--- name: pp-archive-is description: "Use this skill whenever the user wants to archive a URL, bypass a paywall, look up an existing archive, view a cached version of a webpage, pull article text from archive.today or the Wayback Machine, or batch-archive a list of URLs. archive.today + Wayback Machine CLI with lookup-before-submit, automatic fallback when one backend is down, and agent-friendly output. No API key required. Triggers on phrasings like 'archive this article', 'bypass the paywall on this link', 'grab the cached text', 'save this url to archive.today', 'check if this was already archived', 'bulk archive these 20 URLs'." author: "Matt Van Horn" license: "Apache-2.0" argument-hint: " [args] | install cli|mcp" allowed-tools: "Read Bash" metadata: openclaw: requires: bins: - archive-is-pp-cli install: - kind: go bins: [archive-is-pp-cli] module: github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/archive-is/cmd/archive-is-pp-cli --- # archive.today — Printing Press CLI ## Prerequisites: Install the CLI This skill drives the `archive-is-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 `$HOME/.local/bin` on macOS/Linux and `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin` on Windows: ```bash npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install archive-is --cli-only ``` 2. Verify: `archive-is-pp-cli --version` 3. Ensure the reported install directory is on `$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): ```bash go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/archive-is/cmd/archive-is-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 this whenever a user wants to archive a URL, read a paywalled article, check whether something was previously archived, or batch-capture a list of URLs for research. Specifically good when: - A user sends a paywalled link and asks "can you read this" → `read` fetches text via archive - They want to preserve a URL that might change → `save` forces a fresh capture - They want historical versions → `history` lists all known snapshots - They have 20+ URLs to archive → `bulk` runs rate-limited batch archival Don't reach for this if the URL is trivially scrapeable without archive services (no paywall, robots-allowed, direct HTTP works), or if the user wants the original source rather than a cached version. ## Unique Capabilities The whole CLI is unique — archive.today has no official API. But within this CLI, certain commands are the differentiators. ### The hero commands - **`read `** — Find or create an archive for a URL. Looks up existing snapshots first (Memento timegate → CDX fallback); submits a fresh capture only if nothing exists. The "always do the right thing" command. _This is how 90% of agent calls should start. It's idempotent — calling it twice on the same URL doesn't double-submit._ - **`get [--raw]` / `tldr `** — Fetch article text, optionally LLM-summarized. Automatic Wayback fallback when archive.today serves a CAPTCHA (which happens daily to cloud IPs). _`tldr` pipes the fetched text through a summarization step — useful for agent chains where you want a short take without shipping 20KB of HTML back._ ### Durability operations - **`save `** — Force a fresh capture via `/submit/?url=&anyway=1`. Use when `read` returns an existing snapshot that's too old or missing a paywall update. - **`history `** — List all known snapshots via Memento timemap parsing. Shows every capture date across both archive.today and Wayback. - **`bulk [file]`** — Rate-limited batch archiving from a file or stdin. Reads URLs one per line, submits each with backoff, returns a report of successes / failures / pre-existing. _`grep -oE 'https?://[^ )]+' notes.md | archive-is-pp-cli bulk -` archives every URL in a markdown file._ - **`request `** — Fire-and-forget submit with optional wait+poll. Useful for long captures where you want to come back later. ### Observability - **`snapshots newest `** — Just the newest snapshot URL for a target, useful in scripts. - **`captures`** — List your local capture index (post-sync). - **`feeds`** — archive.today's global recent-archives feed. - **`--backend archive-is,wayback`** — Every read/get accepts a backend preference. Defaults to archive-is with Wayback fallback; flip the order for Wayback-primary. ## Command Reference Archive + retrieve: - `archive-is-pp-cli read ` — Find or create (hero command) - `archive-is-pp-cli get ` — Fetch article text (with Wayback fallback) - `archive-is-pp-cli tldr ` — Fetch + summarize - `archive-is-pp-cli save ` — Force fresh capture - `archive-is-pp-cli request ` — Fire-and-forget submit - `archive-is-pp-cli request check ` — Check whether a submitted request