CLI

CCXT CLI (Command-Line Interface)

CCXT includes an example that allows calling all exchange methods and properties from command line. One doesn't even have to be a programmer or write code – any user can use it!

The CLI interface is a program in CCXT that takes the exchange name and some params from the command line and executes a corresponding call from CCXT printing the output of the call back to the user. Thus, with CLI you can use CCXT out of the box, not a single line of code needed.

CCXT command line interface is very handy and useful for:

bash api scripting
cron/crontab trading automation
resolving issues with your code
debugging the exchange errors
performing quick cryptocurrency trading from command-line
aggregating data for backtesting
adding interoperability with other systems and frameworks
learning the basics of cryptocurrency exchange trading
learning CCXT and the advanced aspects of APIs
writing new exchange integrations
contributing code to CCXT

For the CCXT library users – we highly recommend to try CLI at least a few times to get a feel of it. For the CCXT library developers – CLI is more than just a recommendation, it's a must.

The best way to learn and understand CCXT CLI – is by experimentation, trial and error. Warning: CLI executes your command and does not ask for a confirmation after you launch it, so be careful with numbers, confusing amounts with prices can cause a loss of funds.

The same CLI design is implemented in all supported languages, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python and PHP – for the purposes of example code for the developers. In other words, the existing CLI contains three implementations that are in many ways identical. The code in those three CLI examples is intended to be "easily understandable".

The source code of the CLI is available here:

Install globally

npm -g ccxt

Update using npm update ccxt -g

Install

Clone the CCXT repository:
```
git clone https://github.com/ccxt/ccxt
```
Change directory to the cloned repository:
```
cd ccxt
```
Install the dependencies:
- Node.js + npm: npm install
- PHP + Composer: composer install
Run the script:
- Node.js: node examples/js/cli okx fetchTicker ETH/USDT
- Python: python3 examples/py/cli.py okx fetch_ticker ETH/USDT
- PHP: php -f examples/php/cli.php okx fetch_ticker ETH/USDT

Usage

The CLI script requires at least one argument, that is, the exchange id (the list of supported exchanges and their ids). If you don't specify the exchange id, the script will print the list of all exchange ids for reference.

Upon launch, CLI will create and initialize the exchange instance and will also call exchange.loadMarkets() on that exchange. If you don't specify any other command-line arguments to CLI except the exchange id argument, then the CLI script will print out all the contents of the exchange object, including the list of all the methods and properties and all the loaded markets (the output may be extremely long in that case).

Normally, following the exchange id argument one would specify a method name to call with its arguments or an exchange property to inspect on the exchange instance.

Inspecting Exchange Properties

If the only parameter you specify to CLI is the exchange id, then it will print out the contents of the exchange instance including all properties, methods, markets, currencies, etc. Warning: exchange contents are HUGE and this will dump A LOT of output to your screen!

node examples/js/cli bybit

You can specify the name of the property of the exchange to narrow the output down to a reasonable size.

node examples/js/cli okx markets  # will print out the list of all the loaded markets
node examples/js/cli binance currencies  # will print out a table of all the loaded currencies
node examples/js/cli gate options  # will print out the contents of the exchange-specific options

You can easily view which methods are supported on the various exchanges:

node examples/js/exchange-capabilities | less -S -R

Calling A Unified Method By Name

Calling unified methods is easy:

node examples/js/cli okx fetchOrderBook BTC/USDT  # will fetch the orderbook from exchange instance and will print it out as a table
node examples/js/cli binance fetchTrades ETH/USDT  # will fetch a list of most recent public trades and will print a table of them
node examples/js/cli bitget fetchTickers  # will fetch all tickers one by one
node examples/js/cli bitget fetchTickers --table  # will fetch all tickers and will print them out as a table
node examples/js/cli bitget fetchTickers '["BTC/USDT","ETH/USDT"]' # will fetch the tickers specified in the array argument

Exchange specific parameters can be set in the last argument of every unified method:

node examples/js/cli bybit setMarginMode isolated BTC/USDT '{"leverage":"8"}' # set the margin mode while specifying the exchange specific leverage parameter

Calling An Exchange-Specific Method By Name

Here's an example of fetching the order book on okx in sandbox mode using the implicit API and the exchange specific instId and sz parameters:

node examples/js/cli okx publicGetMarketBooks '{"instId":"BTC-USDT","sz":"3"}' --sandbox

Authentication And Overrides

Public exchange APIs don't require authentication. You can use the CLI to call any method of a public API. The difference between public APIs and private APIs is described in the Manual, here: Public/Private API.

For private API calls, by default the CLI script will look for API keys in the keys.local.json file in the root of the repository cloned to your working directory and will also look up exchange credentials in the environment variables. More details here: Adding Exchange Credentials.

Unified API vs Exchange-Specific API

CLI supports all possible methods and properties that exist on the exchange instance.

Run with jq

Install jq

Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install jq

Brew (Mac)

brew install jq

Choco (Windows)

choco install jq -y

Examples

Get ticker price of BTC/USDT: `ccxt binance fetchTicker BTC/USDT | jq '.price'
watch price and amount of trades: ccxt binance watchTrades BTC/USDT --raw | jq -c '[.[] | {price: .price, amount: .amount}]'
fuzzy search between trades (requires fzf): ccxt binance fetchTrades --raw | jq -c '.[]' | fzf

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