> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.celo.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Celo CLI

Introduction to the Celo Command Line Interface and installation instructions.

## What is the Celo CLI

The Command Line Interface allows users to interact with the Celo Protocol smart contracts.

It’s a command-line interface for interacting with the Celo Protocol and core contracts. Some common features you may want try include transferring tokens, viewing account balances, participating in elections or in on-chain governance, or helping users interact with multi-sig contracts.

## Installation

### Homebrew

If you're on macOS or Linux, celocli is available as a *tap* on Homebrew.

```bash theme={null}
brew tap celo-org/brew
brew install celocli

celocli --version
```

### NPM Package

The Celo CLI is published as a node module on NPM. Assuming you have [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/get-npm) and [git](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git) both installed, you can install the Celo CLI using the following command:

```bash theme={null}
npm install -g @celo/celocli
```

If you want the cutting edge, @betas are distributed via npm. `npm install -g @celo/celocli@beta`

<Note>
  If you have trouble installing globally (i.e. with the `-g` flag), try installing to a local directory instead with `yarn add @celo/celocli` and run with `yarn celocli`.
</Note>

## Commands

The tool is broken down into modules and commands with the following pattern:

```text theme={null}
celocli <module>:<command> <...args> <...flags?>
```

The `celocli` tool assumes that users are running a node which they have access to signing transactions on, or have another mechanism for signing transactions (such as a Ledger wallet or supplying the private key as an argument to the command). See the documentation on the [config](/cli/config) module for information about how to set which node commands are sent to.

<Note>
  All balances of CELO or Celo Dollars are expressed in units of 10^-18.
</Note>

You can find the Celo CLI package [on NPM](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@celo/celocli).

To see all available commands, run `celocli commands`.

To see all available flags for a command, add the flag `--globalHelp` to the command.

## Optional: Configure Full Node

Commands need to connect to a Celo node to execute most functionality.
You have several options for node connectivity:

* [Running your own full node](/infra-partners/operators/run-node)
* [Third-party node providers](/tooling/nodes/overview)
* [Forno](/tooling/nodes/forno) (the easiest way)

To connect `celocli` to any node, use the following command:

```bash theme={null}
celocli config:set --node=<your-rpc-endpoint>
```

For example, to use Forno:

```bash theme={null}
celocli config:set --node=https://forno.celo.org
```

You can verify that `celocli` is connected by running:

```bash theme={null}
celocli config:get
```

## Import Accounts

If you are connecting to a remote node (like Forno), Celo CLI will need to sign transactions locally before sending them. To do this, Celo CLI needs access to a private key. There are a couple ways to sign transactions using Celo CLI.

### Import Private Key (less secure)

Add the `--privateKey` flag followed by the private key associated with the sending account. For example:

```shell theme={null}
celocli transfer:celo --from <accountAddress> --to <addressOfChoice> --value <valueInCeloWei> --privateKey <privateKey> --node https://forno.celo.org
```

Or you can use a Ledger hardware wallet (preferred, see below).

### Using a Ledger Wallet

The Celo CLI supports using a [Ledger hardware wallet](/wallet/ledger/setup) to sign transactions. Just add the `--useLedger` flag to a command that requires a signature.

You can specify the number of addresses to get for local signing with the `--ledgerAddresses` flag.

You can specify an array of index addresses for local signing. Example `--ledgerCustomAddresses "[4,99]"`.

For example:

```shell theme={null}
celocli transfer:celo --to <addressOfChoice> --value 1000000 --from <accountAddress> --useLedger
```