Marketing

Ahrefs

pp-ahrefs

Query Ahrefs backlinks, keyword, rank tracking, site audit, and SERP data from the terminal.

Printed by @cathrynlavery (Cathryn Lavery)

Install

npx — recommended

npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install ahrefs

Installs the CLI binary and the agent skill (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot, and more). Add --cli-only or --skill-only for one half. Requires Node.

Hermes

hermes skills install mvanhorn/printing-press-library/cli-skills/pp-ahrefs --force

From the Hermes CLI. Inside a chat session use /skills install with the same path.

OpenClaw

Install the pp-ahrefs skill from https://github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/tree/main/cli-skills/pp-ahrefs. The skill defines how its required CLI can be installed.

Paste this to your OpenClaw agent — the skill describes how to install its CLI.

Claude Desktop

This CLI ships an MCPB bundle. Download the latest release .mcpb and double-click it — Claude Desktop walks you through the install.

View source on GitHub →

SEO and competitive intelligence API for backlinks, keywords, rank tracking, site audit, and SERP data.

Learn more at Ahrefs.

Quick Start

1. Install

See Install above.

2. Set Up Credentials

Get your API key from your API provider's developer portal. The key typically looks like a long alphanumeric string.

export AHREFS_API_KEY="<paste-your-key>"

You can also persist this in your config file at ~/.config/ahrefs-pp-cli/config.toml.

3. Verify Setup

ahrefs-pp-cli doctor

This checks your configuration and credentials.

4. Try Your First Command

ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer matching-terms

Usage

Run ahrefs-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.

Commands

keywords-explorer

Keywords Explorer endpoints.

ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer matching-terms - Matching terms
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer overview - Overview
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer related-terms - Related terms
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer search-suggestions - Search suggestions
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer volume-by-country - Volume by country
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer volume-history - Time-series. Volume history

public

Public endpoints.

ahrefs-pp-cli public crawler-ip-ranges - Crawler IP ranges
ahrefs-pp-cli public crawler-ips - Crawler IP addresses

rank-tracker

Rank Tracker endpoints.

ahrefs-pp-cli rank-tracker competitors-overview - Competitors overview
ahrefs-pp-cli rank-tracker overview - Overview
ahrefs-pp-cli rank-tracker serp-overview - SERP Overview

serp-overview

Serp Overview endpoints.

ahrefs-pp-cli serp-overview - SERP Overview

site-audit

Site Audit endpoints.

ahrefs-pp-cli site-audit issues - Project Issues
ahrefs-pp-cli site-audit page-content - Page content
ahrefs-pp-cli site-audit page-explorer - Page explorer
ahrefs-pp-cli site-audit projects - Project Health Scores

site-explorer

Site Explorer endpoints.

ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer all-backlinks - Backlinks
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer backlinks-stats - Backlinks stats
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer broken-backlinks - Broken Backlinks
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer domain-rating - Point-in-time snapshot. Domain rating
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer domain-rating-history - Time-series. Domain Rating history
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer metrics - Point-in-time snapshot. Metrics
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer metrics-by-country - Metrics by country
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer organic-competitors - Organic competitors
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer organic-keywords - Organic keywords
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer pages-by-traffic - Pages by traffic
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer refdomains-history - Time-series. Refdomains history
ahrefs-pp-cli site-explorer top-pages - Top pages

subscription-info

Subscription Info endpoints.

ahrefs-pp-cli subscription-info - Limits and usage

Output Formats

# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer matching-terms

# JSON for scripting and agents
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer matching-terms --json

# Filter to specific fields
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer matching-terms --json --select id,name,status

# Dry run — show the request without sending
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer matching-terms --dry-run

# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
ahrefs-pp-cli keywords-explorer matching-terms --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
Read-only by default - this CLI does not create, update, delete, publish, send, or mutate remote resources
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, 4 auth error, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.

Health Check

ahrefs-pp-cli doctor

Verifies configuration, credentials, and connectivity to the API.

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/ahrefs-pp-cli/config.toml

Environment variables:

AHREFS_API_KEY

Troubleshooting

Authentication errors (exit code 4)

Run ahrefs-pp-cli doctor to check credentials
Verify the environment variable is set: echo $AHREFS_API_KEY Not found errors (exit code 3)
Check the resource ID is correct
Run the list command to see available items

Generated by CLI Printing Press