# @polkadot-api/cli Latest version **0.22.1** (published 2026-09-01) · MIT license · 0 weekly downloads ## Install ```sh npm install @polkadot-api/cli pnpm add @polkadot-api/cli yarn add @polkadot-api/cli bun add @polkadot-api/cli ``` Provides the commands `papi`, `polkadot-api`. ## Health **Score 75/100 (B)** — status: active. Positive: has types; esm support; no vulnerabilities; has provenance; recently updated; high maintenance score; high quality score. Warnings: low downloads; pre 1.0. ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Version | 0.22.1 | | Published | 2026-09-01 | | First published | 2023-09-15 | | Weekly downloads | 0 | | License | MIT | | TypeScript types | bundled | | Module format | ESM + CommonJS | | Dependencies | 27 | | Unpacked size | 244.6 KB | | Known vulnerabilities | 0 | | Install scripts | no | | Provenance | attested (GitHub Actions) | | GitHub stars | 156 | | Author | Victor Oliva (https://github.com/voliva) | | Maintainers | voliva, josepot | ## Links - npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@polkadot-api/cli - Repository: https://github.com/polkadot-api/polkadot-api - npm.io page: https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/cli ## Dependencies (27) - [ora](https://npm.io/package/ora.md) ^9.4.1 - [rxjs](https://npm.io/package/rxjs.md) ^7.8.2 - [execa](https://npm.io/package/execa.md) ^10.0.1 - [rollup](https://npm.io/package/rollup.md) ^4.63.1 - [read-pkg](https://npm.io/package/read-pkg.md) ^10.1.0 - [tsc-prog](https://npm.io/package/tsc-prog.md) ^2.3.0 - [commander](https://npm.io/package/commander.md) ^15.0.0 - [typescript](https://npm.io/package/typescript.md) ^6.0.3 - [@types/node](https://npm.io/package/@types/node.md) ^26.4.0 - [write-package](https://npm.io/package/write-package.md) ^7.2.0 - [fs.promises.exists](https://npm.io/package/fs.promises.exists.md) ^1.1.4 - [@polkadot-api/utils](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/utils.md) 0.4.0 - [@polkadot-api/codegen](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/codegen.md) 0.23.1 - [@polkadot-api/smoldot](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/smoldot.md) 0.4.7 - [rollup-plugin-esbuild](https://npm.io/package/rollup-plugin-esbuild.md) ^6.2.1 - [@polkadot-api/sm-provider](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/sm-provider.md) 0.3.8 - [@polkadot-api/ws-provider](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/ws-provider.md) 0.9.1 - [@polkadot-api/known-chains](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/known-chains.md) 0.12.3 - [@commander-js/extra-typings](https://npm.io/package/@commander-js/extra-typings.md) ^15.0.0 - [@polkadot-api/ink-contracts](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/ink-contracts.md) 0.7.1 - [@polkadot-api/wasm-executor](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/wasm-executor.md) ^0.2.3 - [@polkadot-api/ws-middleware](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/ws-middleware.md) 0.4.1 - [@polkadot-api/substrate-client](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/substrate-client.md) 0.7.0 - [@polkadot-api/json-rpc-provider](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/json-rpc-provider.md) 0.2.0 - [@polkadot-api/observable-client](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/observable-client.md) 0.19.1 - [@polkadot-api/substrate-bindings](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/substrate-bindings.md) 0.21.1 - [@polkadot-api/metadata-compatibility](https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/metadata-compatibility.md) 0.7.1 ## Recent versions - 0.22.1 (latest) — 2026-09-01 - 0.22.2-canary.49bdaa9 (canary) — 2026-09-01 - 0.21.9-rc.1 (rc) — 2026-07-20 - 0.0.1-c9bb2ce3de90b7b5745189b6e3258c7cd945bb40.1.0 (next) — 2024-04-04 - 0.0.1-5f21a32c61a607b71f74693e0a46e8f69d497381.1.0 (pr-246) — 2024-01-23 - 0.0.1-097dae903cc84c0d8a6c93f39fef5e4724660825.1.0 (pr-245) — 2024-01-16 - 0.0.1-f90412d81eb4e75dd03050a8ce7ee4aee1881690.1.0 (pr-244) — 2024-01-16 - 0.0.1-5385372d2b5500605bc9e86b6dbd27cfd9c6469c.1.0 (pr-243) — 2024-01-16 - 0.0.1-e1be57e0d4bc452f101c3e64c37017f231803058.1.0 (pr-238) — 2024-01-16 - 