Command Line Interface (CLI)

The CLI tool (‘evmd’) provides a full-feature interface for interacting with the blockchain. This includes commands for node operations, key management, querying blockchain state, submitting transactions, and more.

Node Requirements

To use the query and tx commands, your evmd node must either:

• Be fully synced with the network you’re interacting with, OR
• Be configured to use an external RPC endpoint in ~/.evmd/config/client.toml

Example client.toml configuration:

# The network chain ID
chain-id = "myapp-1"
# The keyring's backend
keyring-backend = "os"
# CLI output format
output = "text"
# <host>:<port> to CometBFT RPC interface for this chain
node = "tcp://localhost:26657"
# Transaction broadcasting mode (sync|async)
broadcast-mode = "sync"

To use an external RPC, update the node field to point to a public or private RPC endpoint.

Global Flags

These flags are available for all commands:

Flag	Description	Default
-b, --broadcast-mode	Transaction broadcasting mode (sync|async)	sync
--chain-id	Specify Chain ID for sending Tx
--fees	Fees to pay along with transaction (e.g., 10atest)
--from	Name or address of private key with which to sign
--gas-adjustment	Adjustment factor to multiply against the estimate returned by tx simulation	1
--gas-prices	Gas prices to determine the transaction fee (e.g., 10atest)
--home	Directory for config and data	~/.evmd
--keyring-backend	Select keyring’s backend	os
--log_format	The logging format (json|plain)	plain
--log_level	The logging level	info
--log_no_color	Disable colored logs
--node	<host>:<port> to CometBFT RPC interface	tcp://localhost:26657
--trace	Print out full stack trace on errors

Commands

Node Operations

Starting the Node

Basic

evmd start

Node Initialization

evmd init my-node --chain-id cosmos-evm-1

Node Status

evmd status

Transaction Indexing

evmd index-eth-tx forward

Examples

Complete Workflows

Account Setup

# Create new Cosmos account
evmd keys add my-account

# Save mnemonic safely!
# Address will be shown as cosmos1...

Configuration

• Configuration directory: ~/.evmd/
• Key storage: Managed by the keyring backend (os, file, test)
• Node configuration: ~/.evmd/config/config.toml
• App configuration: ~/.evmd/config/app.toml

If you use the --home flag upon initializing the light client, the root/config directory will be generated there