Kalshi Trading Bot CLI

AI-powered Kalshi trading CLI that finds edge and executes trades.

Runs deep fundamental research on every market — independent probability estimates, ranked price drivers, catalyst calendars — then computes edge as the spread between model price and the live order book. Signals are sized using half-Kelly and filtered through a 5-gate risk engine before a dollar is risked.

Integrates with the Octagon Research API for AI-generated probability estimates that power the edge detection engine.

Prerequisites

• Bun ≥ 1.1 (required — the bot uses bun:sqlite and runs .tsx directly; Node.js won't work)

  curl -fsSL https://bun.com/install | bash

• A Kalshi account with API access (API key + RSA private key)
• One LLM provider key (OpenAI / Anthropic / Google / xAI / OpenRouter / Ollama). The setup wizard collects these on first run.
• Optional: an Octagon key for AI edge analysis, and a Tavily key for web research.

Quick Start

bunx kalshi-trading-bot-cli@latest

That's it — no clone, no install. The setup wizard runs automatically on first launch and walks you through API keys.

Prefer a global install? bun add -g kalshi-trading-bot-cli then run kalshi.

Or work from a clone:

git clone https://github.com/OctagonAI/kalshi-trading-bot-cli.git
cd kalshi-trading-bot-cli
bun install
bun start

Where things live

• Config, cache, SQLite DB: ~/.kalshi-bot/
• API keys (.env): ~/.kalshi-bot/.env — written by the setup wizard. A .env in the current directory takes precedence (handy for dev).
• First run with no keys configured triggers the setup wizard automatically.

Updating

Using @latest in the bunx command always pulls the newest published version — so bunx kalshi-trading-bot-cli@latest is the zero-friction path.

If you ran bunx kalshi-trading-bot-cli without @latest, Bun may serve a cached copy. Force a refresh:

bunx kalshi-trading-bot-cli@latest   # pin latest for this invocation
bun pm cache rm                      # or clear Bun's install cache

If you installed globally with bun add -g kalshi-trading-bot-cli:

bun update -g kalshi-trading-bot-cli         # update in place
bun add -g kalshi-trading-bot-cli@latest     # or reinstall pinned to latest

Check your installed version with kalshi --version (or bun pm ls -g | grep kalshi).

Example Session

$ bunx kalshi-trading-bot-cli@latest

Welcome to Kalshi Trading Bot CLI
Type help for commands, or just ask a question.

> search crypto

  Ticker                  Title                          Last    Volume
  KXBTC-26APR-B95000      Bitcoin above $95k by Apr 30   $0.58   12,841
  KXBTC-26APR-B100000     Bitcoin above $100k by Apr 30  $0.31    8,203
  KXETH-26APR-B2000       Ethereum above $2k by Apr 30   $0.72    5,419

3 markets found

> analyze KXBTC-26APR-B95000

  Octagon Research Report — KXBTC-26APR-B95000
  ─────────────────────────────────────────────
  Model Probability   72%
  Market Price        58%
  Edge               +14.0%  (very_high confidence)

  Top Drivers
  1. Bitcoin ETF inflows accelerating            impact: high
  2. Halving cycle momentum                      impact: high
  3. Macro risk-on sentiment                     impact: moderate

  Kelly Sizing
  Recommended: 3 contracts YES at $0.58
  Risk gates: ✓ Kelly  ✓ Liquidity  ✓ Correlation  ✓ Concentration  ✓ Drawdown

> buy KXBTC-26APR-B95000 3 58

  ✓ Order placed: BUY 3 YES @ $0.58
  Order ID: abc-123-def

> portfolio

  Ticker                  Side  Qty  Entry   Now    Edge    P&L
  KXBTC-26APR-B95000      YES    3   $0.58   $0.61  +11.0%  +$0.09

  Cash: $487.26 · Exposure: $1.74 · Positions: 1

Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | search [theme\|ticker\|query] | Find markets by keyword or theme | | search edge [--min-edge N] | Scan all markets by model edge | | analyze <ticker> | Deep analysis: edge, drivers, Kelly sizing | | watch <ticker> | Live price and orderbook feed | | watch --theme <theme> | Continuous theme scan | | buy <ticker> <count> [price] [yes\|no] | Buy contracts | | sell <ticker> <count> [price] [yes\|no] | Sell contracts | | cancel <order_id> | Cancel a resting order | | backtest | Model accuracy scorecard + live edge scanner | | portfolio | Positions, P&L, risk snapshot | | setup | Re-run setup wizard (inside TUI) | | init | Launch setup wizard from CLI (kalshi init) | | clear-cache | Delete local cache and rebuild (kalshi clear-cache) | | help [command] | Detailed help for a command |

