name: pp-tidycal
description: "Printing Press CLI for Tidycal. TidyCal's REST API provides a handful of endpoints which can be used to get information about your account and bookings."
author: "Cathryn Lavery"
license: "Apache-2.0"
argument-hint: "
Tidycal — Printing Press CLI
Prerequisites: Install the CLI
This skill drives the tidycal-pp-cli binary. You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill. If it is missing, install it first:
- Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to
$HOME/.local/binon macOS/Linux and%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\binon Windows:npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install tidycal --cli-only - Verify:
tidycal-pp-cli --version - Ensure the reported install directory is on
$PATHfor 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 1.26.4 or newer):
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/productivity/tidycal/cmd/tidycal-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.
Unique Capabilities
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
Agentic scheduling
brief— Produce a contact-aware schedule brief for a day or date range.Use this before drafting prep notes or deciding whether a booking needs attention.
tidycal-pp-cli brief --date today --format jsontriage— Identify booking problems such as missing meeting URLs, duplicate contacts, off-hours bookings, cancelled bookings, and incomplete contact data.Use this to decide which bookings require operator review.
tidycal-pp-cli triage --from today --to +7d --format jsonpropose-times— Fetch available TidyCal timeslots for a booking type and rank a paste-ready shortlist by date window, timezone, preference, and weekend policy.Use this when proposing meeting options in chat or email.
tidycal-pp-cli propose-times 123 --from today --to +14d --count 3 --format jsonfollowups— Create an AI-ready follow-up queue from recent bookings without sending messages or notifications.Use this to prepare follow-up tasks after recent meetings.
tidycal-pp-cli followups --from -7d --to today --format jsonassisted-book— Book on behalf of a contact through an inspectable dry-run and explicit confirmation gate.Use this only when the operator has approved the booking details.
tidycal-pp-cli assisted-book 123 --name Ada --email ada@example.com --slot 2026-06-02T15:00:00Z --dry-run --format json
Command Reference
booking-types — Manage booking types
tidycal-pp-cli booking-types create— Create a new booking type.tidycal-pp-cli booking-types list— Get a list of booking types.
bookings — Manage bookings
tidycal-pp-cli bookings get— Get a booking by ID.tidycal-pp-cli bookings list— Get a list of bookings.
contacts — Manage contacts
tidycal-pp-cli contacts create— Create a new contact.tidycal-pp-cli contacts list— Get a list of contacts.
me — Manage me
tidycal-pp-cli me— Get account details.
teams — Manage teams
tidycal-pp-cli teams get— Get details of a specific team.tidycal-pp-cli teams list— Get a list of teams the authenticated user has access to.
Finding the right command
When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:
tidycal-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
Run tidycal-pp-cli auth setup for the URL and steps to obtain a token (add --launch to open the URL). Then store it:
tidycal-pp-cli auth set-token YOUR_TOKEN_HERE
Or set TIDYCAL_API_TOKEN as an environment variable.
Run tidycal-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 —
--selectkeeps a subset of fields. Dotted paths descend into nested structures; arrays traverse element-wise. Critical for keeping context small on verbose APIs:tidycal-pp-cli booking-types list --agent --select id,name,statusPreviewable —
--dry-runshows the request without sendingOffline-friendly — sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
Non-interactive — never prompts, every input is a flag
Explicit retries — use
--idempotentonly when an already-existing create should count as success, and--ignore-missingonly 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.
Agent Feedback
When you (or the agent) notice something off about this CLI, record it:
tidycal-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive"
tidycal-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt
tidycal-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10
Entries are stored locally at ~/.local/share/tidycal-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl. They are never POSTed unless TIDYCAL_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or TIDYCAL_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:
| Sink | Effect |
|---|---|
stdout |
Default; 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.
tidycal-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
tidycal-pp-cli --profile briefing booking-types list
tidycal-pp-cli profile list --json
tidycal-pp-cli profile show briefing
tidycal-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
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Success |
| 2 | Usage error (wrong arguments) |
| 3 | Resource not found |
| 4 | Authentication required |
| 5 | API error (upstream issue) |
| 7 | Rate limited (wait and retry) |
| 10 | Config error |
Argument Parsing
Parse $ARGUMENTS:
- Empty,
help, or--help→ showtidycal-pp-cli --helpoutput - Starts with
install→ ends withmcp→ MCP installation; otherwise → see Prerequisites above - Anything else → Direct Use (execute as CLI command with
--agent)
MCP Server Installation
- Install the MCP server:
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/productivity/tidycal/cmd/tidycal-pp-mcp@latest - Register with Claude Code:
claude mcp add tidycal-pp-mcp -- tidycal-pp-mcp - Verify:
claude mcp list
Direct Use
- Check if installed:
which tidycal-pp-cliIf not found, offer to install (see Prerequisites at the top of this skill). - Match the user query to the best command from the Unique Capabilities and Command Reference above.
- Execute with the
--agentflag:tidycal-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent - If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help:
tidycal-pp-cli <command> --help.