ShipsGo — Printing Press CLI
Prerequisites: Install the CLI
This skill drives the shipsgo-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:
npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install shipsgo --cli-only - Verify:
shipsgo-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 1.26.6 or newer):
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/commerce/shipsgo/cmd/shipsgo-pp-cli@latest
If --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.
shipsgo wraps the full ShipsGo v2 API (ocean + air, 16 endpoints, all CRUD verbs) and layers on top a freight-RFQ workflow that lives entirely in your local SQLite store. Use rfq compare to score carriers against your own shipment history, eta-drift to catch slipping voyages before customers do, and credit-budget to never burn a free-tier credit on a duplicate container.
When to Use This CLI
Use shipsgo whenever an agent is asked to evaluate, monitor, or report on freight shipments tracked through ShipsGo. It is the right tool for RFQ comparison (carrier scoring on real shipment history), ETA drift watches, port/lane analytics, and unified ocean+air shipment views. It is NOT the right tool for booking new shipments with carriers (use a TMS) or for parcel/last-mile shipping (use Shippo or ShipEngine).
Unique Capabilities
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
RFQ workflow
rfq new— Create, populate, and inspect an RFQ workspace that groups multiple tracked shipments under one quote slug.Reach for this when an agent needs to evaluate a freight quote against actual shipments — the RFQ slug becomes the join key for compare, digest, and follower fan-out.
shipsgo-pp-cli rfq new Q3-LCL-Asia --lane SHA-LAX --carriers COSCO,ONE,MSCrfq compare— For one RFQ slug, group its shipments by carrier and emit mean actual transit days, ETA-vs-actual delta, and shipment count.This is the literal RFQ question: which carrier actually performs best on this lane. Use when an agent has to pick or recommend a carrier from a quote.
shipsgo-pp-cli rfq compare Q3-LCL-Asia --format md --agentdigest— Emit a structured table of shipment id, last milestone, current ETA, and ETA-delta since last digest, scoped to an RFQ or a time window.Use Friday afternoons to assemble the importer's weekly status update without screenshotting the dashboard.
shipsgo-pp-cli digest --rfq Q3-LCL-Asia --since 7d --format mdfollowers-broadcast— Add or remove one follower email across every shipment in an RFQ in one command, gated by credit-budget and --dry-run.Use when a new stakeholder joins an RFQ — saves dozens of dashboard clicks.
shipsgo-pp-cli followers-broadcast Q3-LCL-Asia importer@example.com --dry-run
Analytics
lane stats— Across all locally tracked shipments on an origin→destination lane, report p50/p90 transit days with per-carrier breakdown.Lane analytics are paywalled on commercial alternatives (Freightify, GoComet). Use when planning carrier mix on a specific port pair.
shipsgo-pp-cli lane stats SHA LAX --since 90d --jsoneta-drift— List shipments whose ETA shifted by more than N days since the last sync — sorted by drift magnitude.Drift is the earliest signal of voyage trouble. Use as a watch query before customer-facing status digests.
shipsgo-pp-cli eta-drift --threshold 2 --since 7d --jsonreliability— Median(actual_delivery − original_eta) and on-time percentage for a carrier, optionally scoped to a specific lane.This is the single number that should decide every RFQ. Use when ranking carriers in a quote response.
shipsgo-pp-cli reliability COSCO --lane SHA-LAX --json
Reachability mitigation
credit-budget— Read ShipsGo X-RateLimit-* headers from the last response, combine with local dedupe state, and refuse new POSTs when the reserve would be breached.Free tier is 3 credits and the rate limit is 100/min collective. Use before any batch POST loop.
shipsgo-pp-cli credit-budget --reserve 5 --jsondupe-check— Look up a container number or AWB in the local store and exit non-zero with the existing shipment id if already tracked.Use in any script that may POST a new shipment — saves a credit on every re-run.
shipsgo-pp-cli dupe-check MSCU1234567 --json
Local state that compounds
book— Single view across ocean + air shipments, filterable by ETA window, status, tag, port, or carrier — backed by FTS5 and local indices.Replaces the dashboard's daily 'what's arriving this week' query with a sub-second, agent-pipeable command.
shipsgo-pp-cli book --eta-within 7d --status sailing --jsonwebhook tail— Tail the locally stored webhook_events table chronologically; supports --since, --shipment, and --watch.Use to audit milestone history when a customer disputes an ETA change.