Flags

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --json | JSON output for scripts and agents | | --refresh | Force fresh Octagon report (analyze) | | --performance | Include win rate, Sharpe, Brier scores (portfolio) | | --dry-run | Scan without persisting edges (watch) | | --verbose | Verbose output | | --min-edge <n> | Minimum edge threshold in pp (backtest default 0.5) | | --interval <min> | Scan interval in minutes (watch) | | --live | Force 15m scan interval (watch) | | --days <n> | Lookback period in days (backtest, default 15) | | --max-age <n> | Reject predictions older than N days (backtest, default = --days) | | --resolved | Resolved markets only (backtest) | | --unresolved | Open markets only (backtest) | | --category <cat> | Filter by category (backtest, search edge) | | --limit <n> | Max results to show (search edge, default 20) | | --min-volume <n> | Min per-contract volume (from Octagon snapshot; falls back to Kalshi lifetime if missing). Backtest default 1. | | --min-price <n> | Min contract price, 0-100 scale (backtest, default 5) | | --max-price <n> | Max contract price, 0-100 scale (backtest, default 95) | | --export <path> | Export per-market CSV (backtest) |

Backtesting

Does the model find real edge? Look back N days, compare what the model said then to where the market is now.

• Resolved — scored against Kalshi settlement (YES=100%, NO=0%)
• Unresolved — mark-to-market vs current Kalshi trading price

Methodology (matches Supabase reference):

• Per-contract mp/kp come from outcome_probabilities on each Octagon snapshot — no event-level fallback.
• Tradeability gate uses per-contract volume/volume_24h from the snapshot when present; falls back to Kalshi lifetime volume for pre-API-change cached snapshots.
• --min-edge defaults to 0.5pp so the 0-5% edge bucket stays visible; each signal is tagged with an edge_bucket label (0-5%, 5-10%, ..., 90%+).
• flat_bet_roi is capital-weighted: sum(pnl) / sum(capital), where capital = kp/100 for YES edges and (100 - kp)/100 for NO edges.

kalshi backtest                              # 15-day lookback (default)
kalshi backtest --days 30                    # 30-day lookback
kalshi backtest --max-age 14                 # only score predictions <=14d old
kalshi backtest --resolved                   # resolved only
kalshi backtest --unresolved --min-edge 10   # unresolved, 10pp threshold
kalshi backtest --category crypto            # filter by category
kalshi backtest --min-volume 10 --min-price 5 --max-price 95   # tradeable contracts only
kalshi backtest --export results.csv         # per-market detail

Octagon Backtest — 15-day lookback (04/02 – 04/17)
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

VERDICT: Model has edge (Skill +12.5% [CI: +4.1%, +20.8%]; ROI +7.8%)

  Events         83
  Markets        247   (142 resolved, 105 unresolved)
  Brier (Octagon)   0.168
  Brier (Market)    0.192
  Skill Score       +12.5%  [95% CI: +4.1% to +20.8%]
  Hit rate          61.4%  [95% CI: 54.2% to 68.1%]
  Flat-bet P&L      +$14.38 (ROI: +7.8%)

RESOLVED (142 markets)
  Ticker                    Model   Mkt Then   Outcome   Edge    P&L
  KXBTC-26APR-B95000        72%     58%        YES 100%  +14pp   +$0.42
  ...

UNRESOLVED (105 markets)
  Ticker                    Model   Mkt Then   Now       Edge    M2M
  KXBTC-26MAY-B110000       71%     58%        68%       +13pp   +$0.10
  ...

Demo Mode

Set KALSHI_USE_DEMO=true in your .env to use Kalshi's demo environment. All trades are simulated — no real money at risk.

Agent Usage

Every command supports --json for structured output, making the bot easy to orchestrate from scripts or AI agents.

kalshi search crypto --json
kalshi analyze KXBTC-26APR-B95000 --json
kalshi buy KXBTC-26APR-B95000 3 58 --json
kalshi portfolio --json

JSON Response Format

All responses follow the same envelope:

{
  "ok": true,
  "command": "analyze",
  "data": {
    "ticker": "KXBTC-26APR-B95000",
    "modelProb": 0.72,
    "marketProb": 0.58,
    "edge": 0.14,
    "confidence": "very_high",
    "drivers": [
      { "claim": "Bitcoin ETF inflows accelerating", "impact": "high" }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "octagon_credits_used": 3,
    "octagon_cache_hits": 0
  },
  "timestamp": "2026-03-30T10:00:00.000Z"
}

Errors return "ok": false with an error object containing code and message. Exit code is 0 for success, 1 for failure.

