Agent skill

Pp Paul Graham

by mvanhorn in mvanhorn/printing-press-library

Printing Press CLI for Paul Graham. An agent skill from mvanhorn/printing-press-library.

Apache-2.0Auto-check: notes

Install Pp Paul Graham

skills CLI
$ npx skills add mvanhorn/printing-press-library --skill pp-paul-graham -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install mvanhorn/printing-press-library pp-paul-graham --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/cli-skills/pp-paul-graham .claude/skills/pp-paul-graham && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
pp-paul-graham
GitHub stars
2.1k
Token cost
~2.2k tokens
SKILL.md length
918 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
506
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Printing Press CLI for Paul Graham. An agent skill from mvanhorn/printing-press-library.

  • Works in 3 steps: Install via the Printing Press… → Verify: paul-graham-pp-cli --version → Ensure the reported install directory is…
  • SKILL.md covers Prerequisites: Install the CLI, When Not to Use This CLI, Command Reference and Auth Setup, plus 8 more sections
  • Calls go, claude and npx

What it does

Pp Paul Graham is an agent skill from mvanhorn/printing-press-library. Printing Press CLI for Paul Graham. Static public essay index for paulgraham.com.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

The repository describes itself as: Official library of CLIs generated by the CLI Printing Press. Endorsed, tested, and community-contributed. The licence is Apache-2.0.

Example prompts

  • “/pp-paul-graham”

Requirements

  • Node.js
  • Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Bash

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to $HOME/.local/bin on macOS/Linux and…
  2. Verify: paul-graham-pp-cli --version
  3. Ensure the reported install directory is on $PATH for the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit d9a1696. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

    • Read
    • Bash

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • go
    • claude
    • npx

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npx, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Pp Paul Graham loads about 2.2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 24 tokens; SKILL.md has 918 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~24
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check: notes

The automated check noted patterns worth knowing about, such as sudo or a known installer.

  • NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md
    allowed-tools: Read, Bash

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from mvanhorn/printing-press-library at commit d9a1696, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© mvanhorn). 918 words, ~2,201 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/pp-paul-graham/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
pp-paul-graham
description
Printing Press CLI for Paul Graham. Static public essay index for paulgraham.com.
allowed-tools
Read, Bash
author
Deb Mukherjee
license
Apache-2.0
argument-hint
<command> [args] | install cli|mcp
<!-- GENERATED FILE — DO NOT EDIT.
     This file is a verbatim mirror of library/media-and-entertainment/paul-graham/SKILL.md,
     regenerated post-merge by tools/generate-skills/. Hand-edits here are
     silently overwritten on the next regen. Edit the library/ source instead.
     See the repository agent guide, section "Generated artifacts: registry.json, cli-skills/". -->

Paul Graham — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the paul-graham-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 paul-graham --cli-only
  2. Verify: paul-graham-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). This installs into $GOPATH/bin (default $HOME/go/bin), so add that directory to $PATH instead:

bash
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/paul-graham/cmd/paul-graham-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.

Static public essay index for paulgraham.com.

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.

Command Reference

latest — List the newest essays from the live index

  • paul-graham-pp-cli latest --limit 10 — Return the newest essays from paulgraham.com/articles.html.

list — Browse the essay index

  • paul-graham-pp-cli list --query startup --limit 20 — List essays, optionally filtering by title or slug.

search — Search essays

  • paul-graham-pp-cli search — Search essay titles and slugs; pass the query as the positional argument, for example startup.
  • paul-graham-pp-cli search --full-text — Fetch essay pages and search full text; pass the query as the positional argument.

read — Read one essay

  • paul-graham-pp-cli read --max-chars 2000 — Extract readable text for an essay; pass a slug, URL, title, or title substring as the positional argument.

links — Extract essay links

  • paul-graham-pp-cli links — Return links found on an essay page; pass a slug, URL, title, or title substring as the positional argument.

random — Pick an essay

  • paul-graham-pp-cli random --seed 42 — Pick a random essay from the live index.

articles-html — Manage articles html

  • paul-graham-pp-cli articles-html — Returns the static HTML essay index from paulgraham.com.
Finding the right command

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

bash
paul-graham-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.

Auth Setup

No authentication required.

