CLI Command Reference

Reference for the ant CLI command tree and its flags. The command tree below follows the direct-network CLI surface, and the option tables stay grouped by command family for easier scanning. Hidden or advanced flags are called out where they matter for troubleshooting.

Command tree

ant
├── node
│   ├── add
│   ├── daemon
│   │   ├── start
│   │   ├── stop
│   │   ├── status
│   │   └── info
│   ├── reset
│   ├── start
│   ├── status
│   └── stop
├── wallet
│   ├── address
│   └── balance
├── file
│   ├── upload
│   ├── download
│   └── cost
├── chunk
│   ├── put
│   └── get
└── update

Root command and global flags

ant [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

The root command accepts the global flags used across data and node operations. Root flags must appear before the subcommand.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
--json	boolean	No	Emit structured JSON
-b, --bootstrap <IP:PORT>	socket list	No	Bootstrap peers for data operations. Can be comma-separated or repeated.
--devnet-manifest <PATH>	path	No	Path to a local devnet manifest JSON file
--allow-loopback	boolean	No	Allow loopback connections for local devnet or local testing
--ipv4-only	boolean	No	Disable dual-stack and force IPv4-only mode
--quote-timeout-secs <N>	integer	No	Hidden. Controls lightweight network-operation timeouts such as DHT lookups.
--store-timeout-secs <N>	integer	No	Hidden. Controls chunk store and retrieve timeouts.
--quote-concurrency <N>	integer	No	Hidden. Caps the quote channel only. It does not affect store or download concurrency.
--store-concurrency <N>	integer	No	Hidden. Controls upload chunk concurrency. --chunk-concurrency is accepted as an alias.
-v, --verbose...	count	No	Increase log verbosity: -v, -vv, or -vvv
--evm-network <NET>	string	No	EVM network for payments: arbitrum-one, arbitrum-sepolia, or local
-h, --help	boolean	No	Print help
-V, --version	boolean	No	Print version

Environment:

Variable	Description
SECRET_KEY	Required for uploads and wallet commands

Example:

ant --help

File commands

ant file upload <PATH>

Uploads a file with self-encryption and EVM payment.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
PATH	path	Yes	File to upload
--public	boolean	No	Store the DataMap on-network so anyone with the address can download the file
--merkle	boolean	No	Force Merkle batch payment
--no-merkle	boolean	No	Force single per-chunk payments
--store-timeout <N>	integer	No	Hidden. Overrides the chunk store timeout for this upload.
--store-concurrency <N>	integer	No	Hidden. Overrides upload chunk concurrency for this upload.
--overwrite	boolean	No	Replace any existing <filename>.datamap instead of writing a suffixed <filename>-2.datamap.

Example:

SECRET_KEY=0x<hex_private_key> ant file upload photo.jpg --public

ant file download [ADDRESS]

Downloads a public file by address or a private file using a local DataMap file.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
ADDRESS	string	Conditionally	Public DataMap address. Required unless --datamap is provided.
--datamap <PATH>	path	No	Local .datamap file for private download
-o, --output <PATH>	path	Conditionally	Required for address-based downloads. Optional for --datamap downloads that can infer the original filename.

Example:

ant file download 711c7e20006ff3e0ac6c1f3063286a0c1a3e4c409642e8c526173fa60bb7078a -o lucky.jpg

The output path is your local filename. In this example, the command downloads a public JPEG of Lucky the dog and saves it as lucky.jpg.

Private datamap example:

ant file download --datamap photo.jpg.datamap

ant file cost <PATH>

Estimates the upload cost for a file without uploading it.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
PATH	path	Yes	File to estimate
--merkle	boolean	No	Force Merkle batch payment mode for the estimate
--no-merkle	boolean	No	Force single payment mode for the estimate

Example:

ant file cost photo.jpg --merkle

Chunk commands

ant chunk put [FILE]

Stores a single chunk from a file or from standard input.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
FILE	path	No	Input file. If omitted, ant reads from standard input.

Example:

echo "hello autonomi" | SECRET_KEY=0x<hex_private_key> ant chunk put

ant chunk get <ADDRESS>

Retrieves a single chunk by address.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
ADDRESS	string	Yes	Hex-encoded chunk address (64 hex characters)
-o, --output <PATH>	path	No	Write the chunk to a file instead of stdout

Example:

ant chunk get <chunk_address> -o chunk.bin

Wallet commands

ant wallet address

Prints the wallet address derived from SECRET_KEY.

Parameters:

This command has no command-specific parameters.

Example:

SECRET_KEY=0x<hex_private_key> ant wallet address

ant wallet balance

Prints the token balance for the configured EVM network.

Parameters:

This command has no command-specific parameters.

Example:

SECRET_KEY=0x<hex_private_key> ant wallet balance

Node commands

ant node daemon start

Launches the node daemon as a detached background process.

Parameters:

This command has no command-specific parameters.

Example:

ant node daemon start

ant node daemon stop

Shuts down the running node daemon.

Parameters:

This command has no command-specific parameters.

Example:

ant node daemon stop

ant node daemon status

Shows whether the node daemon is running and reports summary stats.

Parameters:

This command has no command-specific parameters.

Example:

ant node daemon status

ant node daemon info

Outputs daemon connection details for programmatic use. This command always emits JSON.

Parameters:

This command has no command-specific parameters.

Example:

ant node daemon info

ant node add

Adds one or more nodes to the registry.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
--rewards-address <ADDR>	string	Yes	Wallet address for node earnings
--count <N>	integer	No	Number of nodes to add
`--node-port <PORT	RANGE>`	string	No
`--metrics-port <PORT	RANGE>`	string	No
--data-dir-path <PATH>	path	No	Custom data directory prefix
--log-dir-path <PATH>	path	No	Custom log directory prefix
--network-id <ID>	integer	No	Network ID. Default 1 is mainnet.
--path <PATH>	path	No	Local node binary path
--version <X.Y.Z>	string	No	Download a specific node version
--url <URL>	string	No	Download a node archive from a URL
--bootstrap <ADDRS>	string list	No	Bootstrap peers for the node binary itself
--env <K=V>	string list	No	Node environment variables

Example:

ant node add --rewards-address 0xYourWallet --count 1

ant node start

Starts all registered nodes, or one named node with --service-name.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
--service-name <NAME>	string	No	Start one named node instead of all nodes

Example:

ant node start --service-name node1

ant node status

Shows the status of all registered nodes.

Parameters:

This command has no command-specific parameters.

Example:

ant node status

ant node stop

Stops all registered nodes, or one named node with --service-name.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
--service-name <NAME>	string	No	Stop one named node instead of all nodes

Example:

ant node stop --service-name node1

ant node reset

Resets node state, including data, logs, and registry information.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
--force	boolean	No	Skip the confirmation prompt

Example:

ant node reset --force

Update command

ant update

Checks GitHub Releases for a newer version of the CLI, downloads it if one is available, and replaces the current executable in place.

Parameters:

Name	Type	Required	Description
--force	boolean	No	Re-download even if the current version is already latest

Example:

ant update
ant update --force

Related pages

• Use the CLI

• Rust Library Reference