The CLI

The entire library is available as a command-line tool — search, read, and download manuscript pages without leaving your terminal.

npx leonardo-davinci random --subject anatomy

Install

npm install -g leonardo-davinci

This installs the da-vinci command (the npm package is leonardo-davinci; the command matches this API’s name). One-off use via npx leonardo-davinci needs no install. Requires Node 18.17+.

Interactive mode

Run da-vinci with no command and the terminal becomes the studiolo — a red-chalk workspace with a prompt. Type commands without the da-vinci prefix (random, search flying machine, folio codex-atlanticus 1646 --full), clear to repaint, quit to leave. The session scrolls back like a conversation and stays in your terminal history after you quit. Scripts and pipes are unaffected: non-interactive invocations print plain output.

Commands

Command	What it does
`da-vinci collections`	List all 28 collections
`da-vinci collection <slug>`	One collection and its pages (`--limit`, `--offset`)
`da-vinci folio <slug> <index>`	Read one page — summary, highlights, translation (`--full`)
`da-vinci subjects`	The frozen 25-term subject vocabulary
`da-vinci subject <id>`	Every page tagged with a subject
`da-vinci search <query…>`	Full-text search (`--subject`, `--collection`)
`da-vinci random`	A random page (`--subject`, `--collection`)
`da-vinci download <slug> <index>`	Save the scan (`--size thumbnail\|medium\|highRes`, `--out <dir>`)
`da-vinci open <slug> [index]`	Open the page on venivididavinci.com

Every read command accepts --json for machine-readable output — pipe it to jq, scripts, or agents:

da-vinci search "flying machine" --json | jq '.data[].url'
da-vinci folio codex-atlanticus 1646 --json | jq -r '.enrichment.english[].textEN'

Examples

# A page of the day for your terminal startup
da-vinci random

# Everything Leonardo wrote about water, 20 pages at a time
da-vinci subject hydraulics --limit 20

# Read the famous flying-machine sheet in full
da-vinci folio codex-atlanticus 1646 --full

# Save the high-resolution scan of an Arundel opening
da-vinci download codex-arundel 30 --size highRes --out ./scans

Rate limits & keys

The CLI uses the same rate limits as the API — anonymous 60/hour. Pass --api-key or set DAVINCI_API_KEY for higher tiers.

Security

Built to be maximally auditable: zero runtime dependencies (one file of Node builtins), no install scripts, no telemetry, HTTPS only to venivididavinci.com origins (downloads included), validated inputs, traversal-safe downloads. Ships exactly four files — verify with npm pack leonardo-davinci --dry-run.

Attribution

Content fetched through the CLI carries the same attribution terms as the API — every folio includes a ready-made attribution string.

Getting started

Concepts

Tools

Install

Interactive mode

Commands

Examples

Rate limits & keys

Security

Attribution

​Install

​Interactive mode

​Commands

​Examples

​Rate limits & keys

​Security

​Attribution

Install

Interactive mode

Commands

Examples

Rate limits & keys

Security

Attribution