency, local SQLite mirror, and compound commands compound).

Avoid if

A purpose-built MCP server or skill already exists with high quality (e.g. Cumbuca's Open Finance MCP for BR bank data — re-printing one would lose the regulated-auth integration). Also avoid for one-shot read calls where the SQLite mirror's setup overhead outweighs the read savings, or when the host environment doesn't have Go available.

Background

Printing Press treats every API as having a “secret identity” beyond what its designers say — Linear is “a team behavior observatory,” Discord is “a searchable knowledge base,” Stripe is “a business health monitor” — and designs commands around that, not around the raw endpoint surface. The generator outputs four formats from one spec (Go CLI, Claude Code skill, OpenClaw skill, MCP server), all sharing one internal client + SQLite store. Compound queries impossible against stateless API wrappers (“every blocked issue whose blocker has been stuck for a week”) become trivial against the local mirror. Typed exit codes (0/2/3/4/5/7) give agents a structured self-correction signal. Anti-MCP-bloat claim from the project: CLIs are “100x fewer tokens than MCP tool definitions” because LLMs were trained on shell interactions and MCP tool schemas are large.

https://printingpress.dev/

Works with: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenClaw, Go 1.22+

Risk Flags

  • LOW maturity Pre-1.0 project as of mid-2026. The community library has 19+ verified CLIs but coverage skews toward developer-tooling APIs (Linear, GitHub, Discord, Asana, HubSpot) rather than e.g. Brazilian public-data APIs.
  • LOW scope Generates the *form* of an agent tool from an API spec; doesn't curate which tool the agent should use for what task (that's auxiliar.ai's surface). Layering cleanly: factory + catalog + router are different jobs.
  • LOW lock-in Generated CLI ships with a specific shape (Cobra + SQLite + FTS5 + typed exit codes). If the upstream changes the shape, regenerated CLIs may need migration.
  • LOW runtime Requires Go 1.22+ on the host. Sandboxed JS-only runtimes or restricted enterprise dev shells without Go can't install the binary; the MCP-server output is the workaround for those environments.

Cost

Type: Free · Free tier: MIT-licensed open source. No commercial tier published. Project notes that Codex-mode generation reduces Opus token spend ~60% during printing — cost-conscious by design.

Install

Default

go install github.com/mvanhorn/cli-printing-press/cmd/printing-press@latest
# Then inside Claude Code or any MCP host:
#   /printing-press <api-name>
# → emits Go CLI + Claude Code skill + OpenClaw skill + MCP server
# → from one API spec, website, or HAR file
# → with local SQLite mirror, FTS5 search, compound commands, --compact

Setup docs →

Estimated time to first success: ~10 min

Claude code

go install github.com/mvanhorn/cli-printing-press/cmd/printing-press@latest
Use the /printing-press <api> skill in any agent session to print the four-format bundle.

Claude desktop

After the Go install, the printed MCP server (<api>-pp-mcp) auto-discovers in Claude Desktop's connector list.

Cursor

Same install path; printed MCP server is registered via .cursor/mcp.json.

Dependencies

Minimum runtime: Go 1.22+

Composes with: auxiliar-mcp, auxiliar-solve

Distribution

Repository
https://github.com/mvanhorn/cli-printing-press
License
MIT