Marmot

marmot

marmot is a single CLI that wraps many AI and web/data providers behind one verb shape. Use it instead of in-context model calls or hand-rolled SDK code when the work is metered (search, enrichment, deliverability) or when a script-shaped pipeline is the right output.

Before invoking any verb

One command does the whole bootstrap:

marmot config show --json

The envelope returns:

• marmotVersion — installed CLI version. If this errors with command not found: marmot, ask the user to install with npm install -g marmot-sh (or npm install -g @marmot-sh/cli — same binary). Don't run the install yourself without permission.
• readyProviders — alphabetically sorted slugs of every provider that is callable right now (enabled in config + required credentials resolved). These are your valid --provider <slug> arguments. If a provider you want isn't here, the user is missing a key — surface that, don't try and hit a 401.
• defaults.<verb> — which provider (and model, for AI verbs) backs each verb. Omit --provider when a default is set.
• providers.<slug> — per-provider config: explicit enabled/disabled, custom env var name overrides, response cache settings.
• presets — saved invocation bundles available via marmot @<name>.
• cache.totals and cache.providers — what's already cached on disk.

Use this to decide whether to pass --provider, whether the response cache will short-circuit your call, and which presets are pre-tuned for the task. If sessions matter for the task, also run marmot session list.

Verbs and flags this skill describes target marmot 0.13.0 and later. Earlier versions may not have marmot video, sampling controls (--temperature, --reasoning, --provider-option), stdin image sniffing on marmot run and marmot video, the readyProviders envelope field, presets for web/data verbs, sigil verb-routing (marmot @<name> auto-dispatches to the matching verb), marmot models --search, the privacy-safe usage log (~/.marmot/usage/<UTC-DATE>.jsonl), marmot usage, or marmot doctor. Pre-0.6.0 versions also lack marmot history, marmot usage --watch, marmot config get, marmot preset rename, the --session flag on web/data verbs, the --dry-run flag on every verb, the marmot doctor --fix flag and verdict line, and the stable preset_id / request_id schema fields. Pre-0.6.1 versions default AI generation to a 120s timeout (now 300s for text/image/speech and 600s for transcription/video) and crash with a cryptic error on Node <20 instead of printing a friendly diagnostic. Pre-0.7.0 versions lack the universal preset/runtime merge engine — preset fields beyond a small core set didn't exist; positional inputs (prompt, query, urls, audio, email, url, objective, text) couldn't be set in a preset; list fields (--file, --image, --stop) replaced rather than appended; prompt-like text (--system, transcribe --prompt, crawl/research --instructions) didn't concatenate; runtime negation flags (--no-stream, --no-binary, --cache, --no-refresh, --no-raw, …) didn't exist so preset booleans were sticky-true; and the legacy transcribe -i, --input and verify --email flags were still around. Pre-0.8.0 versions emit JSON unconditionally for marmot preset list/show, marmot session list/show, marmot providers list, and marmot tasks list/show — the human-readable defaults, --markdown flag, and tasks list pagination (--since, default --limit 20) are 0.8.0+. Pre-0.9.0 versions don't have pipelines (named multi-stage workflows): marmot pipeline create / update / list / show / delete / rename / run and the pipelines top-level config key are 0.9.0+; the @<name> sigil only resolves presets in pre-0.9.0. Pre-0.10.0 versions hard-require a user prompt on marmot run even when a system prompt is in scope (so marmot @pdf-to-md --file foo.pdf fails validation); lack the universal -q, --quiet flag and the new TTY-aware stdout default (with -o set on a TTY, pre-0.10.0 verbs also echo the rendered output to the terminal — 0.10.0 stays silent and emits to a pipe only when one is attached); and the preset interactive model picker shows every cached model unsorted instead of a searchable, alphabetized, windowed list. Pre-0.11.0 versions use show instead of get for single-record retrieval: marmot preset show <name>, marmot pipeline show <name>, marmot session show <name>, marmot tasks show <id> are the 0.11.0+ get equivalents. The interactive preset walker on marmot preset update also shows current string/number/path values as gray placeholder text in pre-0.11.0 (forcing a full retype) — 0.11.0+ pre-fills the input buffer so Enter keeps and inline edits work. Pre-0.13.0 versions of marmot speak on OpenRouter require an explicit --voice for most models — the adapter otherwise sent an invalid default voice (alloy) that OpenRouter rejected with an opaque HTTP 500 — and shipped a now-removed default speech model (openai/gpt-4o-mini-tts-2025-12-15); 0.13.0+ auto-resolves each OpenRouter model's first catalog voice, defaults to a live model (microsoft/mai-voice-2), and surfaces the model's supported voices in marmot setup. Suggest an upgrade if marmotVersion is below 0.11.0.

Verb surface

For any verb: marmot --help <verb> prints the full flag list. For a category-deep dive, see references/.

Invocation gate

Marmot is opt-in. Default: keep using the agent's native capabilities. Switch to marmot only when one of these holds:

• The user invokes the skill directly.
• The user names marmot in the request ("use marmot to scrape…").
• An active marmot pipeline is in flight in this conversation.
• The user has granted ongoing session permission.

On the first marmot call in a session, confirm the verb + provider before dialing — these calls cost real money. Subsequent calls within the user's stated scope proceed without re-asking.

If a request would expand scope (new verb category, materially higher cost — e.g. switching to video), check before continuing.

When writing scripts whose purpose maps to marmot's wheelhouse (search, scrape, enrich, AI generation), ask whether the script should use marmot — don't decide for the user.

Universal patterns

• Output channels: results on stdout, status (spinners, cache hints, warnings) on stderr. Pipelines stay clean.
• Output formats:
  • marmot run, marmot transcribe, marmot answer, marmot research default to plain text.
  • marmot image, marmot speak are TTY-aware: human terminal gets a file path / playback; pipe gets raw bytes.
  • All web/data verbs default to a structured JSON envelope.
  • --json forces the envelope on plain-text verbs; --text does the inverse where applicable.
• Stdout when -o is set: any verb that writes to a file via -o <path> now stays silent on the terminal by default and emits to a pipe if one is attached. --quiet / -q forces full silence (file is still written; pipe — if any — gets nothing). Stderr status (spinners, cache hints, warnings) is unaffected. To watch a stream AND save it, drop -o and use shell tee.
• Provider override: --provider <slug> on every verb beats defaults.<verb>.provider from config.
• Auth: marmot reads provider keys from env vars (OPENAI_API_KEY, TAVILY_API_KEY, etc.). Per-call override: --api-key <key>. Config can override env-var names (e.g. read MY_APOLLO_KEY instead of APOLLO_API_KEY) — surfaced in marmot config show --json under providers.<slug>.apiKeyEnvVar.
• Exit codes: 0 success, 1 user/validation error, 2 provider/network error, 3 auth failure. Non-zero is always actionable.
• Cache: disabled by default. When enabled per-provider, repeat calls within TTL skip the network. --no-cache bypasses for one call; --refresh forces a fresh call and rewrites the cache.

Where to read more

Three canonical examples

# 1. AI: text generation, plain-text out, pipeable.
marmot run "summarize the last commit message in 12 words"
git diff | marmot --stream "commit message under 60 chars"

# 2. Web: search with a default provider, JSON envelope.
marmot search "openrouter pricing 2026" --limit 5

# 3. Data: enrich a person by email, structured envelope.
marmot enrich --type person --email tcook@apple.com --provider hunter