shipsgo-pp-cli webhook tail --since 24h --shipment ship_abc123 --json
Command Reference
air — Manage air
shipsgo-pp-cli air create— This endpoint allows you to create a new shipment by providing the necessary shipment details.shipsgo-pp-cli air create-shipments— This endpoint allows users to add a new follower to an existing air shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli air create-shipments-2— This endpoint allows users to add a tag to an existing air shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli air delete— This endpoint allows users to delete an existing air shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli air delete-shipments— This endpoint allows users to remove an existing follower from an existing air shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli air delete-shipments-2— This endpoint allows users to remove an existing tag from an existing air shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli air get— This endpoint retrieves the details of an existing air shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli air get-shipments— This endpoint provides a GeoJSON FeatureCollection with all map-related data for a shipment, including airport locationsshipsgo-pp-cli air list— The shipments list endpoint allows you to retrieve a list of airlines.shipsgo-pp-cli air list-shipments— The shipments list endpoint allows you to retrieve a list of your shipments (basic information).shipsgo-pp-cli air update— This endpoint allows users to update the fields of an existing air shipment.
ocean — Manage ocean
shipsgo-pp-cli ocean create— This endpoint allows you to create a new shipment by providing the necessary shipment details.shipsgo-pp-cli ocean create-shipments— This endpoint allows users to add a new follower to an existing ocean shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli ocean create-shipments-2— This endpoint allows users to add a tag to an existing ocean shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli ocean delete— This endpoint allows users to delete an existing ocean shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli ocean delete-shipments— This endpoint allows users to remove an existing follower from an existing ocean shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli ocean delete-shipments-2— This endpoint allows users to remove an existing tag from an existing ocean shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli ocean get— This endpoint retrieves the details of an existing ocean shipment.shipsgo-pp-cli ocean get-shipments— This endpoint provides a GeoJSON FeatureCollection with all map-related data for a shipment, including port locationsshipsgo-pp-cli ocean list— The shipments list endpoint allows you to retrieve a list of carriers.shipsgo-pp-cli ocean list-shipments— The shipments list endpoint allows you to retrieve a list of your shipments (basic information)shipsgo-pp-cli ocean update— This endpoint allows users to update the fields of an existing ocean shipment.
Finding the right command
When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:
shipsgo-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
Score an RFQ before accepting a quote
shipsgo-pp-cli rfq compare Q3-LCL-Asia --json --select carrier,mean_transit_days,on_time_pct,sample_size
Returns one row per carrier in the RFQ; the on_time_pct column ranks them.
Pre-flight before posting a new container
shipsgo-pp-cli dupe-check MSCU1234567 --json
Exit code 3 means already tracked locally. Wrap your batch POST loops with this guard to save free-tier credits.
Catch slipping voyages each morning
shipsgo-pp-cli eta-drift --threshold 2 --since 24h --agent --select shipment_id,container,old_eta,new_eta,drift_days
Lists only shipments whose ETA shifted ≥ 2 days since yesterday — narrowed to the columns an agent actually needs for an alert.
Lane health check for a customer call
shipsgo-pp-cli lane stats SHA LAX --since 90d --json
Returns p50/p90 transit days plus per-carrier breakdown for the SHA→LAX lane over the last quarter.
Auth Setup
Authenticate by setting SHIPSGO_USER_TOKEN to an API token created at shipsgo.com/dashboard/air/integrations/api-tokens. The token sits in a single X-Shipsgo-User-Token header on every request — no OAuth, no refresh flow. Use shipsgo-pp-cli doctor to confirm the token is loaded and reachable.
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:shipsgo-pp-cli air list --agent --select id,name,statusPreviewable —
--dry-runshows the request without sendingNon-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
Agent Feedback
When you (or the agent) notice something off about this CLI, record it:
shipsgo-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive"
shipsgo-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt
shipsgo-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10
Entries are stored locally at ~/.local/share/shipsgo-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl. They are never POSTed unless SHIPSGO_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or SHIPSGO_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.
shipsgo-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
shipsgo-pp-cli --profile briefing air list
shipsgo-pp-cli profile list --json
shipsgo-pp-cli profile show briefing
shipsgo-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→ showshipsgo-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 shipsgo-pp-mcp -- shipsgo-pp-mcp
Verify: claude mcp list
Direct Use
- Check if installed:
which shipsgo-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:shipsgo-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent - If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help:
shipsgo-pp-cli <command> --help.