Overview
Cardano CLI is a free command-line tool that lets you create wallet keys, send ADA, stake, and take part in governance by typing commands into a terminal instead of clicking through an app. Developers, stake pool operators who run the servers that produce blocks, and hands-on ADA holders use it when they want to see and control each step of a transaction. It connects to a Cardano node, the network software that keeps a copy of the blockchain, which you run yourself1.
Intersect, the member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem tasked with ensuring its continuity and future development2, maintains Cardano CLI as one of the core protocol repositories behind the network3. The tool ships with cardano-node, the main Cardano node software4. Standalone downloads of each version also sit on the project's release page, and the code is written in Haskell, a programming language, and published under the Apache-2.0 open-source license5.
Key Features
- Wallet keys made on your own machine. Cardano CLI generates the payment and staking keys behind a Cardano address, and can create or restore keys from a recovery phrase, which its built-in help recommends doing on an air-gapped computer that never connects to the internet6.
- Payments you control step by step. One command builds a payment, works out the fee, and returns the change to your address. Separate commands then sign it with your key and submit it to the network1.
- Sign on a computer that stays offline. Cardano CLI can build a transaction fully offline, with you calculating the fee, so signing happens on a disconnected machine and the same build can be reproduced exactly7.
- Staking and vote delegation from the terminal. ADA holders can delegate stake to a stake pool and hand their voting power to a DRep, a delegated representative who votes on governance proposals for them5.
- Register a stake pool and cast governance votes. Stake pool operators register and manage their pools with Cardano CLI5. Governance participants can draft proposals, such as treasury withdrawals that pay ADA out of Cardano's shared community fund, and cast yes, no, or abstain votes6.
What to Expect
The Cardano CLI home is a GitHub repository, not an app with buttons. Visitors find source code, release downloads, and links to tutorials and a full list of commands5. Many commands read and write plain files, such as key files, address files, and signed transactions1.
For ADA holders, getting started takes more setup than a wallet app. You first run a node and point Cardano CLI at it, then create a key and an address, check your balance, and send a first payment1. The Your First Transaction page walks through each of those steps with example commands.
Developers use the tool to script repeatable jobs, since commands can print results as JSON, a structured text format other programs can read7. Commands are grouped by era, the name Cardano gives each major protocol upgrade6. Code libraries listed under transaction builders handle the same work from inside a programming language, and those libraries can use a hosted data provider in place of a local node4.
Contributors will find a guide covering the Haskell and Nix tools the project is built with. Nix is a tool that sets up the same development environment on each machine8.
