Upfront chauffeur quotes from the terminal — transfer and hourly, with a local price history no other tool has.
Quote Blacklane's fixed all-inclusive chauffeur fares (airport transfers and by-the-hour) by address, compare vehicle classes, and keep a searchable local log of every quote. Addresses resolve via OpenStreetMap — no API key, no login, no booking.
Quick Start
# Point-to-point transfer quote across vehicle classes.
blacklane-pp-cli quote "San Francisco Airport" "Union Square San Francisco" --at 2026-06-25T15:00
# By-the-hour chauffeur quote (3 hours).
blacklane-pp-cli quote "Union Square San Francisco" --hourly 3 --at 2026-06-25T15:00
# Inspect a vehicle class's models, capacity, and features.
blacklane-pp-cli catalog business
Unique Features
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
Local state that compounds
-
watch — Track a saved route's price over time and flag drops.
Reach for this to catch chauffeur price drops before a trip.
blacklane-pp-cli watch "San Francisco Airport" "Union Square San Francisco" --at 2026-06-25T15:00 --agent
-
compare — Quote one route across many departure times to find the cheapest.
Use when the pickup time is flexible and price matters.
blacklane-pp-cli compare "JFK Airport" "Times Square New York" --dates 2026-06-20T15:00,2026-06-21T15:00 --agent
-
log — Every quote saved to SQLite, full-text searchable and SQL-queryable.
Use to recall and compare past quotes offline.
blacklane-pp-cli search "Times Square" --agent
Trip planning
-
trip — Quote a sequence of legs and total the fares.
Use to budget a full day of ground transport.
blacklane-pp-cli trip --leg "JFK Airport>Times Square New York" --at 2026-06-20T09:00 --agent
-
fit — Recommend the cheapest vehicle class that fits the party.
Use to avoid overpaying for more car than you need.
blacklane-pp-cli fit "JFK Airport" "Times Square New York" --pax 3 --bags 4 --at 2026-06-20T15:00 --agent
Recipes
Quote and keep only class + price
blacklane-pp-cli quote "JFK Airport" "Times Square New York" --at 2026-06-20T15:00 --agent --select packages.title,packages.grossAmount,packages.currency
Narrow a verbose quote to just the class and total.
Find the cheapest departure
blacklane-pp-cli compare "JFK Airport" "Times Square New York" --dates 2026-06-20T15:00,2026-06-21T09:00,2026-06-22T09:00 --agent
Fan out quotes across times and rank by price.
Usage
Run blacklane-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.
Paths & environment variables
This CLI separates local files into four path kinds:
| Kind | Contents |
|---|
config | User-editable settings such as config.toml and saved profiles |
data | Durable local data such as data.db |
state | Runtime state such as persisted queries, jobs, and teach.log |
cache | Regenerable HTTP/cache files |
Each kind resolves independently. The ladder is:
- Per-kind env var:
BLACKLANE_CONFIG_DIR, BLACKLANE_DATA_DIR, BLACKLANE_STATE_DIR, or BLACKLANE_CACHE_DIR
--home <dir> for this invocationBLACKLANE_HOME for a flat relocated root- XDG env vars:
XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_STATE_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME
- Platform defaults matching existing installs
For containers and agent sandboxes, prefer a single relocated root:
export BLACKLANE_HOME=/srv/blacklane
blacklane-pp-cli doctor
Under BLACKLANE_HOME=/srv/blacklane, the four dirs resolve to /srv/blacklane/config, /srv/blacklane/data, /srv/blacklane/state, and /srv/blacklane/cache.
MCP servers do not receive CLI flags from the host. Put relocation in the host env block:
{
"mcpServers": {
"blacklane": {
"command": "blacklane-pp-mcp",
"env": {
"BLACKLANE_HOME": "/srv/blacklane"
}
}
}
}
Precedence matters in fleets: an ambient per-kind variable such as BLACKLANE_DATA_DIR overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use BLACKLANE_HOME or the per-kind variables for durable fleet relocation; treat --home as the weaker per-invocation lever.
Relocation is one-way. Unsetting BLACKLANE_HOME does not move files back to platform defaults, and doctor cannot find files left under a former root. Move the files manually before unsetting relocation variables.
Existing installs keep working because the platform-default rung matches the legacy layout. Run blacklane-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warn to check path warnings in automation.
Commands
catalog
Vehicle-class service catalog (models, capacity, features)
blacklane-pp-cli catalog <slug> - Get a vehicle class by slug (business, first, van)
prices
Raw pricing quotes (prefer the top-level 'quote' command)
blacklane-pp-cli prices - Request prices for a journey (raw body; see 'quote' for a friendly interface)
Self-learning loop
This CLI caches per-question discovery so repeat queries skip the walk and structurally similar queries get answered via entity substitution. The loop also self-captures: every invocation is journaled locally, and failed-flag corrections plus fresh teaches surface as candidates on the next recall for confirm/reject judgment. Agents call recall before discovery and fire teach & after answering. See the ## Automatic learning section in SKILL.md for the full protocol.
blacklane-pp-cli recall <query> - Look up cached resources for a query before running discoveryblacklane-pp-cli teach - Record a query -> resource mapping (silent on success, safe to background with &)blacklane-pp-cli learnings list - Inspect taught rowsblacklane-pp-cli learnings forget <query> - Undo a teachblacklane-pp-cli learnings candidates - List auto-captured candidates awaiting confirm/rejectblacklane-pp-cli learnings stats - Local loop metrics: recall hit rate, teach-to-reuse, playbook resolution, candidate countsblacklane-pp-cli teach-pattern - Install a query/resource template up frontblacklane-pp-cli teach-lookup - Add an entity mapping (e.g. country code, team alias) for pattern substitution
Pass --no-learn or set BLACKLANE_NO_LEARN=true to disable the loop for deterministic flows.
The local store's schema version stamp is one-way: once this version of blacklane-pp-cli opens the database, older binaries refuse it with a version error — upgrade the binary rather than downgrading.
Output Formats
# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
blacklane-pp-cli catalog mock-value
# JSON for scripting and agents
blacklane-pp-cli catalog mock-value --json
# Filter to specific fields
blacklane-pp-cli catalog mock-value --json --select id,name,status
# Dry run — show the request without sending
blacklane-pp-cli catalog mock-value --dry-run
# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
blacklane-pp-cli catalog mock-value --agent
Agent Usage
This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:
- Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
- Pipeable -
--json output to stdout, errors to stderr
- Filterable -
--select id,name returns only fields you need
- Previewable -
--dry-run shows the request without sending
- Explicit retries - add
--idempotent to create retries when a no-op success is acceptable
- Confirmable -
--yes for explicit confirmation of destructive actions
- Piped input - write commands can accept structured input when their help lists
--stdin
- Offline-friendly - sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
- Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless
--human-friendly is set
Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.
Health Check
blacklane-pp-cli doctor
Verifies configuration and connectivity to the API.
Configuration
Run blacklane-pp-cli doctor to see the resolved config, data, state, and cache directories. The platform-default config path is ~/.config/blacklane-pp-cli/config.toml; --home, BLACKLANE_HOME, and per-kind env vars can relocate it.
Static request headers can be configured under headers; per-command header overrides take precedence.
Troubleshooting
Not found errors (exit code 3)
- Check the resource ID is correct
- Run the
list command to see available items
API-specific
- Quote returns no vehicle classes — The route may be outside Blacklane's service area, or the date is in the past — try a major city/airport and a future time.
- Address resolves to the wrong place — Pass more specific text or use --pickup-lat/--pickup-lng (and --dropoff-lat/lng) to set coordinates directly.