TechSnif — Tech News Intelligence CLI

Query TechSnif tech news intelligence via bundled CLI. Continuously updated articles across AI, Startups, Venture, and Robotics. Use when asked about tech ne...

Security Scan

The skill's declared purpose (a bundled CLI that queries TechSnif's public API) aligns with its requirements and instructions; nothing in the metadata or SKILL.md is disproportionate — but you should review the bundled script before running it since it will execute arbitrary Node.js code.

Purpose & Capability

Name/description say this is a CLI to query TechSnif public news API. The skill provides a bundled Node CLI script and SKILL.md instructs using that script. No unrelated credentials, binaries, or config paths are requested.

Instruction Scope

Runtime instructions are narrow and prescriptive: run the included Node script with specific commands and --json, check the 'ok' field, and use slugs to fetch articles. The SKILL.md does not instruct reading unrelated files, exporting secrets, or contacting unknown endpoints; it identifies api.techsnif.com as the target environment.

Install Mechanism

There is no install spec (lowest install risk). However, the skill includes a ~143 KB bundled CommonJS script (scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs) that will be executed by Node when invoked. Executing bundled third-party code is expected for an npm-based CLI but carries the usual risk that the script could perform network or local operations beyond those documented; the SKILL.md claims no remote downloads.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, no credentials, and no config paths. That is proportional to a public, read-only news CLI.

Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill is user-invocable; it does not request persistent elevated presence or modify other skills' configs. Autonomous invocation (disable-model-invocation false) is the platform default and not a standalone concern.

Assessment

This skill appears coherent: it bundles a Node CLI and the instructions tell the agent how to run it against TechSnif's public API. Before installing or running it, review scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs (or have someone you trust review it) to confirm it only calls the documented API endpoint(s) (api.techsnif.com) and does not access local files, environment variables, or unexpected remote hosts. If you cannot inspect the code yourself, run the CLI in a restricted sandbox/container or with network monitoring to verify its network calls. Because the skill executes bundled JavaScript, treat it like installing any third‑party CLI package and exercise the same caution.

TechSnif CLI

Query TechSnif's public tech news API. No API key needed. CLI is bundled — no remote downloads.

Run: node <skill-path>/scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs <command> [options] --json

Always use --json for structured output. Check ok field before reading data.

Commands

# What's trending right now (default 5, max 20)
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs trending --json
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs trending --category AI --last 24h --limit 10 --json

# Latest articles with filters (default 10, max 50)
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs feed --json
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs feed --category Robotics --limit 5 --json
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs feed --limit 10 --offset 10 --json

# Keyword search (max 50)
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs search "nvidia GPU" --last 7d --limit 5 --json

# Full article by slug (formats: markdown, text, html)
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs article <slug> --format markdown --json

# Topic coverage summary (counts + category/tag breakdown)
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs summary --topic "semiconductors" --last 7d --json

# List valid categories
node scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs categories --json

Categories

Exact values for --category: AI, Startups, Venture, Robotics. Case-sensitive.

See references/categories.md for full descriptions and common tags.

Shared Options

• --last — Time window: 24h, 48h, 7d, 30d
• --limit N — Result count (server caps: trending=20, feed/search=50)
• --offset N — Pagination offset (feed only)
• --category — Filter by category (trending, feed)
• --json — Always include for structured output

Response Envelope

{ "ok": true, "data": { ... }, "targetEnv": "https://api.techsnif.com" }

Errors: { "ok": false, "error": "message" }. Always check ok first.

Listing commands (trending, feed, search) return articles with content: "". Use article <slug> for full content.

Workflows

"What's happening in AI?" → trending --category AI --last 24h --json

"Any news about [company]?" → search "[company]" --last 7d --json

"Full story on [headline]" → Get slug from trending/feed/search → article <slug> --format markdown --json

"Summarize [topic] this week" → summary --topic "[topic]" --last 7d --json for overview → feed or search for articles → article for top 2-3 full texts → synthesize

"Research [topic] for a newsletter/briefing" → search "[topic]" --last 7d --limit 10 --json → read top 3 via article → synthesize with source links

Multi-category scan → Run trending --category AI --last 24h --json, then trending --category Startups --last 24h --json, etc. Combine results.

Key Details

• No API key or auth needed — public read-only
• CLI is bundled in scripts/techsnif-cli.cjs — no remote package downloads
• Slugs come from listing responses — use as-is for article command
• Empty search results return ok: true with empty array (not an error)
• Invalid category returns ok: false with 400 error
• Invalid slug returns ok: false with 404 error
• --format text without --json gives clean terminal output for article