# Pp Postman Explore > The CLI for the public API directory at postman.com/explore — search, rank, and watch community-contributed Postman Collections, agent-native and offline. Trigger phrases: `find a postman collection for`, `what postman collection should i fork for`, `is there a postman collection for`, `browse postman api network`, `compare postman publishers`, `what changed on the postman network`, `use postman-explore`, `run postman-explore`. - Skill: `mvanhorn-printing-press-libra/pp-postman-explore` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add mvanhorn-printing-press-libra/pp-postman-explore` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/mvanhorn-printing-press-libra/pp-postman-explore/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - License: Apache-2.0 - Author: mvanhorn (https://skillmd.com/u/mvanhorn-printing-press-libra) - Updated: 2026-09-09 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/mvanhorn-printing-press-libra/pp-postman-explore --- # Postman Explore — Printing Press CLI ## Prerequisites: Install the CLI This skill drives the `postman-explore-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 `$HOME/.local/bin` on macOS/Linux and `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin` on Windows: ```bash npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install postman-explore --cli-only ``` 2. Verify: `postman-explore-pp-cli --version` 3. Ensure the reported install directory is on `$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/developer-tools/postman-explore/cmd/postman-explore-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 Pick this CLI when you need to programmatically discover, compare, or watch community-contributed Postman Collections / workspaces / APIs / flows. Ideal for AI agents asked to find a canonical Postman Collection for a vendor, for API curators comparing publishers in a category, and for monitoring scripts that watch network changes. Skip this CLI for managing your own private Postman workspace — that's the authenticated Postman product API, which is a different surface entirely. ## Unique Capabilities These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API. ### Discovery that compounds locally - **`canonical`** — One command finds the best community Postman Collection for a vendor, ranked by publisher verification, fork count, and recency. _When the user asks an agent for a vendor's Postman Collection, this returns the best canonical choice in one call instead of forcing the agent to dedupe a search result list._ ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli canonical stripe --json ``` - **`top`** — Rank entities by any metric (weekForks, monthViewCount, etc.) with category and entity-type narrowing. _When agents need to recommend the most-forked collections THIS week, not the all-time leaders, this is the only path that works._ ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli top --metric weekForkCount --type collection --category payments --limit 10 ``` - **`similar`** — Given an entity numeric id, return collections with overlapping name, summary, and category — ranked by FTS relevance score against the seed entity's text. _When an integrator finds one collection but wants to compare against alternatives, this returns the rivals in one call rather than forcing a fresh search._ ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli similar 10289 --limit 5 --json ``` ### Comparative analysis - **`publishers top`** — Aggregate fork counts across every entity per publisher within a category; rank teams by total community gravity. _API curators picking between vendors need cross-publisher comparison. Agents recommending an integration partner need this to break ties._ ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli publishers top --category developer-productivity --limit 5 --json ``` - **`category landscape`** — For a category slug, return: total entity counts per type, top 5 publishers by aggregate fork count, and top 5 entities by viewCount. One command, one structured payload. _API curators evaluating a vertical (payments, AI, devops) want one snapshot of who dominates and what's popular; this is exactly that snapshot._ ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli category landscape payments --json ``` ### Time-windowed signals - **`drift`** — Report locally synced entities whose API-side `updatedAt` timestamp falls inside a time window. _Agents tracking recently updated vendor collections rely on this after a periodic `sync`; it is an updated-within-window view, not a two-snapshot removed-entity diff._ ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli drift --since 7d --type collection --json ``` - **`velocity`** — Rank collections by acceleration ratio: (weekForkCount × 4) / monthForkCount. Surfaces collections breaking out before they top the popular list. _Catching a breakout collection before it tops the popular sort is high-value for API curators tracking emerging vendors._ ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli velocity --type collection --top 10 ``` ### Quality signals - **`browse`** — When passed --verified-only, the browse command filters to entities owned by publishers with the verified-team flag set. _When you want only the official-vendor collections (not community forks), this is the cleanest filter._ ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli browse collection --verified-only --category payments --json --limit 5 ``` ## 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. ## Discovery Signals This CLI was generated with browser-observed traffic context. - Capture coverage: 17 API entries from 24 total network entries - Protocols: rest_json (60% confidence), rpc_envelope (95% confidence) - Auth signals: none - Generation hints: client_pattern:proxy-envelope, uses_browser_http_transport, no_auth_required, skip_clearance_cookie - Emitted command surface: browse; networkentity get-network-entity; networkentity get-network-entity-counts; category list-categories; category get; team get-workspaces; team get; search-all ## Command Reference **category** — Manage category - `postman-explore-pp-cli category