has completed Listing + history: - `archive-is-pp-cli history ` — All known snapshots - `archive-is-pp-cli snapshots ` — Best known snapshot for a URL - `archive-is-pp-cli snapshots newest ` — Newest snapshot URL - `archive-is-pp-cli snapshots timemap ` — Raw Memento timemap - `archive-is-pp-cli captures` — Local capture index - `archive-is-pp-cli feeds` — Global recent feed Batch: - `archive-is-pp-cli bulk [file]` — Batch from file or stdin Local store: - `archive-is-pp-cli sync` / `export` / `import` / `workflow archive` — Local SQLite ops Auth + health: - `archive-is-pp-cli auth` — Config (no API key needed; auth is a no-op) - `archive-is-pp-cli doctor` — Verify backend reachability ## Recipes ### Read a paywalled article ```bash archive-is-pp-cli read "https://www.wsj.com/articles/..." --agent # or: return just the text archive-is-pp-cli get "https://www.wsj.com/articles/..." --agent ``` `read` returns the archive URL (finding existing or creating new). `get` returns extracted article text by default, falling back to Wayback if archive.today CAPTCHAs; add `--raw` only when you need the archived HTML. ### Preserve a URL before it changes ```bash archive-is-pp-cli save "https://example.com/important-page" --agent archive-is-pp-cli history "https://example.com/important-page" --agent # verify ``` Force capture, then check history to confirm the new snapshot registered. ### Bulk archive a research batch ```bash grep -oE 'https?://[^ )]+' research-notes.md | archive-is-pp-cli bulk - --agent # or from a file: archive-is-pp-cli bulk urls.txt --agent ``` Reads URLs one per line, submits each with exponential backoff, returns per-URL status (archived, pre-existing, failed) as JSON. ### Wayback-preferred for a reliable-read ```bash archive-is-pp-cli read "https://ft.com/content/xyz" --backend wayback,archive-is --agent ``` Use when the Wayback Machine snapshot is known to be cleaner or archive.today is rate-limiting. ## Auth Setup **No API key required.** Archive.today and Wayback Machine are both public. The `auth` subcommand exists for consistency but is a no-op — `doctor` reports "Auth: not required" which is the expected state. Optional env: - `ARCHIVE_IS_BASE_URL` — override archive.today host (for mirrors) - `WAYBACK_BASE_URL` — override Wayback Machine host ## Agent Mode Add `--agent` to any command. Expands to `--json --compact --no-input --no-color --yes --no-prompt`. Every action command also prints structured `next_actions` hints on stderr when called non-interactively — the calling agent sees "tried X, got Y, consider Z" automatically. Notable flags: - `--submit-timeout ` — max wait for a fresh submit (default `10m`; `0` = unbounded) - `--backend archive-is,wayback` — backend preference and fallback order - `--raw` — return raw HTML from `get` instead of extracted text ### Filtering output `--select` accepts dotted paths to descend into nested responses; arrays traverse element-wise: ```bash archive-is-pp-cli --agent --select id,name archive-is-pp-cli --agent --select items.id,items.owner.name ``` Use this to narrow huge payloads to the fields you actually need — critical for deeply nested API responses. ### Response envelope Data-layer commands wrap output in `{"meta": {...}, "results": }`. Parse `.results` for data and `.meta.source` to know whether it's `live` or local. The `N results (live)` summary is printed to stderr only when stdout is a TTY; piped/agent consumers see pure JSON on stdout. ## Exit Codes | Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | 0 | Success | | 2 | Usage error | | 3 | Not found (no snapshot exists) | | 5 | API error (archive.today or Wayback down) | | 7 | Rate limited (too many submits) | ## Installation ```bash go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/archive-is/cmd/archive-is-pp-cli@latest archive-is-pp-cli doctor ``` ### MCP Server ```bash go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/archive-is/cmd/archive-is-pp-mcp@latest claude mcp add archive-is-pp-mcp -- archive-is-pp-mcp ``` ## Argument Parsing Given `$ARGUMENTS`: 1. **Empty, `help`, or `--help`** → run `archive-is-pp-cli --help` 2. **`install`** → CLI; **`install mcp`** → MCP 3. **Anything that looks like a URL, or "archive " / "bypass paywall on "** → `read --agent` is the default — it's idempotent and covers the 90% case. 4. **"bulk archive" / "archive these"** → `bulk` from stdin if URLs are pasted, else ask for the file path. ## Agent Workflow Features This CLI exposes three shared agent-workflow capabilities patched in from cli-printing-press PR #218. ### Named profiles Persist a set of flags under a name and reuse them across invocations. ```bash # Save the current