Aleph.im Command-Line Interface

All the features of aleph.im can be accessed from a terminal using the aleph-client command-line interface.

Requirements

On Linux:

apt-get install -y python3-pip libsecp256k1-dev

On macOS:

brew tap cuber/homebrew-libsecp256k1
brew install libsecp256k1

Installation

We recommend using pipx to install Python based command-line tools on Linux and macOS systems.

pipx installs tools in isolated environments, ensuring that it does not mess up with your system. Install pipx from the pipx documentation using apt or brew.

Once pipx setup, aleph-client from PyPI can be installed using:

pipx install aleph-client

Advanced users may instead create a Python virtual environment and install aleph-client in it:

python3 -m venv my-virtual-environment
source ./my-virtual-environment/activate
pip install aleph-client

In both cases, the command aleph should now be available to use.

Using Docker

The tools is also available as a OCI Image Format to use with Docker or Podman.

docker run --rm -ti \
    -v $(pwd)/data:/data \
    ghcr.io/aleph-im/aleph-client/aleph-client:master \
    --help

⚠️ This will use an ephemeral key that will be discarded when stopping the container.

Usage

All available commands can be found from the help menu:

aleph --help

 Usage: aleph [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...                                                                  

╭─ Options ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ --install-completion        [bash|zsh|fish|powershell|pwsh]  Install completion for the specified       │
│                                                              shell.                                     │
│                                                              [default: None]                            │
│ --show-completion           [bash|zsh|fish|powershell|pwsh]  Show completion for the specified shell,   │
│                                                              to copy it or customize the installation.  │
│                                                              [default: None]                            │
│ --help                                                       Show this message and exit.                │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭─ Commands ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ about             Display the information of Aleph CLI                                                 │
│ account           Manage account                                                                        │
│ aggregate         Manage aggregate messages on aleph.im                                                 │
│ domain            Manage custom Domain (dns) on aleph.im                                                │
│ file              File uploading and pinning on IPFS and aleph.im                                       │
│ instance          Manage instances (VMs) on aleph.im network                                            │
│ message           Post, amend, watch and forget messages on aleph.im                                    │
│ node              Get node info on aleph.im network                                                     │
│ program           Upload and update programs on aleph.im VM                                             │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

And are documented on the usage page.