Install

Most people need the CLI and its agent skill. The SDK is for application code.

CLI

Install it globally to use abx anywhere.

npm install -g @artblocks/abx-cli
abx doctor

Install it in a project to pin the version.

npm install --save-dev @artblocks/abx-cli
npx abx doctor

Try it once without installing:

npx @artblocks/abx-cli@latest doctor

The unscoped abx package on npm is unrelated. Use @artblocks/abx-cli for one-off runs.

ABX requires Node.js 22.13 or newer. abx doctor checks Node, RPC access, contracts, signing, storage, and the installed skill. It does not print secrets.

Agent skill

The skill ships inside the CLI, so its instructions match the installed commands.

abx skill install

By default, ABX writes the skill to both supported discovery paths:

Use --agent <name> to target one agent or --global to install in your home directory. Restart the agent after installation. For a one-shot agent that cannot restart, run abx skill path and ask it to read the printed SKILL.md directly for the current session. Run abx skill install again after upgrading the CLI.

SDK

npm install @artblocks/abx-sdk viem

The SDK is ESM-only and requires Node.js 22.13 or newer. See the SDK reference.

Optional Arweave dependency

A default install of @artblocks/abx-cli does not include Arweave support. Filesystem, S3/R2, and IPFS storage backends work out of the box; --backend arweave needs one more package.

ABX keeps the ArDrive Turbo dependency out of the default install. Add it when you need Arweave:

npm install @artblocks/abx-storage-arweave

Install it beside the CLI, then use --backend arweave or ABX_STORAGE_BACKEND=arweave. You can also use --provider http-bundler --upload-url <bundler> without the package.