Pp Inaturalist

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iNaturalist — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the inaturalist-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 inaturalist --cli-only

2. Verify: inaturalist-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 1.26.5 or newer). This installs into $GOPATH/bin (default $HOME/go/bin), so add that directory to $PATH instead:

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/other/inaturalist/cmd/inaturalist-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.

Use nearby highlights and seasonal-shift for transparent, bounded biodiversity briefings. Create factual scavenger hunts from real taxa, and use identification commands to track whether observations gained community IDs without exposing locations.

When to Use This CLI

Use this CLI for bounded iNaturalist discovery, taxon research, safe nearby field briefings, and observation-identification progress. Prefer it when raw endpoint data needs agent-shaped output or a local history, and use its exact privacy labels rather than trying to infer a more precise location.

Anti-triggers

Do not use this CLI for:

• Do not use this CLI to recover, infer, or share obscured/private observation coordinates.
• Do not use this CLI for bulk data or media scraping; use iNaturalist exports or GBIF datasets.
• Do not use this CLI to create observations or other remote changes without explicit review and confirmation.

Unique Capabilities

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

Privacy-safe field briefings

• nearby highlights — Get a transparent, recent wildlife briefing for an area without exposing observation coordinates.

  Use this when an agent needs an explanation-backed local wildlife overview rather than a raw observation list.

  inaturalist-pp-cli nearby highlights --lat 37.7749 --lng -122.4194 --radius 5 --agent

• hunt create — Create a factual, balanced nature scavenger-hunt checklist from taxa actually observed nearby.

  Use this to turn local biodiversity evidence into a safe field activity with traceable taxa.

  inaturalist-pp-cli hunt create --place-id 97394 --iconic-taxa Aves,Plantae --agent

• nearby seasonal-shift — Compare two field windows and surface taxa that newly appeared, returned, or changed materially.

  Use this to answer how local wildlife changed between explicit time windows.

  inaturalist-pp-cli nearby seasonal-shift --place-id 97394 --recent-days 30 --baseline-days 30 --agent

Identification progress

• observations id-status — See which of an observer's recent observations are identified, need IDs, disagree, or have no taxon.

  Use this for a current identification-progress answer instead of manually filtering raw observations.

  inaturalist-pp-cli observations id-status --user inaturalist --since 30d --agent

• observations id-changes — Report observations that became identified, changed, withdrew, or still need IDs since a previous privacy-safe sync.

  Use this to find identification progress since the last check without fabricating history.

  inaturalist-pp-cli observations id-changes --user inaturalist --since 30d --agent

Command Reference

annotations — Create, delete, and vote

• inaturalist-pp-cli annotations create — Create an annotation
• inaturalist-pp-cli annotations delete — Delete an annotation

colored-heatmap — Manage colored heatmap

comments — Create, update, and delete

• inaturalist-pp-cli comments create — Create a comment
• inaturalist-pp-cli comments delete — Delete a comment
• inaturalist-pp-cli comments update — Update a comment

controlled-terms — Search and fetch

• inaturalist-pp-cli controlled-terms list — List all attribute controlled terms
• inaturalist-pp-cli controlled-terms list-controlledterms — Returns attribute controlled terms relevant to a taxon

flags — Create, update, and delete flags

• inaturalist-pp-cli flags create — Create a flag.
• inaturalist-pp-cli flags delete — Delete a flag
• inaturalist-pp-cli flags update — Update a flag. Generally only used to resolve the flag.

grid — Manage grid

heatmap — Manage heatmap

identifications — Create, update, and delete

• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications create — Create an identification
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications delete — Delete an identification.
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications get — Given an ID, or an array of IDs in comma-delimited format, returns corresponding identifications.
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications list — Given zero to many of following parameters, returns identifications matching the search criteria
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications list-categories — Given zero to many of following parameters
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications list-identifiers — Given zero to many of following parameters
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications list-observers — Given zero to many of following parameters
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications list-recenttaxa — Returns an array of objects each containing an identification and a taxon.
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications list-similarspecies — Returns species attached to IDs of observations of this taxon, or attached to observations identified as this species
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications list-speciescounts — Given zero to many of following parameters
• inaturalist-pp-cli identifications update — Update an identification.