Example Orchestration Flow

# 1. Find markets
MARKETS=$(kalshi search crypto --json | jq '.data')

# 2. Analyze top pick
ANALYSIS=$(kalshi analyze KXBTC-26APR-B95000 --json)
EDGE=$(echo "$ANALYSIS" | jq '.data.edge')

# 3. Trade if edge is high enough
if (( $(echo "$EDGE > 0.05" | bc -l) )); then
  kalshi buy KXBTC-26APR-B95000 3 58 --json
fi

# 4. Check portfolio
kalshi portfolio --json

The watch --theme command outputs NDJSON (one JSON object per scan cycle), suitable for streaming pipelines.

Configuration

Environment Variables

The setup wizard (run automatically on first launch, or invoke with kalshi init) handles this interactively. To edit by hand:

cp env.example ~/.kalshi-bot/.env

Required:

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | KALSHI_API_KEY | Kalshi API key ID | | KALSHI_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE | Path to your Kalshi RSA private key PEM file | | OPENAI_API_KEY | OpenAI API key (default model is GPT-5.4) | | OCTAGON_API_KEY | Octagon API key for deep research. Get one at app.octagonai.co |

Optional:

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | KALSHI_USE_DEMO | true for demo environment (simulated trades) | | KALSHI_PRIVATE_KEY | Inline PEM key as alternative to file path | | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | Anthropic (Claude) | | GOOGLE_API_KEY | Google (Gemini) | | XAI_API_KEY | xAI (Grok) | | OPENROUTER_API_KEY | OpenRouter (multi-model) | | TAVILY_API_KEY | Tavily web search for event research |

Note: The bot defaults to GPT-5.4. If using a different provider, switch the model via the config command — otherwise queries will fail without OPENAI_API_KEY.

Octagon Credits

Each Octagon report costs 3 credits. Reports are cached with tiered TTLs based on market close proximity — markets closing soon get shorter cache windows. Use --refresh to force a fresh report. Set a daily credit ceiling with config octagon.daily_credit_ceiling <n>.

Runtime Settings

kalshi config                              # List all settings
kalshi config risk.kelly_multiplier        # Get a value
kalshi config risk.kelly_multiplier 0.3    # Set a value

| Setting | Default | Description | |---------|---------|-------------| | scan.interval | 60 | Scan interval in minutes | | scan.theme | top50 | Default market theme | | risk.kelly_multiplier | 0.5 | Kelly fraction (0.5 = half-Kelly) | | risk.max_drawdown | 0.20 | Max drawdown before circuit breaker | | risk.max_positions | 10 | Max concurrent open positions | | risk.max_per_category | 3 | Max positions per event category | | risk.daily_loss_limit | 200 | Daily loss limit in dollars | | octagon.daily_credit_ceiling | 100 | Max Octagon credits per day | | alerts.min_edge | 0.05 | Minimum edge to trigger an alert |

Architecture

The CLI talks to two external services: the Kalshi exchange API (market data, order placement, portfolio) and the Octagon research API (AI probability estimates, price drivers). Results are cached in a local SQLite database to minimize API calls and credit usage.

LLM Providers

Default model is GPT-5.4. Switch with the config command.

| Prefix | Provider | |--------|----------| | gpt- | OpenAI | | claude- | Anthropic | | gemini- | Google | | grok- | xAI | | openrouter/ | OpenRouter | | ollama: | Ollama (local) |

Development

bun dev              # Dev mode with hot reload
bun run typecheck    # Type checking
bun test             # Run tests

Telemetry

This app collects anonymous usage telemetry to help improve the product. No personal data, API keys, trade details, or natural language inputs are ever collected. Only command names, tool usage, timing, and success/failure metrics are tracked.

Telemetry is enabled by default. To disable it, add to your .env:

TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false

Or set the environment variable before running:

TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false bunx kalshi-trading-bot-cli@latest

Documentation

See the User Guide for detailed usage instructions, examples, and tips.

Star History

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.