pp-pexels

Pexels — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the pexels-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 pexels --cli-only
   

2. Verify: pexels-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/pexels/cmd/pexels-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.

A single binary for the full Pexels API: search and curated photos, video search and popular feeds, and collections including your own. It mirrors results into a local SQLite store so you can re-search offline, dedup downloads across sessions, forecast your rate budget, pick the best-fit resolution for a target, and export license-compliant attribution in one command.

When to Use This CLI

Use this CLI when an agent or script needs stock photos or video b-roll from Pexels with deterministic JSON output, license-compliant attribution, and rate-budget awareness. It is the right choice for repeated or bulk media harvesting, re-finding previously pulled media offline, and picking exact resolutions for known media ids.

Anti-triggers

Do not use this CLI for:

• Do not use this CLI to upload, like, or modify content on Pexels — the API is strictly read-only.
• Do not use it as a wallpaper app or to replicate Pexels' core browsing experience; Pexels' guidelines forbid that and gate such clients.
• Do not use it for non-Pexels stock sources (Unsplash, Pixabay); it only speaks the Pexels API.

Unique Capabilities

These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.

Rate-limit intelligence

• quota forecast — Check before a bulk pull whether it fits your remaining hourly/monthly Pexels quota, with a reset ETA.

  Reach for this before any large download to avoid burning the 200/hour budget mid-batch.

  pexels-pp-cli quota forecast --resources photos,videos --max-pages 10 --agent
  

Resolution & download intelligence

• resolve — Pick the smallest photo size or video file that meets a target dimension without upscaling.

  Use when you know the media id and need exactly one URL sized for a target, instead of parsing eight src variants.

  pexels-pp-cli resolve 2014422 --target-width 1280 --target-height 720 --agent
  

• download — Bulk-download a query, skipping media already in your ledger and checkpointing each page so a hit quota stops you gracefully.

  Use for repeated or large harvests that must not re-download files or exceed the rate budget.

  pexels-pp-cli download "mountain lake" --type photo --limit 30 --max-pages 3 --size large --sidecar
  

License compliance

• attribution export — Emit a SOURCES.md and per-file .meta.json sidecars crediting every photographer in your local download ledger.

  Reach for this to satisfy Pexels' attribution guideline in one shot rather than hand-building credit lists.

  pexels-pp-cli attribution export --resources photos,videos --csv
  

Local store that compounds

• search — Full-text search media you already synced, with stable ordering and no API call.

  Reach for this to re-find media you pulled earlier instead of spending quota on a fresh live search.

  pexels-pp-cli search "sunset" --type photos --limit 10 --agent --select id,photographer,alt
  

• analytics — Group your synced photos by photographer to review credit balance and licensing coverage.

  Use during a licensing or credit review to see which photographers dominate your pulled set.

  pexels-pp-cli analytics --type photos --group-by photographer --limit 20
  

Command Reference

collections — Browse featured collections, your own collections, and collection media

• pexels-pp-cli collections featured — List Pexels featured collections
• pexels-pp-cli collections list — List the authenticated user's own collections (requires PEXELS_API_KEY)
• pexels-pp-cli collections media — List the media (photos and/or videos) inside a collection

photos — Search, curate, and fetch Pexels photos

• pexels-pp-cli photos curated — Browse the Pexels editor-curated photo feed (use --random for a random page)
• pexels-pp-cli photos get — Get a single photo by its numeric id
• pexels-pp-cli photos search — Search photos by keyword with orientation/size/color/locale filters

videos — Search, browse popular, and fetch Pexels videos

• pexels-pp-cli videos get — Get a single video by its numeric id
• pexels-pp-cli videos popular — Browse popular videos with optional dimension/duration filters
• pexels-pp-cli videos search — Search videos by keyword with orientation/size/locale filters

Finding the right command

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

pexels-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

Agent-native photo search, narrowed

pexels-pp-cli photos search --query "foggy forest" --orientation portrait --per-page 8 --agent --select photos.id,photos.photographer,photos.src.large2x,photos.alt

Returns only the four fields an agent needs from a deeply-nested response, instead of all eight src sizes per photo.

Forecast then harvest

pexels-pp-cli quota forecast --resources photos --max-pages 5 && pexels-pp-cli download "city skyline night" --type photo --limit 50 --max-pages 5 --size large --sidecar

Check the rate budget, then run a dedup-aware bulk pull that writes attribution sidecars.

Best-fit resolution for a known id

pexels-pp-cli resolve 2014422 --target-width 1920 --target-height 1080 --agent

Picks the smallest src/video_file that covers 1080p without upscaling.

Browse your own collections

pexels-pp-cli collections list --per-page 20 --json

Lists the authenticated user's collections — a surface only two ecosystem tools expose.

Re-find synced media offline

pexels-pp-cli sync --resources photos --max-pages 3 && pexels-pp-cli search "sunset" --type photos --limit 10

Mirror a few pages locally, then full-text search them without spending more quota.

Auth Setup

Pexels uses a free API key sent as a raw Authorization: <key> header — there is NO Bearer prefix (the single most common 401 in the ecosystem). Set PEXELS_API_KEY or run pexels-pp-cli auth login. Every request also sends a User-Agent, since Pexels' edge returns 403 to header-less clients.

Run pexels-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:

  pexels-pp-cli collections list --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.

Paths and state

Agents should treat the CLI's path resolver as part of the runtime contract:

• Use --home <dir> for one invocation, or set PEXELS_HOME=<dir> to relocate all four path kinds under one root.

• Use per-kind env vars only when a specific kind must diverge: PEXELS_CONFIG_DIR, PEXELS_DATA_DIR, PEXELS_STATE_DIR, PEXELS_CACHE_DIR.

• Resolution order is per-kind env var, --home, PEXELS_HOME, XDG (XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_STATE_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME), then platform defaults.

• config contains settings like config.toml and profiles. data contains credentials.toml, data.db, cookies, and auth sidecars. state contains persisted queries, jobs, and teach.log. cache contains regenerable HTTP/cache files.

• Stored secrets live in credentials.toml under the data dir. Existing legacy config.toml secrets are read for compatibility and leave config.toml on the first auth write.

• Run pexels-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warn to surface path and credential-location warnings. agent-context exposes a schema v4 paths block for agents that need the resolved dirs.

• For MCP, pass relocation through the MCP host config. The MCP binary does not inherit CLI flags:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "pexels": {
        "command": "pexels-pp-mcp",
        "env": {
          "PEXELS_HOME": "/srv/pexels"
        }
      }
    }
  }
  

Fleet precedence: an inherited per-kind env var overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use PEXELS_HOME or per-kind vars as durable fleet levers, and use --home only for a single invocation. Relocation is not reversible by unsetting env vars; move files manually before clearing PEXELS_HOME, or doctor will not find credentials left under the former root.

Agent Feedback

When you (or the agent) notice something off about this CLI, record it:

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

Entries are stored locally as feedback.jsonl under the resolved data dir. They are never POSTed unless PEXELS_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or PEXELS_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.

pexels-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
pexels-pp-cli --profile briefing collections list
pexels-pp-cli profile list --json
pexels-pp-cli profile show briefing
pexels-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 pexels-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/pexels/cmd/pexels-pp-mcp@latest
   

2. Register with Claude Code:

   claude mcp add pexels-pp-mcp -- pexels-pp-mcp
   

3. Verify: claude mcp list

Direct Use

1. Check if installed: which pexels-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:

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

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