Dreaming — Printing Press CLI
Prerequisites: Install the CLI
This skill drives the dreaming-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 dreaming --cli-only - Verify:
dreaming-pp-cli --version - Ensure the reported install directory is on
$PATHfor the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill.
If the npx install fails before this CLI has a public-library category, install Node or use the category-specific Go fallback after publish.
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.
Dreaming's web app shows your hours but won't plan, search, or bulk-import for you, and the community's features are scattered across a dozen browser extensions and scripts. This CLI unifies them into one agent-native tool backed by a local SQLite mirror of your catalog, daily series, and external-hours log - so next picks your next video offline, external import clears a CSV backlog in one shot, and roadmap lays out the whole L1-L7 fluency ladder with personalized ETAs.
When to Use This CLI
Use the Dreaming CLI for any task about a learner's comprehensible-input progress on Dreaming Spanish or French: checking hours and pace toward a fluency level, picking the next right-level video, searching the catalog by topic/guide/dialect, logging or bulk-importing external listening time, and analyzing whether consumed difficulty is trending up. It is the right tool whenever the question involves the hours-based roadmap or the leveled video catalog.
Unique Capabilities
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
Roadmap intelligence
next— Get the next unwatched videos tuned to where you are on the fluency roadmap, sorted by fine-grained difficulty.Reach for this instead of scrolling the catalog when an agent needs the single right-level, not-yet-watched video to recommend.
dreaming next --limit 5 --agentdiet— See whether the difficulty of what you actually watch is trending up over a window - the real signal that you're ready to level up.Use this to answer 'is this learner actually progressing, or stuck rewatching easy content?'
dreaming diet --window 90d --agentroadmap— The whole L1-L7 ladder with comprehensible-input advisories (speaking, reading, native milestones) and personalized calendar ETAs in one view.Reach for this when the question is 'where am I on the path to fluency and when do I hit the next milestone?'
dreaming roadmap --agent
External-hours logging
external import— Import a backlog of outside listening/watching hours from a CSV in one command instead of dozens of web-form clicks.Use this whenever a learner has weeks of un-logged podcast/Netflix time to reconcile in bulk.
dreaming external import backlog.csv --preview
Local state that compounds
transcript— Fetch a video's captions as clean, timestamp-free plain text (and cache the cue-level transcript).Pick this when an agent needs to read or summarize what a single video actually says rather than just its title and tags.
dreaming transcript 5f3a1b2c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e --agentconcordance— Search every cached transcript for a word, phrase, regex, or verb-tense pattern and get each hit in context with the video, level, guide, and timestamp.Reach for this to find real, level-appropriate examples of a word or grammar form in context - the core ritual of grammar-in-context study.
dreaming concordance --tense subjunctive-imperfect --level intermediate --agent
HTTP Transport
This CLI uses Chrome-compatible HTTP transport for browser-facing endpoints. It does not require a resident browser process for normal API calls.
Command Reference
day-watched-time — Manage day watched time
dreaming-pp-cli day-watched-time— List per-day on-platform watch time
external-time — Manage external time
dreaming-pp-cli external-time add— Log an external input-time entrydreaming-pp-cli external-time delete— Delete an external input-time entry by iddreaming-pp-cli external-time list— List your external (outside-platform) input-time log entries
inspect-external-video — Manage inspect external video
dreaming-pp-cli inspect-external-video— Resolve a YouTube URL for external-time logging
playlist — Manage playlist
dreaming-pp-cli playlist— List your watched-video playlist
sign-in — Manage sign in
dreaming-pp-cli sign-in— Exchange email/password for a bearer token
user — Manage user
dreaming-pp-cli user— Get your account stats (hours, daily goal, subscription)
video — Manage video
dreaming-pp-cli video— Get a single video's metadata, captions, and stream sources
videos — Manage videos
dreaming-pp-cli videos— List the video catalog
Finding the right command
When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:
dreaming-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.
Recipes
Plan to a deadline
dreaming plan --target 600h --by 2026-12-31
Back-solves the daily minutes you need to reach 600 hours (L5, speaking recommended) by a date.
Find the next video, agent-friendly
dreaming next --limit 5 --agent
Returns the next unwatched, level-appropriate videos as structured JSON for an agent to recommend.
Narrow a large catalog payload
dreaming next --level beginner --dialect rioplatense --agent --select title,guide,difficulty
The picker returns verbose video records; --select trims each to just the fields an agent needs.
Break down watched hours by teacher
dreaming stats by-guide --agent
Aggregates your watched videos per guide from the local store as structured JSON.
Check readiness to level up
dreaming diet --window 90d --agent
Shows whether the difficulty of what you actually watched is climbing over the last 90 days.
Read a video's transcript
dreaming transcript 5f3a1b2c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e
Fetches the inline captions and prints clean, timestamp-free text an agent can read or summarize.
Resolve a downloadable stream
dreaming download 5f3a1b2c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e
Prints the signed HLS URL and a ready ffmpeg command; add --exec to download when ffmpeg is installed.
Find a verb tense in real content
dreaming concordance --tense subjunctive-imperfect --level beginner
After 'transcript sync', returns level-appropriate sentences using the imperfect subjunctive, each with its video and timestamp.
Concordance a specific word
dreaming concordance "entonces" --agent --select context,video_title,timestamp
Keyword-in-context hits for a word across the whole corpus as structured JSON for an agent.
Auth Setup
Dreaming has no official API. Authenticate with your account bearer token: copy it from your browser's localStorage 'token' key on app.dreaming.com (run dreaming auth setup for the steps), then run dreaming auth set-token <token> or set DREAMING_TOKEN. You can also exchange email/password for a token with sign-in. Tokens expire periodically - re-run auth set-token (or re-export DREAMING_TOKEN) when you hit a 401.
Run dreaming-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:dreaming-pp-cli day-watched-time --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:
dreaming-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive"
dreaming-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt
dreaming-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10
Entries are stored locally at ~/.local/share/dreaming-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl. They are never POSTed unless DREAMING_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or DREAMING_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.
dreaming-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
dreaming-pp-cli --profile briefing day-watched-time
dreaming-pp-cli profile list --json
dreaming-pp-cli profile show briefing
dreaming-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→ showdreaming-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 binary from this CLI's published public-library entry or pre-built release, then register it:
claude mcp add dreaming-pp-mcp -- dreaming-pp-mcp
Verify: claude mcp list
Direct Use
- Check if installed:
which dreaming-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:dreaming-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent - If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help:
dreaming-pp-cli <command> --help.