Run paul-graham-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
    paul-graham-pp-cli list --agent --select title,url
  • 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

Show full SKILL.md (427 more words)Show less
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 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.

Agent Feedback

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

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

Entries are stored locally at ~/.local/share/paul-graham-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl. They are never POSTed unless PAUL_GRAHAM_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or PAUL_GRAHAM_FEEDBACK_AUTO_SEND=true. Default behavior is local-only.

Write what surprised you, not a bug report. Short, specific, one line: that is the part that compounds.

Output Delivery

Every command accepts --deliver <sink>. The output goes to the named sink in addition to (or instead of) stdout, so agents can route command results without hand-piping. Three sinks are supported:

SinkEffect
stdoutDefault; write to stdout only
file:<path>Atomically write output to <path> (tmp + rename)
webhook:<url>POST the output body to the URL (application/json or application/x-ndjson when --compact)

Unknown schemes are refused with a structured error naming the supported set. Webhook failures return non-zero and log the URL + HTTP status on stderr.

Named Profiles

A profile is a saved set of flag values, reused across invocations. Use it when a scheduled agent calls the same command every run with the same configuration - HeyGen's "Beacon" pattern.

paul-graham-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
paul-graham-pp-cli --profile briefing latest
paul-graham-pp-cli profile list --json
paul-graham-pp-cli profile show briefing
paul-graham-pp-cli profile delete briefing --yes

Explicit flags always win over profile values; profile values win over defaults. agent-context lists all available profiles under available_profiles so introspecting agents discover them at runtime.

Exit Codes

CodeMeaning
0Success
2Usage error (wrong arguments)
3Resource not found
5API error (upstream issue)
7Rate limited (wait and retry)
10Config error

Argument Parsing

Parse $ARGUMENTS:

  1. Empty, help, or --help → show paul-graham-pp-cli --help output
  2. Starts with install → ends with mcp → MCP installation; otherwise → see Prerequisites above
  3. Anything else → Direct Use (execute as CLI command with --agent)

MCP Server Installation

  1. Install the MCP server:
    bash
    go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/paul-graham/cmd/paul-graham-pp-mcp@latest
  2. Register with Claude Code:
    bash
    claude mcp add paul-graham-pp-mcp -- paul-graham-pp-mcp
  3. Verify: claude mcp list

Direct Use

  1. Check if installed: which paul-graham-pp-cli If not found, offer to install (see Prerequisites at the top of this skill).
  2. Match the user query to the best command from the Unique Capabilities and Command Reference above.
  3. Execute with the --agent flag:
    bash
    paul-graham-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent
  4. If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help: paul-graham-pp-cli <command> --help.

© mvanhorn, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in cli-skills/pp-paul-graham of mvanhorn/printing-press-library.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit d9a1696

Compare with similar skills

Pp Paul Graham next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Pp Paul Graham compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Pp Paul Graham this skillmvanhorn/printing-press-library2.1k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: NotesApache-2.0
Crossframe Essaysickn33/agentic-awesome-skills47k1 repos~2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
CSS Printthedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist74k—~422Automated safety check: PassMIT
Azure Static Web Appsgithub/awesome-copilot40k1 repos~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Performing Android App Static Analysis With Mobsfmukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills34k—~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Performing Static Malware Analysis With Pe Studiomukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills34k—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

Similar skills

  • Crossframe Essay

    sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills

    A skill your agent uses when explicit CrossFrame work needs a Chinese critical insight essay, commentary, concept essay, public piece, or structure-to-article draft after diagnosis.

    47k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2k tokens
    Writing & ContentAuto-check passed
  • CSS Print

    thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist

    A skill your agent uses when reviewing stylesheets, component styles, and responsive behavior related to Include a print stylesheet.

    74k GitHub stars~422 tokensUpdated 4 days ago
    Frontend & DesignAuto-check passed
  • Azure Static Web Apps

    github/awesome-copilot

    Official

    Helps create, configure, and deploy Azure Static Web Apps using the SWA CLI.

