Product Hunt — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the

producthunt-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:

bash

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press install producthunt --cli-only

Verify:
```
producthunt-pp-cli --version
```
Ensure
```
$GOPATH/bin
```
(or
```
$HOME/go/bin
```
) is on
```
$PATH
```
.

If the

npx

install fails (no Node, offline, etc.), fall back to a direct Go install (requires Go 1.23+):

bash

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/marketing/producthunt/cmd/producthunt-pp-cli@latest

--version

reports "command not found" after install, the install step did not put the binary on

$PATH

. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds.

When to Use This CLI

Pick this CLI when an agent or script needs Product Hunt data — daily launch leaderboards, topic-vertical scouting, individual launch detail with comments, or aggregated trajectories that PH's own UI never exposes. The local SQLite store and GraphQL fall-through mean repeated queries stay cheap; the no-auth feed tier means the CLI is useful before the user has even configured a key. Indie founders launching this week reach for the launch-day cockpit (

launch-day

benchmark

trajectory

questions

compare

); marketers doing competitive research reach for the marketer research desk (

category snapshot

posts grep

lookalike

launches calendar

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.

Founder launch-day cockpit

posts launch-day
— Renders your launch's votes-over-time trajectory side-by-side with today's top 5 launches — the answer to 'am I catching up to the leader.' Sync-driven, refreshes from the local store.
Reach for this on launch day when a maker asks 'how am I tracking vs the leaders' — the side-by-side trajectories replace ten tabs.
bash
```
producthunt posts launch-day my-launch-slug --json
```
posts benchmark
— Reports percentile curves at hour-N for top-10 and top-50 launches in a topic, computed from accumulated local history. Tells a founder if their hour-6 votes are 'good' for their category.
Use before launching to set realistic targets, or during launch to know whether a slow start is normal for the category or a real problem.
bash
```
producthunt posts benchmark --topic artificial-intelligence --hour 6 --json
```
posts trajectory
— Plots a single launch's votes-over-time from local snapshots. Foundational for launch-day-tracker; also useful standalone for retro analysis after the fact.
Reach for this when reviewing a past launch or competitor — the curve shows momentum that a single end-of-day vote count hides.
bash
```
producthunt posts trajectory my-launch-slug --json
```
posts questions
— Surfaces only comments that look like real questions (regex
```
?
```
plus heuristic verbs like 'how does', 'what's the', 'can it'), ranked by vote count. Cuts hundreds of launch-day comments down to the ones that need a maker's reply.
Use during or after launch day to identify which comments deserve a real reply versus which are cheerleading or spam.
bash
```
producthunt posts questions my-launch-slug --json
```
posts compare
— Column-aligned comparison of two or more launches: votes, comments, topics, tagline, url, launch-time delta. Replaces juggling browser tabs.
Pick this when a founder is benchmarking their launch against precedents or a marketer is triangulating between similar competitive launches.
bash
```
producthunt posts compare cursor-ide windsurf-ide claude-code --json
```

Marketer research desk

category snapshot
— Slide-deck-ready brief for a topic over a window: leaderboard + momentum delta vs prior window + most active poster handles + top emerging tagline tags.
Reach for this on weekly category-research cadence — the single-output brief replaces opening 30 launch pages by hand.
bash
```
producthunt category snapshot --topic artificial-intelligence --window weekly --agent --select leaderboard,momentum_delta
```
posts grep
— Searches taglines and descriptions of launches in a window for a term — your brand, a competitor's brand, a category keyword. Returns matching launches with the matched snippet.
Use this as a recurring brand-mention monitor or to find competitive launches that name your category in their pitch.
bash
```
producthunt posts grep --term "\\bclaude\\b" --since 7d --topic developer-tools --json
```
posts lookalike
— Given a launch slug, finds the most similar prior launches by topic overlap plus tagline FTS rank. Builds a competitive set automatically.
Reach for this to build a competitive set quickly or to find precedent launches when planning your own positioning.
bash
```
producthunt posts lookalike notion --json --select edges.node.name,edges.node.tagline
```
launches calendar
— Shows what launched what day in a week (and prior weeks for context), with hour-of-day distribution. Helps a founder pick a strong launch slot.
Use before scheduling a launch to find a less-crowded day or hour in your topic.
bash
```
producthunt launches calendar --topic artificial-intelligence --week 18 --json
```

Cross-persona monitoring

topics watch
— Detects new posts crossing a vote threshold in a topic since the last sync. Synthesizes an offline subscription against an API that has none.
Schedule this in cron to alert on notable new launches in a vertical without hammering the GraphQL endpoint.
bash
```
producthunt topics watch artificial-intelligence --min-votes 200 --json
```

