@starfetch-js/cli

Query Gaia, SIMBAD, VizieR, the NASA Exoplanet Archive, IRSA, and other public astronomy TAP services from the command line. Starfetch keeps ADQL visible so an agent result, script, or investigation can be reproduced exactly.

Requires Node.js 22 or newer.

npm install -g @starfetch-js/cli
starfetch tap tables --service gaia

Run once without installing globally:

npx -y @starfetch-js/cli tap tables --service gaia

Metadata first, then a bounded query

Inspect the live schema before writing service-specific ADQL:

starfetch tap availability --service gaia
starfetch tap tables --service gaia
starfetch tap columns --service gaia --table gaiadr3.gaia_source

Then run a reproducible query. TOP bounds the ADQL result and --maxrec bounds the TAP request:

starfetch tap query \
  --service gaia \
  --query "SELECT TOP 5 source_id, ra, dec FROM gaiadr3.gaia_source" \
  --maxrec 5 \
  --format json

[{ "source_id": "…", "ra": 56.64828, "dec": 24.38537 }]

The CLI also supports VO registry discovery, explicit TAP/UWS async jobs, CSV/TSV/VOTable output, and starfetch skill commands. It is intended for public TAP services, not authenticated/private archives, image processing, or authoritative astrophysical interpretation.

For the complete Gaia proper-motion workflow and TypeScript API, see the repository README.