Intended Audience

This tool is meant for developers only -- it is meant to be used for testing and debugging Blockstack apps in ways that the Browser does not yet support. It is not safe to use this tool for day-to-day tasks, since many commands operate on unencrypted private keys. Everyone is encouraged to use the Blockstack Browser whenever possible.

Installation

Requirements

• Node.js v8 or higher (v10 recommended).
• nvm is recommended for MacOS & Linux users to avoid sudo or permissions problems.

Install the CLI

$ npm install -g https://github.com/blockstack/cli-blockstack

This should install blockstack-cli to your $PATH.

Troubleshooting

If running into EACCES permissions errors:

• See https://docs.npmjs.com/resolving-eacces-permissions-errors-when-installing-packages-globally.
• Use Node Version Manager.

How to Use

The CLI has a built-in help system. Just run blockstack-cli to access it. You can list all command documentation with blockstack-cli help all.

Examples

$ blockstack-cli gaia_listfiles --gaia_hub "https://hub.blockstack.org" --app_private_key 3fb610986b2f80af87508ed3b699c4146cb4589264e521402fae6c4f969ab09e
/documents/1564791377194.json
/documents/1564791386260.json
/documents/1564791394787.json
documentscollection.json
key.json
5

How to Contribute

This tool is targeted towards Blockstack developers. Patches to fix bugs are welcome!

Project Scope

The following featuers are considered in-scope for this tool:

• Generating and broadcasting all supported types of Blockstack transactions
• Loading, storing, and listing data in Gaia hubs
• Generating owner, payment and application keys from a seed phrase
• Querying Blockstack Core nodes
• Implementing a minimum viable authentication flow

Everything else is out of scope. Specifically, the following will not be added to this tool:

• Anything that requires persistent disk state -- this includes software wallets, configuration files, and so on
• Anything that involves administrating other Blockstack services
• Features specific to a particular Blockstack app
• Any sort of plugin or extension system

How to Reach Other Blockstack Devs

The best place to discuss CLI and app development is on the Blockstack Forum.