Agent-native plumbing

posts since
— Local-first time-window query:
```
posts since 2h
```
,
```
posts since 24h
```
. Falls through to live GraphQL if the window extends past the last sync.
Reach for this from agentic flows that ask 'what's new on Product Hunt' — the local-first behavior keeps token costs low and the fall-through guarantees freshness.
bash
```
producthunt posts since 6h --json --select edges.node.name,edges.node.votesCount
```
context
— Returns a single JSON blob covering top posts in a window, top comments, topic followers, and your viewer status. One call answers 'what's the state of this topic right now' for an agent.
Use as the first call in an agentic Product Hunt workflow — one snapshot replaces 'list posts then list comments then check viewer'.
bash
```
producthunt context --topic artificial-intelligence --since 24h --json
```

Command Reference

feed — Public Atom feed of featured Product Hunt launches (no auth required)

```
producthunt-pp-cli feed
```
— Fetch the public Atom feed of recent featured launches; needs no token

Hand-written commands

```
producthunt-pp-cli posts
```
— Get, list, and analyze Product Hunt launches via GraphQL
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts get <id-or-slug>
```
— Fetch full detail for a single launch (votes, comments, topics, makers, media)
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts list
```
— List launches filtered by topic, order, featured-flag, or posted-after window
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts comments <id-or-slug>
```
— List comments on a launch (commenter identities are redacted by Product Hunt)
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts trajectory <slug>
```
— Plot a launch's votes-over-time from local snapshots
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts launch-day <my-slug>
```
— Render YOUR launch's trajectory side-by-side with today's top 5 launches
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts benchmark
```
— Show percentile vote curves at hour-N for top-10 / top-50 launches in a topic
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts compare <slug1> <slug2> [<slug3>...]
```
— Column-aligned comparison of N launches: votes, comments, topics, tagline, url
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts questions <slug>
```
— Filter a launch's comments to only those that look like genuine questions
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts grep
```
— Search synced launches' taglines and descriptions for a keyword (brand-mention tracker)
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts lookalike <slug>
```
— Find prior launches in the same topic with similar tagline tokens (competitive set)
```
producthunt-pp-cli posts since <duration>
```
— Local-first time-window query (e.g.,
```
posts since 6h
```
); falls through to live API
```
producthunt-pp-cli comments
```
— Get individual comments by id
```
producthunt-pp-cli comments get <id>
```
— Fetch a single comment by ID
```
producthunt-pp-cli collections
```
— Get and list Product Hunt curated collections
```
producthunt-pp-cli collections get <id-or-slug>
```
— Fetch a single collection with its post list
```
producthunt-pp-cli collections list
```
— List collections, optionally filtered by featured-flag or by a contained post/user
```
producthunt-pp-cli topics
```
— Get, list, and search Product Hunt topics (categories)
```
producthunt-pp-cli topics get <id-or-slug>
```
— Fetch a single topic (followers count, posts count)
```
producthunt-pp-cli topics list
```
— List topics, optionally ordered by newest or popularity

producthunt-pp-cli topics search <query>

— Search topics by name or description

```
producthunt-pp-cli topics watch <slug>
```
— Detect new posts crossing a vote threshold in a topic since the last sync
```
producthunt-pp-cli users
```
— Get user profiles and a user's launch/voted history (non-self users redacted by Product Hunt)
```
producthunt-pp-cli users get <id-or-username>
```
— Fetch a user profile (only
```
whoami
```
/yourself returns full data; non-self users return [REDACTED])
```
producthunt-pp-cli users posts <username>
```
— List the posts a user has made (post data is unredacted; the user identity itself may be redacted)
```
producthunt-pp-cli users voted-posts <username>
```
— List the posts a user has voted for (same redaction caveat as users posts)
```
producthunt-pp-cli whoami
```
— Show the authenticated user (full data; reports remaining complexity-budget and auth mode)
```
producthunt-pp-cli category
```
— Marketer research desk: category-level snapshots and trends
```
producthunt-pp-cli category snapshot
```
— Slide-deck-ready brief for a topic over a window: leaderboard, momentum delta, active handles, emerging tags
```
producthunt-pp-cli launches
```
— Calendar and timing analysis for launch slot picking
```
producthunt-pp-cli launches calendar
```
— Show what launched what day in a week, with hour-of-day distribution
```
producthunt-pp-cli context
```
— Single-call agent snapshot: top posts + top comments + topic state + viewer in one JSON blob

producthunt-pp-cli today

— Today's top launches (alias for

posts list --order=RANKING --posted-after=midnight

)

producthunt-pp-cli recent

— Most recent launches (alias for

posts list --order=NEWEST

)

```
producthunt-pp-cli search <query>
```
— Full-text search of locally synced posts
```
producthunt-pp-cli sync
```
— Sync the local store: posts, topics, collections, comments (cursor-based, resumable)
```
producthunt-pp-cli sql <query>
```
— Read-only SQL against the local SQLite store
```
producthunt-pp-cli auth
```
— Manage Product Hunt authentication (developer token by default, OAuth client_credentials alternate)
```
producthunt-pp-cli auth onboard
```
— Interactive wizard: walks you through creating a free OAuth app, prefills
```
https://localhost/callback
```
for the...
```
producthunt-pp-cli auth set-token <token>
```
— Set the developer token explicitly without going through the onboarding wizard
```
producthunt-pp-cli auth status
```
— Report which auth mode is active and what data it can access
```
producthunt-pp-cli doctor
```
— Auth-stage-aware diagnostic: tells you whether to onboard, regenerate a token, or wait for a budget reset

Finding the right command

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

bash

producthunt-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

means at least one match; exit code

means no confident match — fall back to

--help

or use a narrower query.

