Alkanes Integration

The Alkanes CLI (alkanes-cli) is the primary command-line tool for interacting with the Alkanes metaprotocol on Bitcoin. It provides commands for wallet management, token operations, contract deployment, and querying the network.

Installation

Install from the alkanes-rs repository:

git clone https://github.com/kungfuflex/alkanes-rs
cd alkanes-rs
cargo build --release

The binary will be available at target/release/alkanes-cli.

Global Options

All commands support these global options:

Option	Description
--wallet-file <PATH>	Path to wallet file
--passphrase <PHRASE>	Wallet passphrase for signing
--wallet-address <ADDR>	Watch-only mode (read-only)
--jsonrpc-url <URL>	Custom JSON-RPC endpoint
--provider <PROVIDER>	Network: regtest, signet, mainnet
--frbtc-address <ADDR>	Override frBTC contract address

Wallet Commands

Create a Wallet

alkanes-cli wallet create

Creates a new wallet with a 12-word mnemonic phrase. Store this phrase securely.

List Addresses

alkanes-cli wallet addresses p2tr:0-5

Shows wallet addresses. Pass one or more positional range specs of the form TYPE:START-END (for example p2tr:0-5 or p2sh:0-500) to choose which addresses to display. With no range, it shows the first 5 addresses of each type for the current network.

Check Balance

alkanes-cli wallet balance

Displays BTC and token balances for your wallet.

List UTXOs

alkanes-cli wallet utxos

Lists all unspent transaction outputs in your wallet.

Alkanes Operations

Wrap BTC to frBTC

alkanes-cli alkanes wrap-btc <AMOUNT> \
  --to <RECIPIENT_ADDRESS> \
  --from <YOUR_ADDRESS> \
  --change <CHANGE_ADDRESS> \
  --fee-rate <SAT_PER_VB> \
  -y

Wraps native BTC to frBTC tokens. <AMOUNT> is an integer amount in satoshis (the example below wraps 1000000 sats = 0.01 BTC), and --to is required. The -y flag auto-confirms the transaction.

Example:

alkanes-cli alkanes wrap-btc 1000000 \
  --to bc1p... \
  --from bc1q... \
  --change bc1q... \
  --fee-rate 10 \
  -y

Check Token Balance

alkanes-cli alkanes getbalance <ADDRESS>

View Pending Unwraps

alkanes-cli alkanes unwrap --block-tag latest

Shows pending frBTC unwrap requests waiting to be processed.

Execute Custom Transactions

alkanes-cli alkanes execute <PROTOSTONES> \
  --inputs <REQUIREMENTS> \
  --to <ADDRESSES> \
  -y

For advanced users building custom Alkanes transactions. Protostone specs are positional arguments, not a flag.

Input format:

• B:amount — Bitcoin amount in sats
• BLOCK:TX:amount — Specific token amount

Inspect Contracts

alkanes-cli alkanes inspect <OUTPOINT> --disasm --meta

Disassemble and inspect contract bytecode.

Simulate Transactions

alkanes-cli alkanes simulate 32:0:103

Simulate a contract call without broadcasting anything. The argument is BLOCK:TX:OPCODE[:ARG...]; this example calls opcode 103 (Get Signer, see the table below) on the frBTC contract {32, 0}.

Bitcoin RPC Commands

Direct Bitcoin Core RPC access:

# Get block count
alkanes-cli bitcoind getblockcount

# Get raw transaction
alkanes-cli bitcoind getrawtransaction <TXID>

# Decode transaction
alkanes-cli bitcoind decoderawtransaction <TX_HEX>

# Send transaction
alkanes-cli bitcoind sendrawtransaction <TX_HEX>

Esplora Commands

Query Esplora API:

# Get address info
alkanes-cli esplora address <ADDRESS>

# Get address UTXOs
alkanes-cli esplora address-utxo <ADDRESS>

# Get transaction
alkanes-cli esplora tx <TXID>

# Fee estimates
alkanes-cli esplora fee-estimates

Transaction Options

Fee Rate

Set custom fee rate in sat/vB:

--fee-rate 15

Broadcasting Methods

Option	Description
Default	Standard mempool broadcast
--use-slipstream	MARA Slipstream (bypasses mempool)
--use-rebar	Rebar Shield (private relay with MEV protection)
--mine	Mine immediately (regtest only)

Auto-confirm

Skip confirmation prompts:

-y, --auto-confirm

Key Constants

Constant	Value	Description
frBTC Contract	{32, 0}	Block 32, Transaction 0
Wrap Opcode	77	frBTC exchange function
Unwrap Opcode	78	frBTC unwrap function
Get Signer Opcode	103	Query signer public key
Genesis Block	880000	Mainnet genesis

Getting Help

alkanes-cli --help
alkanes-cli <COMMAND> --help

For issues and contributions: kungfuflex/alkanes-rs

See Also

• frBTC on Alkanes — Wrapping and unwrapping frBTC
• Alkanes Metaprotocol — Protocol overview