pp-world-bank

World Bank — Printing Press CLI

Prerequisites: Install the CLI

This skill drives the world-bank-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. It defaults binaries to $HOME/.local/bin on macOS/Linux and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin on Windows:
```
npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install world-bank --cli-only
```
Verify: world-bank-pp-cli --version
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 1.26.4 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/other/world-bank/cmd/world-bank-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 CLI for the World Bank Open Data API. Mirrors the ~16,000-indicator catalog and observations into local SQLite for offline search, then adds cross-country compare, rankings, trend stats, and pipeline exports the Python wrappers and MCP shims don't offer. No API key — World Bank is fully public.

When to Use This CLI

Reach for this CLI when an agent or script needs World Bank development indicators: GDP, population, emissions, poverty, health, education time-series; cross-country comparisons; or rankings. It is ideal for data-pipeline extracts and offline indicator discovery.

Anti-triggers

Do not use this CLI for:

Real-time market/financial prices (use a markets API)
US-specific Federal Reserve series (use FRED)
Sub-national or city-level data not in World Bank indicators

Unique Capabilities

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

Offline catalog

indicators find — Search the full ~16,000-indicator catalog by keyword in a single call.

Agents discover the exact indicator code before fetching values, in one local call.
```
world-bank-pp-cli indicators find "co2 emissions" --json
```

Local joins

compare — Line up one indicator across many countries in a single aligned table with deltas vs a baseline.

One call answers 'how do these economies compare' without N separate fetches.
```
world-bank-pp-cli compare NY.GDP.MKTP.CD USA,CHN,IND --date 2024 --agent
```
trend — CAGR, year-over-year change, min/max/latest for one country+indicator series.

Agents get the trajectory summary directly instead of parsing decades of rows.
```
world-bank-pp-cli trend USA NY.GDP.MKTP.CD --window 10 --agent
```
rank — Rank all economies by an indicator for a year, filtered by region or income level.

Find leaders/laggards on any indicator in one call.
```
world-bank-pp-cli rank NY.GDP.PCAP.CD --year 2024 --top 10 --income HIC --agent
```

Data pipeline

export — Bulk country x indicator pull emitted as pipeline-ready wide or long CSV.

Drops straight into notebooks, sheets, and ETL without reshaping.
```
world-bank-pp-cli export USA,CHN NY.GDP.MKTP.CD,SP.POP.TOTL --wide --csv
```
data diff — Compare a fresh pull against the last synced snapshot to surface revised observations.

Detect World Bank data revisions between vintages automatically.
```
world-bank-pp-cli data diff USA NY.GDP.MKTP.CD --agent
```

Command Reference

countries — Economies (countries and aggregates) with region, income level, lending type

world-bank-pp-cli countries get — Get one economy by ISO code (e.g. USA, BRA)
world-bank-pp-cli countries list — List economies

data — Indicator observations (the time-series). Polished output via hand-authored fetch.

world-bank-pp-cli data <country> <indicator> — Fetch indicator observations for one or more countries (raw envelope)

income_levels — Income level classifications

world-bank-pp-cli income-levels — List income levels

indicators — The ~16,000 indicator catalog (series definitions)

world-bank-pp-cli indicators get — Get indicator metadata by code (e.g. NY.GDP.MKTP.CD)
world-bank-pp-cli indicators list — List indicators

lending_types — Lending type classifications

world-bank-pp-cli lending-types — List lending types

regions — Regions

world-bank-pp-cli regions — List regions

sources — Data sources (e.g. World Development Indicators)

world-bank-pp-cli sources — List data sources

topics — Topics (e.g. Health, Education) and their indicators

world-bank-pp-cli topics indicators — List indicators under a topic
world-bank-pp-cli topics list — List topics

Finding the right command

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

world-bank-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

Find then fetch

world-bank-pp-cli indicators find "life expectancy" --json --select id,name

Discover the code, then pass it to data fetch.

Compact cross-country GDP

world-bank-pp-cli compare NY.GDP.MKTP.CD USA,CHN,IND,DEU --date 2024 --agent --select country.value,date,value

Narrow a deeply nested response to just the fields that matter.

Top economies by GDP per capita

world-bank-pp-cli rank NY.GDP.PCAP.CD --year 2024 --top 10 --income HIC

Rank and filter in one call.

Pipeline export

world-bank-pp-cli export USA,CHN NY.GDP.MKTP.CD,SP.POP.TOTL --wide --csv

Wide CSV ready for a notebook.

Auth Setup

No authentication required.

Run world-bank-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:
```
world-bank-pp-cli countries 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.

Agent Feedback

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

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

Entries are stored locally at ~/.local/share/world-bank-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl. They are never POSTed unless WORLD_BANK_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or WORLD_BANK_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.

world-bank-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
world-bank-pp-cli --profile briefing countries list
world-bank-pp-cli profile list --json
world-bank-pp-cli profile show briefing
world-bank-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:

Empty, help, or --help → show world-bank-pp-cli --help output
Starts with install → ends with mcp → MCP installation; otherwise → see Prerequisites above
Anything else → Direct Use (execute as CLI command with --agent)

MCP Server Installation

Install the MCP server:

go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/other/world-bank/cmd/world-bank-pp-mcp@latest

claude mcp add world-bank-pp-mcp -- world-bank-pp-mcp

Verify: claude mcp list

Direct Use

Check if installed: which world-bank-pp-cli If 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 --agent flag:

world-bank-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent

If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help: world-bank-pp-cli <command> --help.