Bybit Trading CLI

Bybit Trading CLI

Use bybit-cli (binary from bybit-official-trading-cli npm package) for any Bybit V5 API operation.

Bootstrap (do this first)

bybit-cli agent-briefing

That returns ~300 words covering auth setup, safety model, and how to explore commands. Read it carefully before making any API call.

Discovery

• bybit-cli catalog — JSON list of all commands (domain, command, requiresAuth, method)
• bybit-cli <domain> <cmd> --json-schema — JSON Schema for one command
• bybit-cli <domain> <cmd> --help — human-readable help

Auth setup

Two env vars minimum:

export BYBIT_API_KEY=<your key>
export BYBIT_API_SECRET=<your secret>
export BYBIT_ENV=testnet   # or leave unset for mainnet

For RSA (self-generated key uploaded to Bybit):

export BYBIT_API_KEY=<your key>
export BYBIT_API_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH=/path/to/private.pem

Safety rules (MUST follow on mainnet)

1. Every write op requires --yes — CLI rejects with a summary of what would run
2. Withdraw / transfer / fiat / P2P are blocked by default — needs --enable-advanced-money-ops to unlock (be certain first)
3. Set caps: --cap-usd 500 per-order, --cap-usd-total-hour 2000 rolling, --max-orders-per-hour 20
4. Kill-switch: bybit-cli kill-switch from any shell blocks all writes until bybit-cli enable-switch

Install (if which bybit-cli empty)

npm i -g bybit-official-trading-cli@latest

Update

bybit-cli self-update           # install latest from npm

Set BYBIT_CLI_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 to silence update-available prompts.

Output shape

Every call returns JSON to stdout:

{"retCode":N, "retMsg":"...", "result":{...}, "cli":{"env":"mainnet"|"testnet"}}

• retCode=0 = success; non-zero = error, retMsg + cli.hint explains
• cli.retry: true — safe to retry
• cli.nextSteps — specific commands to unblock
• stderr may contain diagnostics; stdout is always parseable JSON