pp-boardgamegeek

Boardgamegeek — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the boardgamegeek-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:

   npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install boardgamegeek --cli-only
   

2. Verify: boardgamegeek-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 1.26.5 or newer). This installs into $GOPATH/bin (default $HOME/go/bin), so add that directory to $PATH instead:

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/boardgamegeek/cmd/boardgamegeek-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.

BoardGameGeek's official XMLAPI2 (https://boardgamegeek.com/xmlapi2), the canonical database for board games, RPGs, and video games. Every endpoint returns XML; the generated client normalizes it to JSON so --json/--select and MCP tools work like any JSON API.

Authorization: as of 2025-07-02 BGG requires a registered application and an Authorization: Bearer header on every request (register at https://boardgamegeek.com/applications, then create a token). Requests go to boardgamegeek.com (no leading www).

Scope: read-only lookup across the BGG taste graph — search, full game/thing detail with stats and rankings, the live "hot" list, user profiles, user game collections, logged plays, families, and guilds. No write/mutating endpoints.

Quirk worth knowing: collection (and occasionally thing/plays) can answer with HTTP 202 and a "your request is queued, retry shortly" body the first time a large query is requested; repeat the call until the data is returned.

When Not to Use This CLI

Do not activate this CLI for requests that require creating, updating, deleting, publishing, commenting, upvoting, inviting, ordering, sending messages, booking, purchasing, or changing remote state. This printed CLI exposes read-only commands for inspection, export, sync, and analysis.

Command Reference

collection — A user's owned/rated/wishlisted game collection

• boardgamegeek-pp-cli collection — A user's collection by login name. Filter with the 0/1 status flags (own, rated, played, wishlist, want, trade).

family — Manage family

• boardgamegeek-pp-cli family — A BGG family (a shared series, theme, or IP grouping related things) by id. Comma-separate ids for a batch lookup.

guild — Guild details and membership

• boardgamegeek-pp-cli guild — A BGG guild by id. Set members=1 to include the member roster (paginated with page).

hot — The current BoardGameGeek "Hot" rankings

• boardgamegeek-pp-cli hot — The live BoardGameGeek Hot list. type selects the ranking (boardgame is the default and most common).

plays — Logged play sessions for a user or a game

• boardgamegeek-pp-cli plays — Logged play sessions. Provide username (a user's plays) or id (a game's plays).

searches — Manage searches

• boardgamegeek-pp-cli searches — Full-text search across the BGG database. Returns matching things (id, name, year).

thing — Full detail for one or more things (games, expansions, accessories)

• boardgamegeek-pp-cli thing — Full record for a game/expansion/accessory by id (comma-separate ids for a batch).

user — Public user profiles, buddies, and guild membership

• boardgamegeek-pp-cli user — Public profile for a BGG user by login name.

Finding the right command

When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:

boardgamegeek-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.

Auth Setup

Run boardgamegeek-pp-cli auth setup for the URL and steps to obtain a token (add --launch to open the URL). Then store it:

boardgamegeek-pp-cli auth set-token YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

Or set BGG_TOKEN as an environment variable.

Run boardgamegeek-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:

  boardgamegeek-pp-cli collection --username example-resource --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

• Read-only — do not use this CLI for create, update, delete, publish, comment, upvote, invite, order, send, or other mutating requests

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:

boardgamegeek-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive"
boardgamegeek-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt
boardgamegeek-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10

Entries are stored locally at ~/.local/share/boardgamegeek-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl. They are never POSTed unless BOARDGAMEGEEK_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or BOARDGAMEGEEK_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:

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.

boardgamegeek-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
boardgamegeek-pp-cli --profile briefing collection --username example-resource
boardgamegeek-pp-cli profile list --json
boardgamegeek-pp-cli profile show briefing
boardgamegeek-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

Argument Parsing

Parse $ARGUMENTS:

1. Empty, help, or --help → show boardgamegeek-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:

   go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/boardgamegeek/cmd/boardgamegeek-pp-mcp@latest
   

2. Register with Claude Code:

   claude mcp add boardgamegeek-pp-mcp -- boardgamegeek-pp-mcp
   

3. Verify: claude mcp list

Direct Use

1. Check if installed: which boardgamegeek-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:

   boardgamegeek-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent
   

4. If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help: boardgamegeek-pp-cli <command> --help.