JSON Mode & Scripting

Every Zora CLI command supports --json for machine-readable output. This makes the CLI a powerful building block for shell scripts, CI/CD pipelines, and automated workflows.

JSON Flag

npx @zoralabs/cli <command> --json

When --json is passed:

Output is structured JSON on stdout
The beta warning goes to stderr (won't interfere with parsing)
Interactive prompts are replaced by --yes behavior where applicable
Errors return a JSON object with error and optional suggestion fields

Shell Scripting Examples

Get the market cap of a coin

npx @zoralabs/cli get creator-coin jacob --json | jq -r '.marketCap'
# 434988.18

List trending coin addresses

npx @zoralabs/cli explore --json --sort trending --limit 5 | jq -r '.coins[].address'
# 0x50f88fe97f72...
# 0x834f77c66f90...
# 0xa1dacbd0a9bf...

Check if a coin is up in the last 24h

change=$(npx @zoralabs/cli price-history 0x9b13358e3a02... --json --interval 24h | jq '.change')
if (( $(echo "$change > 0" | bc -l) )); then
  echo "Coin is up ${change}%"
fi

Get wallet address

addr=$(npx @zoralabs/cli wallet info --json | jq -r '.address')
echo "Wallet: $addr"
# Wallet: 0xb4a06BdD9e0E60FFE22E4E7590842bfD2069034E

Buy if trending and price is rising

#!/bin/bash
# Find trending coins and buy ones with positive 24h momentum
 
coins=$(npx @zoralabs/cli explore --json --sort trending --limit 5 | jq -r '.coins[].address')
 
for addr in $coins; do
  change=$(npx @zoralabs/cli price-history "$addr" --json --interval 24h | jq '.change')
 
  if (( $(echo "$change > 5" | bc -l) )); then
    echo "Buying $addr (up ${change}%)"
    npx @zoralabs/cli buy "$addr" --eth 0.001 --yes --json
  fi
done

Output Modes

Commands with live data (explore, balance, profile) support three mutually exclusive output modes:

Flag	Behavior
`--live`	Interactive, auto-refreshing terminal UI (default)
`--static`	Single snapshot, then exit
`--json`	Structured JSON, then exit

These three flags cannot be combined. --json is the best choice for scripting.

Pagination

The explore command supports cursor-based pagination:

# First page
result=$(npx @zoralabs/cli explore --json --sort mcap --limit 10)
echo "$result" | jq '.coins[].name'
 
# Next page
cursor=$(echo "$result" | jq -r '.nextCursor')
npx @zoralabs/cli explore --json --sort mcap --limit 10 --after "$cursor"

Error Handling

All errors in --json mode return a consistent format:

{
  "error": "Insufficient ETH balance",
  "suggestion": "Current balance: 0.001 ETH. Need at least 0.01 ETH."
}

Check for the error field to handle failures:

result=$(npx @zoralabs/cli buy 0x... --eth 0.01 --yes --json 2>&1)
error=$(echo "$result" | jq -r '.error // empty')
 
if [ -n "$error" ]; then
  echo "Trade failed: $error"
  exit 1
fi

Environment Variables for Scripting

export ZORA_PRIVATE_KEY=0x...      # Wallet (avoids interactive setup)
export ZORA_API_KEY=your-key       # Higher rate limits
export ZORA_NO_ANALYTICS=1         # Disable telemetry

See Environment Variables for the full list.