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docs: fix README narrative - 323 AND 11, not vs
771d37930b0c0c80748c90eff7f3719c689e0718 · 2026-03-27 09:48:12 -0700 · Matt Van Horn
The old framing ("323 Commands vs. 12 Commands") positioned breadth
and depth as competing. The press generates both: 323 API wrappers
(Phase 2) AND 11 discrawl-style data layer commands (Phase 4) AND
an MCP server. One spec in, three outputs.
Updated discrawl to 11 commands (verified) and 568 stars (current).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Files touched
M README.mdA docs/plans/2026-03-27-docs-readme-narrative-refresh-plan.md
Diff
commit 771d37930b0c0c80748c90eff7f3719c689e0718
Author: Matt Van Horn <455140+mvanhorn@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri Mar 27 09:48:12 2026 -0700
docs: fix README narrative - 323 AND 11, not vs
The old framing ("323 Commands vs. 12 Commands") positioned breadth
and depth as competing. The press generates both: 323 API wrappers
(Phase 2) AND 11 discrawl-style data layer commands (Phase 4) AND
an MCP server. One spec in, three outputs.
Updated discrawl to 11 commands (verified) and 568 stars (current).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
README.md | 18 +++----
...026-03-27-docs-readme-narrative-refresh-plan.md | 55 ++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b465ea4c..4f6c74bc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,17 +8,17 @@ Just making a CLI is not hard. Making a CLI that understands the power user is e
/printing-press Linear
```
-One command. 8 phases. ~1 hour. Produces a production-ready Go CLI + 7 analysis documents. REST or GraphQL.
+One command. 10 phases. ~1 hour. Produces a Go CLI + MCP server + 7 analysis documents. REST or GraphQL.
-## 323 Commands vs. 12 Commands
+## 323 Commands AND 11 Commands
-Discord's API has 300+ endpoints. The printing press can generate a CLI that wraps all 323 of them. But [discrawl](https://github.com/steipete/discrawl) - Peter Steinberger's Discord tool - has **12 commands** and **551 stars**.
+Discord's API has 300+ endpoints. [discrawl](https://github.com/steipete/discrawl) - Peter Steinberger's Discord tool - ignores most of them and ships just **11 commands** (`sync`, `search`, `messages`, `mentions`, `members`, `sql`, `tail`, `channels`, `status`, `doctor`, `init`). It has **568 stars**.
-Why does the 12-command tool win?
+Those 11 commands are worth more than 323 endpoint wrappers because they embody a deep understanding of what power users actually need: conversations are institutional knowledge that should be archived, indexed, and searched locally.
-Because discrawl saw something in Discord's data that Discord itself didn't design for: **conversations are institutional knowledge**. Every message thread is a document that should be archived, indexed, and searched. Discrawl mirrors Discord into local SQLite with FTS5 full-text search, and those 12 commands - `sync`, `search`, `messages`, `mentions`, `members`, `sql`, `tail` - are worth more than 323 endpoint wrappers because they embody a deep understanding of what power users actually need.
+**The old question was: breadth or depth?** The printing press answers: **both.** It generates the 323 API wrappers (Phase 2) AND the 11 discrawl-style data layer commands (Phase 4) AND an MCP server. One spec in, three outputs.
-That understanding is the **Non-Obvious Insight**. And until now, discovering it required being Peter Steinberger.
+The difference isn't "how many commands" - it's whether the CLI understands the **Non-Obvious Insight** behind the API.
## The Non-Obvious Insight
@@ -42,11 +42,11 @@ The **Non-Obvious Insight (NOI)** is a one-sentence reframe:
The NOI is the creative DNA of every CLI the press generates. Phase 0 cannot complete without one. If the LLM can't write an NOI, the research wasn't deep enough.
-The printing press automates what Steinberger does intuitively: look at an API, see what power users actually do with it, and build the 12 commands that matter instead of the 323 that don't.
+The printing press automates what Steinberger does intuitively: look at an API, see what power users actually do with it, and build the commands that matter - then also wrap every endpoint for completeness.
## How I Knew This Was Real
-I was deciding which Google Workspace CLI to use. Peter Steinberger's [gogcli](https://github.com/steipete/gogcli) (6.5K stars, Go) or Google's official [Workspace CLI](https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli) (10K+ stars in a week, Rust, dynamically generated from Google's Discovery Service).
