pixiv-cli brings the Pixiv ecosystem to the terminal: discover works and creators, manage accounts and collections, follow artists, bookmark artworks, and download visual works. It is an independent, unofficial third-party CLI, MCP server, and public Go SDK; it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Pixiv Inc. The CLI and MCP server both call the same public Go SDK, with the Pixiv App API as the authenticated source of truth. Use it in accordance with Pixiv's terms and applicable law.

Why pixiv-cli?

• One capability surface — search, details, rankings, recommendations, users, bookmarks, follows, downloads, and ugoira across CLI, MCP, and SDK.
• Composable visual pipelines — visual lists automatically emit canonical NDJSON when piped; use --filter for typed local artwork rules and pass matching records straight to download.
• Local account pools — select eligible local accounts for read workloads and honor Pixiv Retry-After responses during pagination and download preparation.
• Guided account sign-in — complete browser OAuth with pixiv auth login, then use auth list, auth use, and auth check to manage local multi-account access.
• Four ugoira output modes — choose GIF, APNG, lossless ZIP, or extracted frames.
• Reliable, organized downloads — revalidate .pixiv-cache metadata, resume verified partials, retry eligible resource failures, optionally archive completed artwork IDs, write sidecars, and show exact terminal progress when available.
• Authenticated App API discovery — read R18 details, pages, ugoira metadata, and all 16 ranking modes through the App API.
• Useful search filters — rating, content type, AI mode, aspect ratio, resolution, and a versioned drawing-tool catalog.
• Direct Pixiv references — paste supported artwork URLs into detail or download; authenticated profile and artworks URLs expand to that creator's visual works.
• Local multi-account OAuth — browser login, account selection, refresh-token rotation, and an optional cross-machine callback relay.
• Automation-ready integration — typed SDK errors, JSON output, clean MCP stdio, signed release updates, and complete result reporting.

Install

Installer scripts (Windows, Linux, and macOS)

Linux/macOS (sh):

curl -fsSLo /tmp/pixiv-install.sh https://github.com/FlanChanXwO/pixiv-cli/releases/latest/download/install.sh && sh /tmp/pixiv-install.sh --add-to-path

Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe, no PowerShell):

curl.exe -fsSLo "%TEMP%\pixiv-install.cmd" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FlanChanXwO/pixiv-cli/main/scripts/install.cmd && call "%TEMP%\pixiv-install.cmd" --add-to-path

Both scripts detect AMD64/ARM64, select the latest stable official Release archive, verify its published SHA-256, preflight the staged binary, and install per-user before changing PATH. Use --no-path to leave PATH untouched or --install-dir DIR to choose another destination. You can inspect the downloaded script before running it.

Versioned installers keep checksums.txt on the official GitHub HTTPS path. Embedded free source candidates are probed only for the platform archive, must return the same checksum content, and the downloaded archive still has to pass SHA-256 verification. This changes transport availability, never Release identity or integrity.

Install with an AI agent

Copy this single prompt into Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, or another local AI agent with terminal access:

Install the latest stable pixiv-cli from https://github.com/FlanChanXwO/pixiv-cli for this machine: inspect the repository's scripts/install.sh or scripts/install.cmd first, choose the script matching the detected OS and architecture (the Windows path must use cmd.exe and must not invoke PowerShell), download only official GitHub Release assets, require the published SHA-256 check to pass before replacing anything, install per-user without administrator or root privileges, add only the chosen install directory to the user PATH, ask before installing any missing prerequisite, never read or output Pixiv credentials, verify with pixiv version, and report the installed version plus every file and PATH change.

Also install the `pixiv-cli` Skill that matches the same stable release tag (not main): download the full skills/pixiv-cli/ directory from that tag into the agent skills directory the user confirms. Do not guess the skills path and do not follow the main branch for skill content.

Install the pixiv-cli Skill from SkillHub

Agents with SkillHub support can install the published pixiv-cli Skill directly from SkillHub. Each Skill version matches the CLI release it teaches; always use pixiv <cmd> --help as the final source of command syntax.

Install the pixiv-cli Skill from ClawHub

Agents using ClawHub can install the published pixiv-cli Skill with clawhub install pixiv-cli; pin the installed skill to the matching published release version rather than following an unversioned latest tag.