messages — Create, fetch, delete

• inaturalist-pp-cli messages create — Create and deliver a new message to another user
• inaturalist-pp-cli messages delete — This will all of the authenticated user's copies of the messages in tha thread to which the specified message belongs.
• inaturalist-pp-cli messages get — Retrieves all messages in the thread the specified message belongs to and marks them all as read.
• inaturalist-pp-cli messages list — Retrieve messages for the authenticated user. This does not mark them as read.
• inaturalist-pp-cli messages list-unread — Gets a count of messages the authenticated user has not read

observation-field-values — Create, update, and delete

• inaturalist-pp-cli observation-field-values create — Create an observation field value
• inaturalist-pp-cli observation-field-values delete — Delete an observation field value
• inaturalist-pp-cli observation-field-values update — Update an observation field value

observation-photos — Create and delete

• inaturalist-pp-cli observation-photos create — Create an observation photo
• inaturalist-pp-cli observation-photos delete — Delete an observation photo
• inaturalist-pp-cli observation-photos update — Update an observation photo

observations — CRUD, search, faving, quality metrics, stats, and more

• inaturalist-pp-cli observations create — Create an observation
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations delete — Delete an observation
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations get — Given an ID, or an array of IDs in comma-delimited format, returns corresponding observations.
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations list — Given zero to many of following parameters, returns observations matching the search criteria.
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations list-deleted — Given a starting date
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations list-histogram — Given zero to many of following parameters, returns histogram data about observations matching the search criteria
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations list-identifiers — Given zero to many of following parameters
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations list-observers — Given zero to many of following parameters
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations list-popularfieldvalues — Given zero to many of following parameters, returns an array of relevant controlled terms values and a monthly histogram
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations list-speciescounts — Given zero to many of following parameters
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations list-updates — Given zero to many of following parameters
• inaturalist-pp-cli observations update — Update an observation

photos — Manage photos

• inaturalist-pp-cli photos — Create a photo

places — Search and fetch

• inaturalist-pp-cli places get — Given an ID, or an array of IDs in comma-delimited format, returns corresponding places.
• inaturalist-pp-cli places list — Given an string, returns places with names starting with the search term.
• inaturalist-pp-cli places list-nearby — Given an bounding box, and an optional name query

points — Manage points

posts — Fetch site and project posts

• inaturalist-pp-cli posts create — Create a post
• inaturalist-pp-cli posts delete — Delete a post
• inaturalist-pp-cli posts list — Return journal posts from the iNaturalist site
• inaturalist-pp-cli posts list-foruser — Return journal posts from the iNaturalist site.
• inaturalist-pp-cli posts update — Update a post

project-observations — Create, update, and delete

• inaturalist-pp-cli project-observations create — Add an observation to a project
• inaturalist-pp-cli project-observations delete — Delete a project observation
• inaturalist-pp-cli project-observations update — Update a project observation

projects — Search and fetch projects and members

• inaturalist-pp-cli projects get — Given an ID, or an array of IDs in comma-delimited format, returns corresponding projects.
• inaturalist-pp-cli projects list — Given zero to many of following parameters, returns projects matching the search criteria
• inaturalist-pp-cli projects list-autocomplete — Given an string, returns projects with titles starting with the search term

site_search — Manage site search

• inaturalist-pp-cli site-search — Given zero to many of following parameters, returns object matching the search criteria

subscriptions — Manage subscriptions

• inaturalist-pp-cli subscriptions create — Toggles current user's subscription to this observation.
• inaturalist-pp-cli subscriptions create-project — Toggles current user's subscription to this project.

taxa — Search and fetch

• inaturalist-pp-cli taxa get — Given an ID, or an array of IDs in comma-delimited format, returns corresponding taxa.
• inaturalist-pp-cli taxa list — Given zero to many of following parameters, returns taxa matching the search criteria
• inaturalist-pp-cli taxa list-autocomplete — Given an string, returns taxa with names starting with the search term

taxon-places — Manage taxon places

taxon-ranges — Manage taxon ranges

users — Fetch and update

• inaturalist-pp-cli users create — Resend an email confirmation
• inaturalist-pp-cli users get — Given an ID, returns corresponding user
• inaturalist-pp-cli users list — Given an string, returns users with names or logins starting with the search term
• inaturalist-pp-cli users list-me — Fetch the logged-in user
• inaturalist-pp-cli users update — Update the logged-in user's session
• inaturalist-pp-cli users update-id — Update a user

votes — Manage votes

• inaturalist-pp-cli votes create — Vote on an annotation
• inaturalist-pp-cli votes create-vote — Vote on an observation. A vote with an empty scope is recorded as a fave of the observation.
• inaturalist-pp-cli votes delete — Remove a vote from annotation
• inaturalist-pp-cli votes delete-unvote — Remove a vote from an observation

Finding the right command

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

inaturalist-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

Nearby wildlife briefing

inaturalist-pp-cli nearby highlights --lat 37.7749 --lng -122.4194 --radius 5 --agent --select results.taxon_name,results.reason,results.geoprivacy

Return just the privacy-safe taxa, ranking rationale, and privacy state for an explicit area.

