Alchemy CLI

Alchemy CLI

Use the Alchemy CLI (@alchemy/cli) for live blockchain queries, admin work, and local automation from the terminal. The CLI maps every Alchemy product (Node JSON-RPC, Token, NFT, Transfers, Prices, Portfolio, Simulation, Solana, Webhooks, Apps) to alchemy <command> invocations with structured JSON output.

When to use this skill

Use alchemy-cli when all of the following are true:

• The user wants live agent work — live querying, analysis, admin work, or local automation that the agent runs now in this session
• @alchemy/cli is installed locally, or both the CLI and an MCP server are available, or neither is available (in which case install the CLI — see Install)

The CLI is the preferred local fallback runtime path for live agent work. When in doubt about CLI vs MCP, prefer the CLI.

When to use a different skill

Do not use this skill to write production application code — CLI commands are for live agent work, not for embedding into shipped software.

Install

npm i -g @alchemy/cli

If the CLI is not installed and the user wants live agent work, install it. Do not fall back to raw curl/HTTP calls — those are the API-key path covered by alchemy-api.

Bootstrap

Run this at the start of any session to get the full command contract (every command, flag, auth method, error code, and example):

alchemy --json --no-interactive agent-prompt

Execution rules

• ALWAYS pass --json --no-interactive on every command
• Parse stdout as JSON on exit code 0
• Parse stderr as JSON on nonzero exit code
• NEVER run bare alchemy without --json --no-interactive
• NEVER use curl or raw HTTP when an alchemy CLI command exists for the task — that's the alchemy-api (API-key) path, not this skill
• NEVER use the CLI to generate production application code; hand off to alchemy-api or agentic-gateway for shipped code

Preflight

Before the first command, run both of these checks:

alchemy --json --no-interactive setup status
alchemy --json --no-interactive gas

setup status returns {"complete": true, "satisfiedBy": "<source>"} if any auth is configured. Do not rely on complete: true alone — there is a known false positive where setup status reports complete: true with satisfiedBy: "auth_token", but RPC commands still fail with AUTH_REQUIRED because no API key has been derived from the auth token.

gas is a lightweight RPC smoke test that catches this. If it returns {"gasPrice": "0x...", ...}, RPC is wired up correctly. If it returns {"error": {"code": "AUTH_REQUIRED", ...}}, run alchemy auth login (which fetches and saves the API key) or alchemy config set api-key <key>, then re-run gas to confirm.

If setup status reports complete: false, follow the nextCommands in the response first, then run gas to verify.

Auth setup

The fastest way to authenticate is via browser login:

alchemy auth login

This opens a browser to authenticate with your Alchemy account and automatically configures the CLI with your credentials.

To check auth status: alchemy auth status To log out: alchemy auth logout

Alternative auth methods

alchemy network list and alchemy version / update-check need no auth.

Selecting a default app

Many apps subcommands (and the access-key gated flows) operate on a "default app." If you see APP_REQUIRED in an error response, set one:

alchemy --json --no-interactive apps select <id>
# or equivalently
alchemy --json --no-interactive config set app <id>

Get API/access keys at dashboard.alchemy.com.

Task-to-command map

Node (EVM)

Data

Solana

Webhooks

Account abstraction (ERC-4337)

Wallet (x402)

App management

CLI admin

Global flags

Error handling

Errors return structured JSON on stderr. Each error has a code, an exitCode (1–9), a retryable boolean, and a recovery hint. Key codes (from agent-prompt):

Get the full canonical list any time with alchemy --json --no-interactive agent-prompt.

Handing off to other skills

Bridging into the alchemy-api flow (extract an API key)

If the user is starting an app-code project and $ALCHEMY_API_KEY isn't set in their shell, use the CLI to fetch a key from their Alchemy account, persist it to the project's .env so it survives across terminal sessions, and export it for the current shell so the agent can use it immediately.

Security: NEVER echo, print, or otherwise surface the extracted API key value in conversation output. Refer to it only as $ALCHEMY_API_KEY after exporting. Treat it the same as a password.

# 1. Try to read a cached key from CLI config (read-only, safe non-interactive).
KEY="$(alchemy --no-interactive --json --reveal config get api-key 2>/dev/null | jq -r .value)"

# 2. If empty/null, run the interactive flow.
#    Note: auth login opens a browser and apps select shows a picker, so do NOT
#    pass --no-interactive here. If you already know the app id, pass it
#    explicitly to skip the picker: `alchemy --no-interactive --json apps select <id>`.
if [ -z "$KEY" ] || [ "$KEY" = "null" ]; then
  alchemy auth login              # opens browser; sets up account credentials
  alchemy --json apps select      # interactive picker (omit --no-interactive so it can render)
  KEY="$(alchemy --no-interactive --json --reveal config get api-key | jq -r .value)"
fi

# 3. Persist to the project's .env (standard practice — survives terminal restarts
#    and gets loaded by dotenv / framework env loaders at runtime).
#    Use .env.local if the project's framework expects that (e.g. Next.js).
ENV_FILE=".env"
touch "$ENV_FILE"
if grep -q '^ALCHEMY_API_KEY=' "$ENV_FILE"; then
  sed -i.bak "s|^ALCHEMY_API_KEY=.*|ALCHEMY_API_KEY=$KEY|" "$ENV_FILE" && rm "$ENV_FILE.bak"
else
  echo "ALCHEMY_API_KEY=$KEY" >> "$ENV_FILE"
fi
grep -qxF "$ENV_FILE" .gitignore 2>/dev/null || echo "$ENV_FILE" >> .gitignore

# 4. Export to the current shell so the agent can call the API immediately.
export ALCHEMY_API_KEY="$KEY"

Hand off to the alchemy-api skill once .env has the key and ALCHEMY_API_KEY is exported.

Official links

• CLI on npm
• Alchemy docs
• Get API key