get` — Returns full details for a category by its URL slug (e.g., `artificial-intelligence`, `developer-productivity`,... - `postman-explore-pp-cli category list-categories` — Returns all categories used to organize the API network (e.g., AI, E-commerce, Communication, DevOps). Categories... **networkentity** — Manage networkentity - `postman-explore-pp-cli networkentity get-network-entity` — Returns full entity record by internal numeric id (the `id` field from `listNetworkEntities`, NOT the `entityId` UUID). - `postman-explore-pp-cli networkentity get-network-entity-counts` — Returns aggregate counts across the entire public API network: collections, workspaces, APIs, flows, notebooks,... - `postman-explore-pp-cli networkentity list-network-entities` — List public collections, workspaces, APIs, or flows. Supports category filtering, pagination, and minimum-fork... **search-all** — Manage search all - `postman-explore-pp-cli search-all` — Search collections, workspaces, requests, flows, and teams by free-text query. With no `queryIndices` set, the... **team** — Publisher teams on the API network - `postman-explore-pp-cli team get` — Returns small profile object (id, name, description, publicHandle, profileURL, createdAt, updatedAt) for a team by... - `postman-explore-pp-cli team get-workspaces` — Returns the array of public workspaces owned by a team identified by its `publicHandle` (e.g., `stripedev`,... ### Finding the right command When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly: ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli which "" ``` `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 ### Find Stripe's official collection ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli canonical stripe --json --select id,name,publisher.publicHandle,metrics.forkCount ``` The canonical command picks the verified-publisher, highest-fork-count match and narrows the JSON to the four fields agents actually need. ### Compare top payments publishers ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli publishers top --category payments --limit 5 --json ``` Aggregate fork counts across each publisher's full portfolio in the payments category. ### What changed on the network this week ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli sync --resources collection,workspace,api,flow,category && postman-explore-pp-cli drift --since 7d --type collection --json ``` Sync, then query the local store for collections whose API-side `updatedAt` falls inside the requested window. ### Browse top developer-productivity collections, narrow to verified publishers ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli browse collection --category 4 --verified-only --limit 10 --json --select name,publisher.publicHandle,metrics.viewCount,redirectURL ``` Use --select with dotted paths to avoid pulling the full ~5 KB metric array per record — keeps output small for agent context. ### Find accelerating collections in payments ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli velocity --type collection --category payments --top 10 ``` Velocity ranks by week-vs-month fork rate, surfacing collections that are breaking out before they top the all-time popular list. ### Find collections similar to a seed ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli similar 10289 --limit 5 --json ``` More-like-this query against the local FTS index — useful for discovering rival or complementary community collections. ### Get a category-wide snapshot ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli category landscape payments --json ``` Combines per-type counts, top publishers, and top entities for a category in one structured payload. ## Auth Setup No authentication required. Run `postman-explore-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 postman-explore-pp-cli category get mock-value --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 ### 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": } ``` 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: ``` postman-explore-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive" postman-explore-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt postman-explore-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10 ``` Entries are stored locally at `~/.postman-explore-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl`. They are never POSTed unless `POSTMAN_EXPLORE_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT` is set AND either `--send` is passed or `POSTMAN_EXPLORE_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 `. 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:` | Atomically write output to `` (tmp + rename) | | `webhook:` | 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. ``` postman-explore-pp-cli profile save briefing --json postman-explore-pp-cli --profile briefing category get mock-value postman-explore-pp-cli profile list --json postman-explore-pp-cli profile show briefing postman-explore-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 | | 5 | API error (upstream issue) | | 7 | Rate limited (wait and retry) | | 10 | Config error | ## Argument Parsing Parse `$ARGUMENTS`: 1. **Empty, `help`, or `--help`** → show `postman-explore-pp-cli --help` output 2. **Starts with `install`** → ends with `mcp` → MCP installation; otherwise → see Prerequisites above 3. **Anything else** → Direct Use (execute as CLI command with `--agent`) ## MCP Server Installation 1. Install the MCP server: ```bash go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/developer-tools/postman-explore/cmd/postman-explore-pp-mcp@latest ``` 2. Register with Claude Code: ```bash claude mcp add postman-explore-pp-mcp -- postman-explore-pp-mcp ``` 3. Verify: `claude mcp list` ## Direct Use 1. Check if installed: `which postman-explore-pp-cli` If not found, offer to install (see Prerequisites at the top of this skill). 2. Match the user query to the best command from the Unique Capabilities and Command Reference above. 3. Execute with the `--agent` flag: ```bash postman-explore-pp-cli [subcommand] [args] --agent ``` 4. If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help: `postman-explore-pp-cli --help`.