The Copper CRM command line no one else built: full CRUD plus a local database, weighted pipeline forecasting, stale-deal detection, and the bulk operations Copper's own API refuses to provide. Trigger phrases: `forecast my copper pipeline`, `find stale deals in copper`, `bulk update copper opportunities`, `log a call in copper`, `dedupe copper contacts`, `use copper`, `run copper`.
The Copper CRM command line no one else built: full CRUD plus a local database, weighted pipeline forecasting, stale-deal detection, and the bulk operations Copper's own API refuses to provide. Trigger phrases: `forecast my copper pipeline`, `find stale deals in copper`, `bulk update copper opportunities`, `log a call in copper`, `dedupe copper contacts`, `use copper`, `run copper`.
This skill drives the copper-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:
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/sales-and-crm/copper/cmd/copper-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.
Copper has no CLI, no Go client, and no agent-native tool. This turns a click-heavy web CRM into a scriptable, offline-queryable surface. It mirrors people, companies, leads, opportunities, projects, tasks, and activities into local SQLite, then adds the weighted forecast (forecast), cold-deal sweep (stale), and rate-limit-aware bulk editor (bulk) that the API and web UI leave out.
When to Use This CLI
Use this CLI for scripted or agent-driven Copper work: weighted pipeline forecasting, finding and acting on stale deals, mass field updates across many opportunities, idempotent contact sync, and offline cross-entity queries. It is the right tool when the web UI would mean repetitive clicking or when a spreadsheet export would be stale on arrival.
Anti-triggers
Do not use this CLI for:
Configuring Copper account settings, billing, or user provisioning (use the web app)
Editing a logged activity in place (Copper activities are immutable; use log fix to delete+recreate)
OAuth-based multi-tenant distribution to other Copper orgs (partner-gated; this CLI uses personal API-key auth)
Unique Capabilities
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
Pipeline intelligence
forecast — Weighted expected-revenue roll-up: sums monetary_value x win_probability over open opportunities, grouped by stage, assignee, or close-month.
Reach for this instead of exporting CSV and pivoting by hand for any expected-revenue or commit/quota question.
copper-pp-cli webhooks create — Create a new webhook subscription
copper-pp-cli webhooks delete — Delete (unsubscribe) a webhook subscription
copper-pp-cli webhooks get — Fetch a webhook subscription by id
copper-pp-cli webhooks list — List all webhook subscriptions
Finding the right command
When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:
copper-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.
copper-pp-cli stale --days 30 --by assignee --agent
List cold deals grouped by owner. Save the JSON, then feed the ids into the bulk reassign command (with --set assignee_id=) to mass-reassign — preview with --dry-run before applying.
Idempotent contact import
copper-pp-cli upsert person --match email --file leads.json --dry-run
Create-or-update external rows without duplicating contacts.
One-call deal prep
copper-pp-cli who opportunity:88 --agent --select company.name,people.name,activities.details
Pull the deal's company, contacts, and recent touches in one narrowed view.
Auth Setup
Copper uses a multi-header API key. Set COPPER_API_KEY (System Settings -> API Keys -> Create a Key) and COPPER_USER_EMAIL (the email of the key owner). Every request sends X-PW-AccessToken, X-PW-UserEmail, and X-PW-Application: developer_api.
Run copper-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:
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
Explicit retries — use --idempotent only when an already-existing create should count as success, and --ignore-missing only when a missing delete target should count as success
Response envelope
Commands that read from the local store or the API wrap output in a provenance envelope:
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 COPPER_HOME=<dir> to relocate all four path kinds under one root.
Use per-kind env vars only when a specific kind must diverge: COPPER_CONFIG_DIR, COPPER_DATA_DIR, COPPER_STATE_DIR, COPPER_CACHE_DIR.
Resolution order is per-kind env var, --home, COPPER_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 copper-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:
Fleet precedence: an inherited per-kind env var overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use COPPER_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 COPPER_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:
copper-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive"
copper-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt
copper-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10
Entries are stored locally as feedback.jsonl under the resolved data dir. They are never POSTed unless COPPER_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT is set AND either --send is passed or COPPER_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.
copper-pp-cli profile save briefing --json
copper-pp-cli --profile briefing account
copper-pp-cli profile list --json
copper-pp-cli profile show briefing
copper-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
4
Authentication required
5
API error (upstream issue)
7
Rate limited (wait and retry)
10
Config error
Argument Parsing
Parse $ARGUMENTS:
Empty, help, or --help → show copper-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/sales-and-crm/copper/cmd/copper-pp-mcp@latest
Register with Claude Code:
claude mcp add copper-pp-mcp -- copper-pp-mcp
Verify: claude mcp list
Direct Use
Check if installed: which copper-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.
