CLI for the FAA Civil Aviation Registry. Look up any US-registered aircraft by
N-number, serial number, owner name, make/model, engine, dealer, or state/county
via the live registry.faa.gov inquiry app — and sync the FAA's daily Releasable
Aircraft Database (all ~315K active registrations, ~383K deregistered records,
~126K reserved N-numbers, plus aircraft-model and engine reference data) into a
local SQLite store for instant offline search, fleet reports, Mode S hex
decoding, and expiring-registration alerts.
Learn more at Faa Registry.
Created by @omarshahine (Omar Shahine).
Quick Start
1. Install
See Install above.
2. Verify Setup
faa-registry-pp-cli doctor
This checks your configuration.
3. Try Your First Command
faa-registry-pp-cli dealers --name example-value
Usage
Run faa-registry-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:
FAA_REGISTRY_CONFIG_DIR, FAA_REGISTRY_DATA_DIR, FAA_REGISTRY_STATE_DIR, or FAA_REGISTRY_CACHE_DIR
--home <dir> for this invocationFAA_REGISTRY_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 FAA_REGISTRY_HOME=/srv/faa-registry
faa-registry-pp-cli doctor
Under FAA_REGISTRY_HOME=/srv/faa-registry, the four dirs resolve to /srv/faa-registry/config, /srv/faa-registry/data, /srv/faa-registry/state, and /srv/faa-registry/cache.
MCP servers do not receive CLI flags from the host. Put relocation in the host env block:
{
"mcpServers": {
"faa-registry": {
"command": "faa-registry-pp-mcp",
"env": {
"FAA_REGISTRY_HOME": "/srv/faa-registry"
}
}
}
}
Precedence matters in fleets: an ambient per-kind variable such as FAA_REGISTRY_DATA_DIR overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use FAA_REGISTRY_HOME or the per-kind variables for durable fleet relocation; treat --home as the weaker per-invocation lever.
Relocation is one-way. Unsetting FAA_REGISTRY_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 faa-registry-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warn to check path warnings in automation.
Commands
aircraft
Live FAA registry lookups for individual aircraft (registration detail pages).
faa-registry-pp-cli aircraft by-serial - Find aircraft by manufacturer serial number.faa-registry-pp-cli aircraft lookup - Look up an aircraft's full registration record by N-number (tail number, with or without the leading N).
dealers
Live dealer-certificate searches.
faa-registry-pp-cli dealers - Search FAA dealer certificates by dealer name.
documents
Live document-index searches (recorded documents for collateral like airframes and engines).
faa-registry-pp-cli documents - Search the FAA document index by collateral identifier.
engines
Live engine-reference searches.
faa-registry-pp-cli engines - Search the engine reference table by engine manufacturer and model.
models
Live registry searches by aircraft make/model and reference data.
faa-registry-pp-cli models - Search the aircraft model reference by manufacturer and model name, including the number of aircraft assigned to each model code.
owners
Live registry searches by registered owner name.
faa-registry-pp-cli owners - List all aircraft registered to an owner name (paginated).
regions
Live registry searches by geography.
faa-registry-pp-cli regions by-country - List US-registered aircraft whose owners are located in a given country.faa-registry-pp-cli regions by-state - List aircraft registered in a state and county (paginated).
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.
faa-registry-pp-cli recall <query> - Look up cached resources for a query before running discoveryfaa-registry-pp-cli teach - Record a query -> resource mapping (silent on success, safe to background with &)faa-registry-pp-cli learnings list - Inspect taught rowsfaa-registry-pp-cli learnings forget <query> - Undo a teachfaa-registry-pp-cli learnings candidates - List auto-captured candidates awaiting confirm/rejectfaa-registry-pp-cli learnings stats - Local loop metrics: recall hit rate, teach-to-reuse, playbook resolution, candidate countsfaa-registry-pp-cli teach-pattern - Install a query/resource template up frontfaa-registry-pp-cli teach-lookup - Add an entity mapping (e.g. country code, team alias) for pattern substitution
Pass --no-learn or set FAA_REGISTRY_NO_LEARN=true to disable the loop for deterministic flows.
The local store's schema version stamp is one-way: once this version of faa-registry-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)
faa-registry-pp-cli dealers --name example-value
# JSON for scripting and agents
faa-registry-pp-cli dealers --name example-value --json
# Filter to specific fields
faa-registry-pp-cli dealers --name example-value --json --select id,name,status
# Dry run — show the request without sending
faa-registry-pp-cli dealers --name example-value --dry-run
# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
faa-registry-pp-cli dealers --name example-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
- 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, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.
Health Check
faa-registry-pp-cli doctor
Verifies configuration and connectivity to the API.
Configuration
Run faa-registry-pp-cli doctor to see the resolved config, data, state, and cache directories. The platform-default config path is ~/.config/faa-registry-pp-cli/config.toml; --home, FAA_REGISTRY_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
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