Avalanche CLI is a command line tool that gives developers access to everything Avalanche. This beta release specializes in helping developers develop and test subnets.

The tool has been tested on Linux and Mac. Windows is currently not supported.

To download a binary for the latest release, run:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ava-labs/avalanche-cli/main/scripts/install.sh | sh -s

The binary will be installed inside the ./bin directory (relative to where the install command was run).

Downloading binaries from the Github UI will cause permission errors on Mac.

To add the binary to your path, run

cd bin
export PATH=$PWD:$PATH

To add it to your path permanently, add an export command to your shell initialization script (ex: .bashrc).

To download the binary into a specific directory, run:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ava-labs/avalanche-cli/main/scripts/install.sh | sh -s -- -b <relative directory>

After installing, launch your own custom subnet:

avalanche subnet create <subnetName>
avalanche subnet deploy <subnetName>

Shut down your local deployment with:

avalanche network stop

Restart your local deployment (from where you left off) with:

avalanche network start

This beta project is very early in its lifecycle. It will evolve rapidly over the coming weeks and months. Until we achieve our first mature release, we are not committed to preserving backwards compatibility. Commands may be renamed or removed in future versions.

We wanted to get this in your hands as soon as possible, so it's releasing before it's "complete." Bug reports and feedback on future directions are appreciated and encouraged! That said, we have LOTS planned and many new features are on the way.

• Creation of Subnet-EVM configs
• Local deployment of Subnet-EVM based subnets

• Fuji and mainnet Subnet-EVM deploys

The subnet command suite provides a collection of tools for developing and deploying subnets.

To get started, use the avalanche subnet create command wizard to walk through the configuration of your very first subnet. Then, go ahead and deploy it with the avalanche subnet deploy command. You can use the rest of the commands to manage your subnet configurations.

To learn more about subnets, check out https://docs.avax.network/subnets/.

Subnet-EVM is a configurable Ethereum virtual machine designed for subnets. It supports airdrops, custom fee tokens, configurable gas parameters, and multiple stateful precompiles. To learn more, check out https://github.com/ava-labs/subnet-evm.

If you don't provide any arguments, the subnet creation wizard will walk you through the entire process. This will create a genesis file for your network. It contains all of the information you need to airdrop tokens, set a gas config, and enable any custom precompiles. You can read more about subnet configuration here: https://docs.avax.network/subnets/customize-a-subnet/.

One special note: Every EVM-based chain has a parameter called the chainId. When choosing a chainId for your network, you should choose a unique value. Check https://chainlist.org/ to see if the value you'd like is already in use.

To use the wizard, run

avalanche subnet create <subnetName>

The wizard won't customize every aspect of the Subnet-EVM genesis for you. For many fields, it chooses reasonable defaults. If you'd like complete control, you can specify a custom genesis by providing a path to the file you'd like to use. Run with:

avalanche subnet create <subnetName> --file <filepath>

By default, creating a subnet configuration with the same subnetName as one that already exists will fail. To overwrite an existing config, use the force flag:

avalanche subnet create <existingSubnetName> -f

You can list the subnets you've created with

avalanche subnet list

To see the details of a specific configuration, run

avalanche subnet describe <subnetName>

By default, the command prints a summary of the config. If you'd like to see the raw genesis file, supply the --genesis flag:

avalanche subnet describe <subnetName> --genesis

Currently, this tool only supports local subnet deploys. Fuji and Mainnet deploys will be arriving shortly.

To deploy, run

avalanche subnet deploy <subnetName>

Local deploys will start a multi-node Avalanche network in the background on your machine. To manage that network, see the avalanche network command tree.

If you can't wait to for this tool's fuji integration, you can use the subnet-cli tool to deploy your subnet.

First, export your subnet's genesis file with avalanche subnet describe --genesis <subnetName>. Then, use that genesis file to complete the instructions listed here: https://docs.avax.network/subnets/subnet-cli.

To delete a created subnet configuration, run

avalanche subnet delete <subnetName>

The network command suite provides a collection of tools for managing local subnet deployments.

When a subnet is deployed locally, it runs on a local, multi-node Avalanche network. Deploying a subnet locally will start this network in the background. This command suite allows you to shutdown and restart that network.

This network currently supports multiple, concurrently deployed subnets and will eventually support nodes with varying configurations. Expect more functionality in future releases.

To stop a running local network, run

avalanche network stop [snapshotName]

This graceful shutdown will preserve network state. When restarted, your subnet should resume at the same place it left off. snapshotName is optional, if provided, a named snapshot will be created which can later be started again with avalanche network start snapshotName. If not provided, a default snapshot will be created. The default snapshot will be overwritten at each stop.

To start or restart a stopped network, run

avalanche network start [snapshotName]

snapshotName is optional, if provided the named snapshot will be used to start the network (if found). If not provided, the last snapshot created with a unnamed stop will be used.

If the default snapshot doesn't exist (because no stop has been run yet, and/or no subnet has been deployed yet), the command will fail.

Deploying a subnet locally will start the network automatically.

To stop your local network and clear its state, run

avalanche network clean

This will delete all stored deploy state for all local subnet deployments. This will not delete any of your subnet configurations. You will need to redeploy your subnet configurations one by one to use them again.

If you'd like to determine whether or not a local Avalanche network is running on your machine, run

avalanche network status