Pp Exchangerate API

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ExchangeRate-API — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the exchangerate-api-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:

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

2. Verify: exchangerate-api-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 1.26.6 or newer):

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/payments/exchangerate-api/cmd/exchangerate-api-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

Reach for exchangerate-api-pp-cli whenever an agent or script needs live FX rates, multi-target conversions, or persistent historical context. It's the right pick over a one-off HTTP call when the agent will run more than once on the same data, when quota matters (1500/mo Free tier), or when the workflow benefits from a watchlist, drift report, or cross-rate matrix that requires local state. Use the MCP server (mcp serve) when wiring FX context into Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

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.

Local state that compounds

• history-cache — Reconstruct historical FX rates from your prior latest syncs — free tier gets time travel without /history quota.

  Use when the user asks for past rates and the API key is on the Free or Standard tier where /history returns plan-upgrade-required.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli history-cache USD EUR --since 30d --json

• watch check — Define currency pairs with movement thresholds; one command reports which crossed since the last check.

  Use as a periodic monitor (cron/agent loop) instead of polling a paid alerting service.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli watch check --json

• drift — Diff the latest snapshot against any prior point and report the biggest movers as ranked output.

  Use to surface unusual FX moves the user cares about without writing a custom analysis.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli drift --base USD --since 24h --top 10 --json

• pair --as-of — Look up the rate from local snapshots at any historical timestamp — free tier time travel.

  Use when reconstructing the rate that was live at a specific moment without needing the paid /history endpoint.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli rates pair USD EUR --as-of 1h --json

Quota intelligence

• quota burn — Fit a trend over quota_snapshots and project when your quota will exhaust before refresh day.

  Use before deploying anything that will hammer the API — the projection tells you if you'll survive the month.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli quota burn --json

• matrix — Show full cross-rate matrix for any set of currencies from a single latest call — N² rates, 1 quota tick.

  Use when comparing many pairs at once; saves quota and runs offline after one sync.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli matrix USD,EUR,GBP,JPY --base USD --json

• convert-batch — Pipe a list of amounts to a single command; converts all of them with one rate fetch.

  Use when processing many amounts (orders, transactions) without burning the quota linearly.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli convert-batch --from USD --to EUR --input /dev/null --json

Onboarding

• plan-check — Probe each tier-gated endpoint with a single low-cost request; reports which tier your key supports.

  Use right after doctor to know which commands will work without plan-upgrade-required.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli plan-check --json

Agent-native plumbing

• log show — Every convert call is logged; query the log by base, target, time window for recurring conversion analysis.

  Use to remind an agent what FX work was done recently without re-querying the API.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli log show --since 7d --json

• mcp serve — Every user-facing command is exposed as an MCP tool with read-only annotations on safe queries.

  Use when wiring Claude/Cursor/Windsurf to FX context — no competing MCP for this API today.

  exchangerate-api-pp-cli mcp serve

Command Reference

The API key is read from EXCHANGERATE_API_KEY — never pass it as a positional.

codes — Supported currency codes

• exchangerate-api-pp-cli codes — List all 161 supported currency codes

quota — Your API quota usage

• exchangerate-api-pp-cli quota — Check remaining requests in the current quota period
• exchangerate-api-pp-cli quota burn — Project quota exhaustion from quota_snapshots history

rates — Live exchange rates and conversions

• exchangerate-api-pp-cli rates latest <base_code> — Get all exchange rates from a base currency
• exchangerate-api-pp-cli rates pair <base_code> <target_code> — Get conversion rate between two currencies
• exchangerate-api-pp-cli rates pair-amount <base_code> <target_code> <amount> — Convert a specific amount between two currencies
• exchangerate-api-pp-cli rates enriched <base_code> <target_code> — Pair conversion with locale, flag, and currency display metadata (Business/Volume tier)
• exchangerate-api-pp-cli rates history <base_code> <year> <month> <day> — Historical exchange rates for a specific date (Pro/Business/Volume tier)

Finding the right command

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

exchangerate-api-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

One-shot conversion in a script

exchangerate-api-pp-cli convert 1000 USD EUR --json --select conversion_result

Returns just the converted number for downstream piping.

Daily sync + drift report (cron)

exchangerate-api-pp-cli sync-rates --base USD && exchangerate-api-pp-cli drift --base USD --since 24h --top 10 --json

Captures today's rates and surfaces the largest movers vs the prior snapshot.