non-default flags as a named profile archive-is-pp-cli profile save # Use a profile — overlays its values onto any flag you don't set explicitly archive-is-pp-cli --profile # List / inspect / remove archive-is-pp-cli profile list archive-is-pp-cli profile show archive-is-pp-cli profile delete --yes ``` Flag precedence: explicit flag > env var > profile > default. ### --deliver Route command output to a sink other than stdout. Useful when an agent needs to hand a result to a file, a webhook, or another process without plumbing. ```bash archive-is-pp-cli --deliver file:/path/to/out.json archive-is-pp-cli --deliver webhook:https://hooks.example/in ``` File sinks write atomically (tmp + rename). Webhook sinks POST `application/json` (or `application/x-ndjson` when `--compact` is set). Unknown schemes produce a structured refusal listing the supported set. ### feedback Record in-band feedback about this CLI from the agent side of the loop. Local-only by default; safe to call without configuration. ```bash archive-is-pp-cli feedback "what surprised you or tripped you up" archive-is-pp-cli feedback list # show local entries archive-is-pp-cli feedback clear --yes # wipe ``` Entries append to `~/.archive-is-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl` as JSON lines. When `ARCHIVE_IS_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT` is set and either `--send` is passed or `ARCHIVE_IS_FEEDBACK_AUTO_SEND=true`, the entry is also POSTed upstream (non-blocking — local write always succeeds). --- Source attribution: mvanhorn Original project: https://github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/blob/d7698149796bc71048f54526e010a1535d808e0c/library/media-and-entertainment/archive-is/SKILL.md License: Apache-2.0 License information: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub. ## Upstream license notice Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004 http://www.apache.org/licenses/ TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION 1. Definitions. "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction, and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document. "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by the copyright owner that is granting the License. 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You may reproduce and distribute copies of the Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You meet the following conditions: (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works a copy of this License; and (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices stating that You changed the files; and (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and attribution notices from the Source form of the Work, excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works; and (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained within such NOTICE file, excluding any notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or, within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and wherever such third-party notices normally appear. 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While redistributing the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer, and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity, or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability. END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS Copyright 2026 matt-van-horn Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License. ## Additional upstream notices pp-archive-is/NOTICE archive-is-pp-cli Copyright 2026 Matt Van Horn and contributors Created by Matt Van Horn (@mvanhorn). Contributors: - Trevin Chow (@tmchow) This CLI was generated by CLI Printing Press (https://github.com/mvanhorn/cli-printing-press) by Matt Van Horn and Trevin Chow. The Non-Obvious Insight, domain archetype detection, workflow commands, and behavioral insight commands were produced by the printing press's creative vision engine. CLI Printing Press is licensed separately under the MIT License. # Mega AI Hub resource metadata Creator / publisher: mvanhorn Original project: https://github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/blob/d7698149796bc71048f54526e010a1535d808e0c/library/media-and-entertainment/archive-is/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Source repository record Fields of work: Content & Media, Education & Research, Marketing Roles: Content Marketer, Journalist / Editor, Researcher Specialties: API, Backend, Database, Frontend, Git, Testing Tools: Wayback Machine, Archive.Today Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: 41fe720ea9a056576ce9b9010d8c71b9d615cacc9d46c1d5996d51dac1bfd2f5