Welcome to the world of Ethereum development! In this article, we’ll explore the incredible capabilities of eth-cli, a CLI swiss army knife for Ethereum developers. You’ll learn how to install it, how to navigate through its functionalities, and how to troubleshoot any issues you might encounter. Let’s dive in!

Why Use eth-cli?

eth-cli allows you to effortlessly interact with the Ethereum blockchain directly from your command line. You can:

• Fetch data from the blockchain.
• Start an interactive REPL connected to a node.
• Call methods on deployed contracts.

In essence, it simplifies your interaction with Ethereum, making those complex tasks feel like a breeze!

Installation

Ready to embark on your Ethereum journey? First, you’ll need to install eth-cli globally. Open your terminal and run the following command:

npm install -g eth-cli

Alternatively, you can try it out using npx with the command below:

npx eth-cli repl --mainnet erc721@0x06012c8cf97bead5deae237070f9587f8e7a266d erc721.methods.name().call()  // Example output: CryptoKitties

Demo

Curious to see eth-cli in action? Check out this screencast that demonstrates its functionality.

Examples

eth-cli is packed with features. Let’s look at some of the exciting tasks you can perform:

Fetch Data from the Blockchain

Imagine et-cli as a librarian in a vast library (the blockchain). You can ask the librarian for specific books (data) such as:

• Block number
• Transaction details
• Account balance

To fetch this information, simply use commands like:

block:number

tx:get

address:balance

Check a visual demonstration with this .

Autocomplete

eth-cli comes with some handy autocompletion features thanks to completely. You can easily enhance your command line experience:

• For bash users, source the bash completion script in your .bashrc.
• Zsh users can add the provided script to their fpath.

Init File

If you want to have some helper variables or functions ready in your REPL, you can create an init file. Just create a file called .eth_cli_repl_init.js in your home directory. For example:

module.exports = function(context) {
    context.toWei = x => context.web3.utils.toWei(x.toString());
    context.fromWei = x => context.web3.utils.fromWei(x.toString());
}

This way, you will have toWei and fromWei as global functions ready to use!

Sibling Projects

eth-cli is not alone in this venture! Check out Solhint, a linter for the Solidity language that will further enhance your Ethereum development experience.

Troubleshooting

If you run into any issues while using eth-cli, here are some troubleshooting ideas:

• Make sure Node.js and npm are installed on your system.
• Ensure you have the necessary permissions to install global packages.
• If you encounter command not found errors, try resetting your terminal or sourcing your configuration files.
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That’s it for our eth-cli overview! With this command-line tool, you’ll be well on your way to navigating the realms of Ethereum development smoothly and efficiently.