api2cli

api2cli

Generate a working Node.js CLI from any API, then wrap it in a Claude Code skill. Discovers endpoints, scaffolds a dual-mode Commander.js CLI with a full-featured API client, and creates a skill folder so Claude knows how to use it.

Workflow

1. Identify the API -- user provides a docs URL, a live API base URL, or a peek-api capture
2. Discover endpoints -- parse docs, probe the API, or read a peek-api catalog
3. Build endpoint catalog -- normalize all discovered endpoints into a standard format
4. Generate CLI -- scaffold Commander.js CLI from the catalog
5. User chooses destination -- scaffold into current project or create standalone project
6. Generate skill -- create a SKILL.md that teaches Claude how to use the generated CLI

Step 1: Identify the API

Ask the user:

• "What API do you want to wrap? Share a docs URL, a base URL, or point me at a peek-api capture."

Determine which discovery paths to use based on what they provide:

Input	Discovery Path
Docs URL (e.g., https://docs.stripe.com/api)	Docs parsing + active probing
Base URL (e.g., https://api.example.com/v1)	Active probing
peek-api capture dir (e.g., ./peek-api-linkedin/)	Read existing catalog
Live website URL	Suggest running peek-api first, then active probing

Also ask:

• "What auth does this API use?" (API key, Bearer token, cookies, OAuth, none)
• "Do you want this CLI in your current project or as a standalone project?"

Step 2: Discover Endpoints

Use all applicable discovery paths. Combine results into a single catalog.

Path A: Docs Parsing

1. Fetch the docs URL with WebFetch
2. Extract endpoint information: method, path, description, parameters, request/response examples
3. Look for pagination patterns, auth requirements, rate limit info
4. Follow links to sub-pages for individual endpoint docs if the main page is an index

Path B: Active Probing

1. Check well-known paths for API specs:
   • /.well-known/openapi.json, /.well-known/openapi.yaml
   • /openapi.json, /openapi.yaml, /swagger.json, /swagger.yaml
   • /api-docs, /docs, /api/docs
   • /graphql (with introspection query)
2. Try OPTIONS on the base URL and common resource paths
3. Probe common REST patterns: /api/v1/, /api/v2/, /v1/, /v2/
4. For each discovered resource, try standard CRUD: GET /resources, GET /resources/:id, POST /resources, etc.
5. Parse response shapes to understand data models
6. Check response headers for rate limit info (X-RateLimit-*, Retry-After)
7. Check for pagination patterns in responses (next, cursor, page, offset)