Quickstart

The fastest way through this page is to not read it. Copy this into your coding agent — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini, or Copilot:

💬 "Read https://abx.docs.artblocks.io/docs/using-abx/quickstart and set up abx. Then help me launch ⟨your idea⟩ on testnet."

Your agent installs the toolkit, checks the setup, and starts building with you. The rest of this page is what it — or you — needs to know.

What you need

• Node 22.5+ — check with node --version.
• A browser wallet (e.g. MetaMask) with a little Base Sepolia test ETH — grab some free from a faucet (≤ 1 min). That's the default test network.
• A coding agent — any of the majors.

No RPC to configure, no private keys to paste. 🎉

Set up — two commands

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

abx doctor checks your environment and offers to install the agent skill — press Enter to accept. The skill teaches your agent the entire workflow, and doctor keeps it honest: when you upgrade the CLI later, it notices a stale skill and offers the resync.

Agents and scripts: abx doctor --fix installs the skill without asking. Targeting a specific agent, or installing globally: abx skill install. Working inside a repo? A per-project install pins the version.

Say what you want

That's the whole interface. These get progressively less specified, which is the point — the last two don't describe a command at all:

💬 "Take ./cat.png and launch it as a 1/1 NFT on testnet. Store the image on Arweave so it outlives me."

💬 "Launch this image as an open edition anyone can mint for 0.001 ETH."

💬 "Deploy this folder of 200 images as a collection and mint them all."

💬 "Help me launch my sketch.js as a generative drop with a live on-chain preview."

💬 "I want to create a new NFT creation app that incorporates PostParams, layered generative geometry patterns, and off-chain agentic workflows. Use ABX protocol and skill."

💬 "I want to create ⟨your idea here⟩. Let's develop the idea and launch with ABX!"

If your agent doesn't seem to know what abx is, name it — "use the ABX skill", the way the fourth prompt does. Agents load skills when a request looks relevant, and a prompt about art doesn't always read as one.

Your agent picks the commands, custodies your files, deploys the contract, and sets up the sale — and asks you only the calls that are truly yours: where it's hosted, how permanent storage should be, what a mint costs. You approve each transaction in your wallet; nothing is stored on your behalf.

Where to next

• Agent + skill — the agent workflow, in depth
• Deploy a digital asset — 1/1s, collections, and code drops
• Storage — where your bytes live before a real (mainnet) launch
• CLI reference — every command, every flag, for the curious