kraken-cli

Single-binary CLI for Spot and Derivatives trading — scripting, automation, paper trading, and AI agent workflows

kraken-cli is a single compiled binary for trading and account management across the Kraken exchange. No runtime dependencies. One install covers Spot, Derivatives, xStocks, Forex, Earn, and Subaccounts.

GitHub

Source, releases, and changelog

MCP server

Expose all 151 commands as tools for AI agents via the built-in MCP server

Install

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf \
  https://github.com/krakenfx/kraken-cli/releases/latest/download/kraken-cli-installer.sh | sh

Supported on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Linux (x86_64 and ARM64), and Windows via WSL. Release binaries are Minisign-verified.

Verify the install:

kraken status && kraken ticker BTCUSD

What it covers

151 commands across 13 groups. Six asset classes in one binary:

Asset class	Examples	Notes
Crypto spot	BTC, ETH, SOL (1,400+ pairs)	Default engine
xStocks (tokenized equities)	AAPL, TSLA, SPY (79 assets)	--asset-class tokenized_asset
Forex	EUR/USD, GBP/USD (11 pairs)	--asset-class forex
Perpetual futures	317 contracts	Futures engine
Inverse and fixed-date futures	BTC, ETH, SOL	Futures engine
Earn / staking	Flexible and bonded strategies	kraken earn

Command groups

Group	Commands	Auth required
market	10	No
account	18	Yes
trade	9	Yes
funding	10	Yes
earn	6	Yes
subaccount	2	Yes
futures	39	Mixed
paper	10	No
futures-paper	17	No
websocket	15	Mixed
futures-ws	9	Mixed
auth	4	No
utility	2	No

Paper trading

The CLI’s built-in paper trading engine runs against live prices with no authentication required. It is the recommended way to test strategies and integrations.

# Spot paper trading
kraken paper balance
kraken paper order buy BTCUSD 0.001 --type limit --price 50000
kraken paper positions

# Futures paper trading
kraken futures paper balance
kraken futures paper order buy PF_XBTUSD 1 --type limit --price 50000

Paper and live trading share the same command interface — switching to live is a matter of removing the paper subcommand and providing credentials.

Scripting and automation

All 151 commands support -o json output and consistent exit codes (0 = success, non-zero = failure), making them composable in shell scripts and CI pipelines:

# Cancel all open orders on BTC/USD
kraken spot orders cancel-all --pair BTC/USD

# Stream the live order book to a file
kraken spot ws book --symbol BTC/USD >> book.jsonl

# Fetch balance as JSON, filter with jq
kraken account balance -o json | jq '.XXBT'

Stdout always produces valid JSON on success or an error envelope on failure. Stderr carries diagnostics only. Never parse stderr for data.

Account management

kraken balance
kraken open-orders -o json
kraken account trades

Dead man’s switch

Cancel all open orders if your process stops sending heartbeats:

kraken spot cancel-after --timeout 60

Authentication

Credentials are resolved in this order:

1. Command-line flags (--api-key, --api-secret)
2. Environment variables (KRAKEN_API_KEY, KRAKEN_API_SECRET)
3. Config file (~/.config/kraken/config.toml)

Run the setup wizard to configure interactively:

kraken setup

Generate API keys at Settings → API for Spot, or in the Futures interface for Derivatives. Grant only the permissions your workflow needs.

Interactive shell

For exploratory sessions:

kraken shell

AI agent integration

The CLI is designed for machine consumption: structured JSON output, stable error categories, and predictable exit codes. See the MCP server page to expose all commands as tools for LLM agents.

Agent resources shipped with the CLI:

Resource	Purpose
AGENTS.md	Full agent integration guide
CONTEXT.md	Runtime context for tool-using agents
agents/tool-catalog.json	151 commands with parameter schemas
agents/error-catalog.json	9 error categories with retry guidance
skills/	50 goal-oriented workflow packages
CLAUDE.md	Claude-specific guidance