Build a bird and plant hunt

inaturalist-pp-cli hunt create --place-id 97394 --iconic-taxa Aves,Plantae --agent

Make a factual checklist from observed taxa, without observation locations.

Check identification progress

inaturalist-pp-cli observations id-status --user inaturalist --since 30d --agent

Group recent observations by their current identification state.

Compare field windows

inaturalist-pp-cli nearby seasonal-shift --place-id 97394 --recent-days 30 --baseline-days 30 --agent

See transparent changes between two bounded observation windows.

Auth Setup

Public read endpoints work without credentials. Authenticated iNaturalist responses can include private data, so the CLI must never surface or store private location fields in compound workflows; write commands require the official JWT/OAuth flow.

Run inaturalist-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:

  inaturalist-pp-cli controlled-terms list --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

• Explicit retries — use --idempotent only when an already-existing create should count as success, and use --ignore-missing only when a missing delete target should count as success

Response envelope

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

{
  "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 AND no machine-format flag (--json, --csv, --compact, --quiet, --plain, --select) is set — piped/agent consumers and explicit-format runs get pure JSON on stdout.

Paths and state

Agents should treat the CLI's path resolver as part of the runtime contract:

• Use --home <dir> for one invocation, or set INATURALIST_HOME=<dir> to relocate all four path kinds under one root.

• Use per-kind env vars only when a specific kind must diverge: INATURALIST_CONFIG_DIR, INATURALIST_DATA_DIR, INATURALIST_STATE_DIR, INATURALIST_CACHE_DIR.

• Resolution order is per-kind env var, --home, INATURALIST_HOME, XDG (XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_STATE_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME), then platform defaults.

• config contains settings like config.toml and profiles. data contains credentials.toml, data.db, cookies, and auth sidecars. state contains persisted queries, jobs, and teach.log. cache contains regenerable HTTP/cache files.

• Stored secrets live in credentials.toml under the data dir. Existing legacy config.toml secrets are read for compatibility and leave config.toml on the first auth write.

• Run inaturalist-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warn to surface path and credential-location warnings. agent-context exposes a schema v4 paths block for agents that need the resolved dirs.

• For MCP, pass relocation through the MCP host config. The MCP binary does not inherit CLI flags:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "inaturalist": {
        "command": "inaturalist-pp-mcp",
        "env": {
          "INATURALIST_HOME": "/srv/inaturalist"
        }
      }
    }
  }

Fleet precedence: an inherited per-kind env var overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use INATURALIST_HOME or per-kind vars as durable fleet levers, and use --home only for a single invocation. Relocation is not reversible by unsetting env vars; move files manually before clearing INATURALIST_HOME, or doctor will not find credentials left under the former root.

Automatic learning

This CLI ships a self-capturing learning loop. The CLI does its own bookkeeping: every invocation is journaled locally, a failed flag followed by a corrected retry auto-derives a flag_alias candidate, and a teach on a query family without a playbook auto-synthesizes a playbook_candidate from the session's journal. Your job is judgment only: recall first, act on surfaced candidates, teach the final answer, playbook amend when you observe a correction. You never record failures by hand.

Step 1: recall before any discovery

Before list/search/drill commands on a new user question, run:

inaturalist-pp-cli recall "<user's question>" --agent

The response envelope:

{
  "query": "...",
  "normalized": "<normalized form>",
  "query_entities": ["..."],
  "found": true | false,
  "match_score": 0.0,
  "results": [
    { "resource_id": "...", "resource_type": "...", "venue": "...",
      "confidence": 2, "entity_match": "exact|partial|unknown",
      "source": "taught|preseed|pattern", "warnings": ["..."] }
  ],
  "mismatches": [ /* only when --debug-mismatches */ ],
  "warnings": [ /* top-level */ ],
  "candidates": [
    { "id": 12, "class": "flag_alias | playbook_candidate",
      "summary": "...", "sightings": 3, "last_seen": "...",
      "rationale": "...",
      "next_action": ["<trial command>", "inaturalist-pp-cli learnings confirm 12"] }
  ],
  "playbook": {
    "query_family": "...",
    "playbook": {
      "steps": [ { "cmd": "<command with {slot} substitution>", "purpose": "..." } ],
      "entity_slots": ["$ENTITY"],
      "expected_tool_calls": 3
    },
    "slots_resolved": { "$ENTITY": { "token": "<live token>", "canonical": "<canonical>" } },
    "notes": "<workarounds + gotchas for this query family>"
  },
  "notes": "<duplicate surface for non-playbook callers>"
}

Empty-store short-circuit: if the store has no learnings, playbooks, or candidates yet (recall finds nothing and learnings list and learnings candidates are both empty), skip recall for the rest of this session instead of taxing every query; resume recall-first once something has been taught.