Goodlinksctl

GoodLinksCTL

Use the installed goodlinksctl command to work with the user's GoodLinks library. GoodLinksCTL is an unofficial client for the local GoodLinks API. The GoodLinks app must be installed and its API Server must be enabled.

Install this skill

Install the CLI first:

uv tool install git+https://github.com/viticci/GoodLinksCTL.git

Then copy this file into the skills directory used by the agent. For Codex:

mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills/goodlinksctl
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/viticci/GoodLinksCTL/main/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.codex/skills/goodlinksctl/SKILL.md

Restart the agent session after installing or updating the skill.

First checks

Run:

goodlinksctl doctor --json
goodlinksctl auth status --verify --json

doctor requires GoodLinks 3.2 or later. If no credential is configured, ask whether the user wants to configure one. Only after explicit authorization, ask the user to copy the token from GoodLinks Settings > API and pipe it into:

pbpaste | goodlinksctl setup --stdin

Never print the token, put it in a command argument, write it to a file, or include it in logs. Persistent storage belongs in macOS Keychain. For a one-shot call, pass it through stdin with global --token-stdin; for a command that also consumes stdin, use GOODLINKS_TOKEN instead.

Authorization boundary

Read, search, inspect, and export to stdout by default. Require explicit user authorization before any action that changes GoodLinks or the filesystem, including:

• adding, upserting, updating, tagging, marking read, starring, or deleting a link;
• changing a highlight note;
• using --save, --force, auth set, auth delete, setup, or credential rotation;
• creating a live scratch record for testing;
• deleting a scratch record, even if this agent created it.

Authorization for one mutation does not authorize later mutations. Never infer permission from a general request to inspect or troubleshoot the library.

Agent defaults

• Add --json for reads, mutations, doctor, and auth checks.
• Use --all-pages only when the request covers the whole library. It has a 100,000-item safety cap; use --max-items to choose a lower cap.
• Batch stdin accepts at most 10,000 items and 16 MiB in total. Split larger jobs and verify each completed batch.
• Address existing records by exact IDs returned by GoodLinksCTL. Use links get --url when an exact saved URL is the known identifier.
• Repeated --tag filters are OR conditions because that is the official API behavior.
• Treat exit 7 as a partial result. Inspect every element in results or preflight; do not report the batch as successful.
• Use goodlinksctl schema NAME when a consumer needs a machine-readable contract.
• Plain HTTP is valid only for a loopback API URL. Remote origins require HTTPS.

Read workflows

Whole library:

goodlinksctl --json links list --all-pages --limit 250

Search and filter:

goodlinksctl --json links list \
  --search 'shortcuts' \
  --tag apple \
  --read false \
  --sort newestSaved \
  --all-pages

Get exact records:

goodlinksctl --json links get LINK_ID
goodlinksctl --json links get --url 'https://example.com/article'
printf '%s\n' LINK_ID_1 LINK_ID_2 | goodlinksctl --json links get --stdin

Lists, tags, and highlights:

goodlinksctl --json lists list
goodlinksctl --json lists query unread --all-pages
goodlinksctl --json tags list
goodlinksctl --json highlights list --link-id LINK_ID --all-pages

Exports go to stdout unless --save is provided:

goodlinksctl links content LINK_ID --format markdown
goodlinksctl highlights export LINK_ID

Use --save only after the user authorizes the exact path. Do not add --force unless replacing that exact path is also authorized.

Authorized mutation workflows

After explicit user authorization, create or upsert:

goodlinksctl --json links add 'https://example.com' --title Example --tag research

Batch add accepts newline-delimited URLs with shared flags or JSONL with per-item fields:

printf '%s\n' 'https://one.example' 'https://two.example' \
  | goodlinksctl --json links add --stdin --tag research

goodlinksctl --json links add --stdin-jsonl < links.jsonl

Update only the fields the user authorized:

goodlinksctl --json links update LINK_ID --starred --add-tag favorite
goodlinksctl --json links update --stdin-jsonl < updates.jsonl
goodlinksctl --json highlights update HIGHLIGHT_ID --note 'Key idea'

For a live mutation test, first obtain authorization to create and later delete specific scratch records. Use an unmistakable GoodLinksCTL Scratch title and a unique URL. Record the returned IDs and verify every mutation by fetching those exact IDs. Do not create or clean up scratch data without authorization.

Authorized delete protocol

Deletion moves links to GoodLinks trash. Never infer IDs from titles, positions, or stale output.

1. Confirm that the user explicitly authorized deletion of the exact records.
2. Resolve their exact IDs with a fresh read.
3. Run the identical set through --dry-run.
4. Check every preflight row and require summary.failed to be zero.
5. Run again with --yes only if the authorized set is unchanged.
6. Verify the response and that those IDs are no longer addressable.

goodlinksctl --json links delete LINK_ID --dry-run
goodlinksctl --json links delete LINK_ID --yes

Do not use --allow-partial unless the user explicitly accepts deleting the valid subset when another ID fails preflight.

Errors

JSON errors are on stderr as { "ok": false, "error": { ... } }. Preserve stderr and the process exit status; do not turn a nonzero command into success because stdout contains partial data.

Use goodlinksctl help COMMAND ... for the live command surface. The complete written reference is at https://github.com/viticci/GoodLinksCTL/blob/main/docs/commands.md.