0.0.1-1a9587dd9ccd1bd2572739a3ff81de3474fc0149.1.0 (pr-242) — 2024-01-16 - 0.0.1-a8c4f3c213c8f8c3b2e1c24500e4ea5c7f2142c7.1.0 (pr-241) — 2024-01-16 - 0.0.1-e894d16c994c9488b76ceaa4516cabcfaf1d94a0.1.0 (pr-240) — 2024-01-12 - 0.0.1-2d0e2e33524cf1d48d0feec107b24d2133c3c030.1.0 (pr-239) — 2024-01-08 - 0.0.1-248f1539f4e2c04e472a0c5dc0b982429f85c905.1.0 (pr-237) — 2024-01-07 - 0.0.1-0dc74a3df9195fb0e26e1ab223c34285d11bc4fe.1.0 (pr-236) — 2024-01-07 - … 817 more at https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/cli/versions ## README # Polkadot API CLI ## Getting Started Add a chain by using the add command ```sh polkadot-api add ksm -n ksmcc3 ``` In this example, `ksm` is the key to be used to reference this chain, `-n ksmcc3` is to source from the "well-known chain" Kusama. Then you can run the CLI without arguments to generate the descriptor files ```sh polkadot-api ``` Files are generated into a `@polkadot-api/descriptors` package. ## General Usage ```sh polkadot-api --help ``` ```sh Usage: polkadot-api [options] [command] Polkadot API CLI Options: -h, --help display help for command Commands: generate [options] Generate descriptor files add [options] Add a new chain spec to the list update [options] [keys] Update the metadata files remove [options] Remove a chain spec from the list help [command] display help for command ``` ## Configuration file By default, the Polkadot API configuration file is `polkadot-api.json`, located at the project's root folder. This file contains a record of the added chains, their sources, and the destination folders for each one of them. All the arguments of the CLI accept an option `--config {file}` to use a different configuration file. Optionally you can have this configuration in the `package.json` file, which will be added under the `polkadot-api` subpath. ## Commands ### Generate ```sh Usage: polkadot-api generate [options] Generate descriptor files Options: --config Source for the config file -k, --key Key of the descriptor to generate -h, --help display help for command ``` By default, it generates the descriptor files for all of the chains defined in the config file. To generate only the ones for a specific chain, use the `-k, --key` parameter. ### Add ```sh Usage: polkadot-api add [options] Add a new chain spec to the list Arguments: key Key identifier for the chain spec Options: --config Source for the config file -f, --file Source from metadata encoded file -w, --wsUrl Source from websocket url -c, --chainSpec Source from chain spec file -n, --name Source from a well-known chain --no-persist Do not persist the metadata as a file -h, --help display help for command ``` This command requires one of the options to specify a source: - From a SCALE-encoded metadata file: `-f, --file` - From a Websocket URL: `-w, --wsUrl` - From a chainSpect: `-c, --chainSpec` - From a well-known chain (as of this writing: polkadot, ksmcc3, rococo_v2_2 or westend2): `-n, --name` For the external sources (`-w`, `-c` and `-n`), the CLI automatically downloads the metadata and stores it as a file `{key}.scale` so that it can be added to source control, which is recommended. In case you want to re-fetch in on the fly every time you generate the descriptors, there's the option `--no-persist` which wil not create the metadata file. ### Update ```sh Usage: polkadot-api update [options] [keys] Update the metadata files Arguments: keys Keys of the metadata files to update, separated by commas. Leave empty for all Options: --config Source for the config file -h, --help display help for command ``` For the chains with both an external source (added with `-w`, `-c` or `-n`) and a persisted file it re-fetches the metadata and updates the encoded metadata file. ### Remove ```sh Usage: polkadot-api remove [options] Remove a chain spec from the list Arguments: key Key identifier for the chain spec Options: --config Source for the config file -h, --help display help for command ``` Removes the specified chain spec from the list. Equivalent as manually removing the entry from the config file. --- _Source: https://npm.io/package/@polkadot-api/cli · Machine-readable twin of the npm.io package page. Health data is recomputed on every publish._