Recipes

Launch-day cockpit for your own launch

bash

producthunt posts launch-day my-launch-slug --json

Renders your launch's vote trajectory side-by-side with today's top 5 — the answer to 'am I catching up to the leader' without refreshing the website

Triage a launch's comments to genuine questions

bash

producthunt posts questions my-launch-slug --json

Filters synced comments to only those that look like real questions (regex

\\?

plus question-verbs) ranked by vote count — replaces scrolling 200 comments to find the 5 that deserve a reply

Narrow a deeply nested response with --agent --select

bash

producthunt posts list --topic artificial-intelligence --posted-after 2026-04-01 --agent --select edges.node.name,edges.node.votesCount,edges.node.user.username

Posts list responses are deeply nested (edges -> node -> user); pairing

--agent

with dotted

--select

paths keeps the output to just the columns the agent needs and slashes token cost

Weekly category brief for marketing

bash

producthunt category snapshot --topic developer-tools --window weekly --json

Single-output brief: leaderboard for the week, momentum delta vs prior week, most active poster handles, top emerging tagline tags — slide-deck-ready

Brand-mention monitor

bash

producthunt posts grep --term "\\bclaude\\b|\\banthropic\\b" --since 7d --json

Finds any launch in the window with

claude

anthropic

in tagline or description — schedule it nightly to catch competitive activity

Auth Setup

Product Hunt's GraphQL API supports two auth modes; the CLI handles both. Recommended for personal use: visit https://www.producthunt.com/v2/oauth/applications, create an application (the redirect URL field is required by the form but unused for personal-token flow — set it to

https://localhost/callback

), then scroll to the bottom of the app page and click

Create Token

to generate a developer token that never expires. Set

PRODUCT_HUNT_TOKEN=<your-token>

or run

producthunt auth onboard

for an interactive walkthrough. For CI/automation, the alternate mode is OAuth

client_credentials

: set

PRODUCT_HUNT_CLIENT_ID

and

PRODUCT_HUNT_CLIENT_SECRET

from the same app page; the CLI exchanges them for an access token internally and refreshes on 401 (note: under OAuth client_credentials, the

whoami

command returns null because the public scope has no user context). The public Atom feed (

producthunt feed

) needs no token at all.

Run

producthunt-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
```
producthunt-pp-cli feed --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
Read-only — do not use this CLI for create, update, delete, publish, comment, upvote, invite, order, send, or other mutating requests

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 — piped/agent consumers get pure JSON on stdout.

Agent Feedback

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

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

Entries are stored locally at

~/.producthunt-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl

. They are never POSTed unless

PRODUCTHUNT_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT

is set AND either

--send

is passed or

PRODUCTHUNT_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.

producthunt-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
producthunt-pp-cli --profile briefing feed
producthunt-pp-cli profile list --json
producthunt-pp-cli profile show briefing
producthunt-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
→ show
```
producthunt-pp-cli --help
```
output
Starts with
install
→ ends with
```
mcp
```
→ MCP installation; otherwise → see Prerequisites above
Anything else → Direct Use (execute as CLI command with
```
--agent
```
)

MCP Server Installation

Install the MCP server:

bash

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/marketing/producthunt/cmd/producthunt-pp-mcp@latest

bash

claude mcp add producthunt-pp-mcp -- producthunt-pp-mcp

Verify:
```
claude mcp list
```

Direct Use

Check if installed:
```
which producthunt-pp-cli
```
If 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

--agent

flag:

bash

producthunt-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent

If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help:
```
producthunt-pp-cli <command> --help
```
.

pp-producthunt

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Product Hunt — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

When to Use This CLI

When Not to Use This CLI

Unique Capabilities

Founder launch-day cockpit

Marketer research desk

Cross-persona monitoring

Agent-native plumbing

Command Reference

Finding the right command

Recipes

Launch-day cockpit for your own launch

Triage a launch's comments to genuine questions

Narrow a deeply nested response with --agent --select

Weekly category brief for marketing

Brand-mention monitor

Auth Setup

Agent Mode

Response envelope

Agent Feedback

Output Delivery

Named Profiles

Exit Codes

Argument Parsing

MCP Server Installation

Direct Use