This skill drives the open-food-facts-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 1.26.4 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/food-and-dining/open-food-facts/cmd/open-food-facts-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.
When To Use
Use open-food-facts-pp-cli when an agent needs source-backed Open Food Facts data:
Fetch a product by barcode with source URL, identity, labels, countries, Nutri-Score, NOVA, Eco-Score, nutriments, and data-quality tags.
Run bounded structured product search by category, brand, country, label, or nutrition grade.
Summarize nutrition facts for one known barcode.
Inspect ingredients, allergens, traces, additives, and data-quality tags for one known barcode.
Compare a small set of barcode records without hiding per-product fetch errors.
Fetch a small category sample and preserve Open Food Facts data caveats.
When Not To Use
Do not use it for product edits, image uploads, account login, or session workflows.
Do not use it for bulk harvesting or local database sync; use Open Food Facts CSV or JSONL exports for bulk access.
Do not build search-as-you-type loops against the live API.
Do not treat nutrition, ingredient, or allergen output as medical or dietary advice.
Do not claim Open Food Facts data is complete, accurate, or authoritative.
Setup
No API key is required for read operations.
The module declares go 1.26.4 so environments with Go toolchain auto-download disabled should use Go 1.26.4 or newer for direct installs.
Open Food Facts asks every API client to send a custom User-Agent in the form AppName/Version (ContactEmail). Configure a request identity before regular or frequent use:
Keep live usage within Open Food Facts' documented limits: 15 product read requests per minute per IP address, 10 search requests per minute per IP address, and no live API bulk harvesting.
Use this when the workflow has a barcode and needs compact product identity, source URL, Nutri-Score/NOVA/Eco-Score fields, ingredient/allergen tags, nutriments, and data-quality caveats.
Use this for bounded candidate discovery. Prefer structured filters over plain terms because Open Food Facts documents structured search in API v2 and does not provide full-text search in v2/v3 server-side APIs.
Use this to inspect ingredient text, ingredient analysis tags, allergens, traces, additives, and data-quality tags. Keep the caveat that records are community-contributed.