Homebrew (recommended on macOS and Linux)

brew install FlanChanXwO/tap/pixiv-cli

Upgrade later with:

brew update
brew upgrade pixiv-cli

Go

Use an exact published tag. A source install requires Go, cgo, a C linker, and the committed Rust static library for your target.

go install github.com/FlanChanXwO/pixiv-cli/cmd/[email protected]

Release archive or source build

Download a supported archive from GitHub Releases, or build the checkout:

sh scripts/build.sh

Direct downloads include checksums and a signed manifest. See the CLI reference for platform and trust details.

60-second quick start

# Save a Pixiv account through browser OAuth.
pixiv auth login

# Search with App-side filters.
pixiv search "初音ミク" --type illust --ai-mode exclude --resolution high
pixiv novel search "初音ミク" --rating sfw --min-text-length 1000

# Follow creators and build your collection.
pixiv follow add 12345678
pixiv bookmark add 123456

# Inspect, discover recommendations, and download.
pixiv detail https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/123456
pixiv recommended all --limit 10
pixiv timeline latest --type illust --limit 20
pixiv download https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/123456 --pages 1,3-5 --quality regular
pixiv download 123456 https://i.pximg.net/img-original/example.jpg --concurrency 8

# Batch-download every visual work from a creator.
pixiv download https://www.pixiv.net/users/12345678/artworks

Run pixiv --help or open the complete CLI reference for every command, flag, configuration key, environment variable, fallback rule, and update behavior.

Choose your interface

CLI

Use the default text output interactively and --json where the command supports machine output:

pixiv ranking --mode day --json
pixiv user search "miku" --limit 10 --json
pixiv user detail 12345678
pixiv timeline latest --type illust --limit 10 --json

MCP

Start the stdio server explicitly. stdout remains reserved for JSON-RPC. Operation summaries are written as daily plain-text files named YYYY-MM-DD.txt under ~/.pixiv-cli/logs (on Windows, %USERPROFILE%\.pixiv-cli\logs; default retention 7 days); the terminal stays free of log traces by default.

pixiv mcp

See the MCP tool contract for tools, parameters, structured output, and authentication behavior. Fixed MCP status, error, and display text is English; Pixiv metadata and user-supplied text are preserved verbatim.

Go SDK

For a local first use, run pixiv auth login once, then create a client from that local account and make a search:

package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"log"

	pixiv "github.com/FlanChanXwO/pixiv-cli/pixiv"
)

func main() {
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := pixiv.OpenDefault()
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	result, err := client.SearchIllust(ctx, pixiv.SearchIllustRequest{Word: "初音ミク"})
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	for _, illust := range result.Illusts {
		fmt.Printf("%d %s\\n", illust.ID, illust.URL)
	}
}

The import path is github.com/FlanChanXwO/pixiv-cli/pixiv. Download/DownloadAll use documented beginner defaults; DownloadWith/DownloadAllWith expose paths, naming, pages, quality, and concurrency. The SDK guide documents models, cursors, resources, errors, and caller responsibilities.

Authentication and token safety

pixiv auth login is the recommended setup. It saves raw Pixiv App OAuth refresh tokens by UID in the local account store.

Account information disclaimer

Account names, IDs, membership signals, and the active local-account selection are convenience information from the local store and Pixiv responses. Treat them as convenience data rather than proof of account ownership, entitlement, or current Pixiv status. Verify important account details in Pixiv and use only accounts you are authorized to manage.

On macOS, Windows, and desktop Linux, pixiv prepares the current-user pixiv:// callback handler for the installed binary. When a server has login_relay_public_url and login_relay_listen_addr, pixiv auth login prints a one-time remote hand-off URL. Opening it transfers the session directly to the installed desktop handler, which starts OAuth and returns its callback to the server. Remote login therefore uses a desktop with pixiv-cli installed; it has no project confirmation page or callback-copy form. See the CLI reference.

pixiv auth list
pixiv auth use 12345678
pixiv auth check

Documentation

Guide	Use it for
CLI reference	Commands, flags, auth, configuration, fallback, downloads, and updates
Go SDK	Public client, models, pagination, resources, and typed errors
MCP tools	Tool schemas and output semantics
Architecture (Simplified Chinese)	Package boundaries and runtime flow
Development (Simplified Chinese)	Toolchain, tests, builds, and releases
Changelog	User-visible changes

Contributing

Bug reports, documentation fixes, tests, and focused features are welcome. Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request; discuss large or public-interface changes first.

License

MIT © FlanChanXwO