    40k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.4k tokens
    DevOps & CloudAuto-check passed
  • Performing Android App Static Analysis With Mobsf

    mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills

    Performs automated static analysis of Android applications using Mobile Security Framework (MobSF) to identify hardcoded secrets, insecure permissions, vulnerable components, weak cryptography, and…

    34k GitHub stars~1.8k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
    SecurityAuto-check passed
  • Performing Static Malware Analysis With Pe Studio

    mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills

    Performs static analysis of Windows PE malware samples using PEStudio to examine file headers, imports, strings, and resources without executing the binary, identifying packing, anti-analysis…

    34k GitHub stars~3.3k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
    SecurityAuto-check passed
  • Build, test, review or troubleshoot Netdata static makeself installers and packaging/makeself changes.

    81k GitHub stars~4.5k tokensUpdated yesterday
    DevOps & CloudAuto-check: notes

More from mvanhorn/printing-press-library

All 506 skills in this repo
  • Agent Desktop

    mvanhorn/printing-press-library

    Desktop automation through the real Rust agent-desktop CLI, published in Printing Press through a small bridge.

    2.1k GitHub stars~2.3k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check: notes
  • Gfonts

    mvanhorn/printing-press-library

    Search, browse, and download Google Fonts from the terminal via the gfonts CLI.

    2.1k GitHub stars~574 tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check passed
  • Pp 1688

    mvanhorn/printing-press-library

    The free, offline Trigger phrases: search 1688 for, find a factory on 1688 for, wholesale price on 1688 for, who is the cheapest supplier on 1688 for, compare 1688 suppliers for, use 1688, run 1688.

    2.1k GitHub stars~3k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check: notes
  • Pp Activity Japan

    mvanhorn/printing-press-library

    Inspect known Activity Japan plan IDs or URLs, compare dated prices and sessions, check language-sitemap coverage, and hand off to canonical booking pages.

    2.1k GitHub stars~2k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check: notes
  • Pp Adminbyrequest

    mvanhorn/printing-press-library

    Every Admin By Request portal action, plus a local SQLite mirror of audit, events, inventory and requests for ad-hoc...

    2.1k GitHub stars~3.3k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check: notes
  • Pp Agent Capture

    mvanhorn/printing-press-library

    macOS screen capture, window recording, GIF conversion, and agent evidence bundles from the terminal.

    2.1k GitHub stars~1.6k tokensUpdated yesterday
    Auto-check: notes

Questions about Pp Paul Graham

What does Pp Paul Graham do?

Printing Press CLI for Paul Graham. An agent skill from mvanhorn/printing-press-library. Pp Paul Graham is an agent skill from mvanhorn/printing-press-library. Printing Press CLI for Paul Graham.

How do I install Pp Paul Graham in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add mvanhorn/printing-press-library --skill pp-paul-graham -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (cli-skills/pp-paul-graham in mvanhorn/printing-press-library) into .claude/skills/pp-paul-graham in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Pp Paul Graham in Codex?

Run `npx skills add mvanhorn/printing-press-library --skill pp-paul-graham -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (cli-skills/pp-paul-graham in mvanhorn/printing-press-library) into .agents/skills/pp-paul-graham in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Pp Paul Graham in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add mvanhorn/printing-press-library --skill pp-paul-graham -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/pp-paul-graham, .gemini/skills/pp-paul-graham, .github/skills/pp-paul-graham and .opencode/skills/pp-paul-graham in your project.

What does Pp Paul Graham need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Pp Paul Graham needs the command-line tools its instructions call (go, claude and npx). Our summary lists: Node.js. Its frontmatter pre-approves these tools: Read, Bash.

Does Pp Paul Graham access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use npx, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Pp Paul Graham safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found notes only (pre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: bash)), nothing it rates as a warning. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Pp Paul Graham use?

Pp Paul Graham is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Pp Paul Graham use?

About 2.2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 8.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Pp Paul Graham?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Pp Paul Graham: Crossframe Essay (sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills, 47k stars), CSS Print (thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist, 74k stars), Azure Static Web Apps (github/awesome-copilot, 40k stars) and Performing Android App Static Analysis With Mobsf (mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills, 34k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Pp Paul Graham?

mvanhorn (a GitHub user) maintains it in mvanhorn/printing-press-library, which has 2,056 GitHub stars. The repository holds 506 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: mvanhorn/printing-press-library on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.