Introducing @coinbase/cdp-cli: Give Your Agents the Power of Action

By: Evan Paschke and Josh Nickerson

TL;DR  CDP CLI is a unified interface for Coinbase Developer Platform. Built for both humans and AI, it streamlines authentication and gives agents native, spec-driven access to the full suite of CDP APIs, from payments and trading to wallets and onchain tools, all in a single command.

The shift from documentation to execution

Coinbase Developer Platform (CDP) provides a comprehensive suite of crypto infrastructure and onchain primitives. As we move into an agentic-first world, the distance between a developer’s intent and an API’s execution needs to disappear.

Interacting with sophisticated APIs traditionally involves manual configuration of authentication headers and payload structures. While this is standard for secure, server-side integrations, it can introduce friction during rapid prototyping or when guiding an AI agent through a complex workflow.

That’s why we’re launching @coinbase/cdp-cli. We’ve unified the entire CDP API surface into a single tool that handles the "how" of infrastructure and security so you (and your agents) can focus on the "what" of building.

What makes CDP CLI different?

CDP CLI is a spec-driven engine designed to operate wherever you work, whether that’s a terminal, a CI/CD pipeline, or a conversation with an AI coding assistant. Its unique features include:

Auth-transparent operations

Configure your credentials once per environment, and the CLI handles JWT signing for every subsequent request.

AI-native

The CLI doubles as an MCP server, and includes an agent skill. When configured in tools like Claude Code, it gives your AI assistant tool-calling access to every CDP operation, out of the box. Because it's generated dynamically from our OpenAPI spec, the moment we ship a new feature, your agent already knows how to use it.

Inline schema discovery

No more context-switching to browser tabs. Run --help on any command to see every field, its type, and an auto-generated example directly in your terminal. Need to know the required fields for a transfer? The CLI provides JSON templates and interactive editors on the fly.

Zero-dependency portability

Built on Node.js 22+ with zero runtime dependencies, the CLI is a single, lightweight ESM bundle. It’s designed for speed, security, and easy integration into any environment without supply-chain bloat.

What you can build

By removing the boilerplate of API interaction, CDP CLI unlocks new levels of developer and agent productivity:

• Human-in-the-loop exploration: Use cdp <resource> <action> --edit to quickly test new API features in your favorite terminal editor

• Composable building blocks: Create accounts, fund them, encode transactions, sign, and broadcast — each a simple bash command, scriptable in any pipeline

• AI-powered orchestration: Give your AI agent native tool access to discover every CDP endpoint, compose multi-step workflows autonomously, and write integration code that works the first time

CI/CD guardrails: Use --dry-run and --jq filtering to validate API payloads and responses within your deployment pipelines

How it works

CDP CLI acts as a secure bridge between your local environment and CDP. It stores API keys securely in your local config and generates fresh, short-lived JWTs for every request.

Auth and environments. Configure an API key and wallet secret once per environment. Every request generates auth headers automatically. Model projects as environments; prefix with live to inherit the base URL (e.g. live-project-a, live-project-b), and switch with cdp env <name> or override per-request with -e.

Documentation. Every command has built-in help: fields, types, defaults, and examples. --template prints the full request shape as JSON. No context switching, no doc cross-referencing.

Request workflow. --dry-run previews the assembled request before sending. --edit opens the body in $EDITOR. History saves the last successful request per endpoint, so subsequent calls only need the fields that changed. Fields can be set inline (key=value), as JSON (key:={"nested": true}), from a file (@body.json), or from stdin. --jq filters responses, --paginate auto-follows pages.

MCP server. cdp mcp starts a local Model Context Protocol server over stdio, exposing every CDP endpoint as a typed tool. 14 bundled skills walk agents through complete workflows like account creation, the encode-sign-send pipeline, and token swaps.

Client-side utilities. tx-encode and tx-decode for EVM and Solana transactions, abi-encode for contract calldata, encrypt-key for key import.

The architecture is built for the agentic era:

• CLI: Human-friendly commands for exploration and automation

• MCP server: Stdio-based protocol for AI tool-calling

• Spec engine: OpenAPI-driven logic that ensures the tool stays in sync with the API

• Agent skill: A specialized SKILL.md that teaches AI assistants how to use the CLI efficiently

What's available

Run cdp to see the top-level resources:

Resources:

  data                Onchain Data (9 actions)

  end-users      End User Accounts (8 actions)

  evm           EVM Accounts (31 actions)

  onramp            Onramp (4 actions)

  policy-engine       Policy Engine (5 actions)

  solana              Solana Accounts (13 actions)

  x402                  x402 Facilitator (3 actions)

EVM and Solana cover CDP Server Wallets end-to-end. Create accounts, sign messages and transactions, send using the encode-sign-send pipeline, swap tokens, and manage smart accounts (ERC-4337) with optional gas sponsorship. Client-side utilities handle transaction encoding, ABI encoding, and key encryption without network calls.

Data supports checking token balances, running SQL queries against indexed chain data, and setting up webhooks to monitor on-chain events.

Policy Engine defines accept/reject rules by value, address, or network and attaches them to any account.

End Users, Onramp, and x402 round out the API with embedded wallets for end users, fiat-to-crypto conversion using Coinbase Onramp, and agentic payments over the x402 protocol.

The future is spec-driven

CDP CLI represents a future where tools are as dynamic as the APIs they support. By giving humans and agents the same high-fidelity interface, we're making it easier than ever to build the next generation of financial applications on Coinbase’s trusted infrastructure.

Get started today

• Install the CLI: npm install -g @coinbase/cdp-cli

• Use the agent skill: Ask your agent to use docs.cdp.coinbase.com/cdp-cli/skill.md

• Explore the docs: https://docs.cdp.coinbase.com/get-started/tools/cdp-cli

• Join the community: Find us in the #cdp-cli channel in the CDP Discord