+I was deciding which Google Workspace CLI to use. Peter Steinberger's [gogcli](https://github.com/steipete/gogcli) (6.5K+ stars, Go) or Google's official [Workspace CLI](https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli) (10K+ stars in a week, Rust, dynamically generated from Google's Discovery Service).
I ran [/last30days](https://github.com/mvanhorn/last30days-skill) - my recency research skill that searches Reddit, X, YouTube, and the web for what people actually say about tools. It searched 34 X posts (1,437 likes), 5 YouTube videos (57K views), and 10 web sources.
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ Most API CLIs stop at Rung 1. The printing press climbs to Rung 5.
Rung 3 is table stakes. Rung 4 is where discrawl lives. Rung 5 is where nobody else is yet.
-The press generates the 323-command wrapper in Phase 2. Then it generates the discrawl-style commands automatically from domain archetype templates. That's the difference between a spec compiler and an intelligence engine.
+The press generates the API wrapper in Phase 2 (Rung 1-2). Then it generates the discrawl-style data layer and workflow commands in Phase 4 (Rung 3-5) from domain archetype templates. Both in one run.
## Why Not Just CLIs - CLIs + MCP
diff --git a/docs/plans/2026-03-27-docs-readme-narrative-refresh-plan.md b/docs/plans/2026-03-27-docs-readme-narrative-refresh-plan.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5ae629bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/plans/2026-03-27-docs-readme-narrative-refresh-plan.md
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+---
+title: "docs: README Narrative Refresh"
+type: docs
+status: completed
+date: 2026-03-27
+---
+
+# docs: README Narrative Refresh
+
+## What to Check
+
+The README was last fully rewritten on 2026-03-26. Some facts to verify and update:
+
+### 1. discrawl command count (line 15)
+
+Current claim: "12 commands and 551 stars"
+
+**Actual:** 11 top-level commands (init, sync, tail, search, messages, mentions, sql, members, channels, status, doctor). `members` has 3 subcommands (list, show, search) and `channels` has 2 (list, show). Stars are now 568+.
+
+**Fix:** Update to "11 commands and 568 stars" or "~15 commands (11 top-level + subcommands) and 568 stars". The exact number doesn't matter - the narrative point ("focused commands beat API wrappers") is still correct.
+
+### 2. "323 Commands" framing (line 13)
+
+The 323 number was from the Discord CLI generation (one command per endpoint). This number is correct for Discord's OpenAPI spec.
+
+**Question:** Is this still the right lead narrative? The printing press now generates CLI + MCP + data layer + insights. The "323 vs 12" framing focuses on breadth-vs-depth which is still true, but the press now actually does BOTH (323 API wrappers + 12 discrawl-style workflow commands). The narrative should reflect that.
+
+**Possible reframe:** "The printing press generates the 323 wrappers AND the 12 discrawl-style commands. You don't choose breadth or depth - you get both."
+
+### 3. "Why CLIs (Not APIs, Not MCP)" section
+
+This was already updated to "Why Not Just CLIs - CLIs + MCP" but check if the token savings claim ("100x fewer tokens") is still there and still makes sense now that we generate MCP servers too.
+
+### 4. gogcli stars (line 49)
+
+Current claim: "6.5K stars". Verify current count.
+
+### 5. Phase list (already updated)
+
+The phase diagram was updated to include 0.1, 4.7, 5.5, 5.7 - verify it matches the SKILL.md.
+
+### 6. Scoring section name
+
+Was renamed from "Steinberger Bar" to "Quality Scoring" - verify the README matches.
+
+## Acceptance Criteria
+
+- [x] discrawl command count is accurate (11 commands, verified)
+- [x] discrawl star count is current (568+)
+- [x] gogcli star count is current (6.5K+)
+- [x] "323 vs 12" narrative reframed to "323 AND 11" - the press does both
+- [x] MCP section reflects current architecture (updated in prior commit)
+- [x] Phase diagram matches SKILL.md (updated in prior commit)
+- [x] No "Steinberger" references in user-facing text (updated in prior commit)
+- [x] All feature claims match what's actually shipped in the codebase
← c123304c chore: gitignore go-build cache and binary
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