Start

Install the CLI

The CryptoCadet CLI is one binary, cryptocadet (alias ccx), for buyers and sellers. The current version is 0.6.0.

macOS and Linux

Terminal

curl -fsSL https://cryptocadet.app/install.sh | sh

The installer sets up its own Node 24 under ~/.cryptocadet-cli, checked against the SHA-256 sums published by nodejs.org, installs the @cryptocadet/cli package into it, and puts cryptocadet and ccx launchers on your PATH. It does not change your system Node.

Homebrew

Terminal

brew install thetechjd/cryptocadet-cli/cryptocadet

npm

Terminal

npm i -g @cryptocadet/cli

The npm package needs Node 22.5 or later, because it uses Node's built-in node:sqlite.

Windows

In PowerShell:

PowerShell

irm https://cryptocadet.app/install.ps1 | iex

Like the shell installer, it sets up a private Node under %LOCALAPPDATA%\cryptocadet-cli and installs the CLI with the native Windows credential store it needs. You can also use npm i -g @cryptocadet/cli.

Check the install

Terminal

cryptocadet version

Output

{
  "version": "0.6.0"
}

The OS keychain

The CLI keeps secrets in your operating system's keychain, never in a plain file: the key that decrypts your agent wallet, your account credential and any agent token. It uses macOS Keychain, the Linux Secret Service, or Windows Credential Manager.

LinuxIf cryptocadet init warns that no keychain backend is available, install libsecret-tools (which provides secret-tool) or run npm i -g @napi-rs/keyring, then run init again.

What it writes to disk

Everything local lives in ~/.cryptocadet/:

File	What it is
`agent.key.enc`	The agent wallet key, encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The data key is in the OS keychain.
`policy.json`	Your local spending policy for USDC payments.
`ledger.sqlite`	A local record of payments, so a quote is never paid twice.
`config.json`	Non-secret settings: network, server URL, agent address.

Next: Quickstart.