aleph-client

The official command-line interface (CLI) for Aleph Cloud — a decentralized cloud computing platform.

What is Aleph Cloud?

Aleph Cloud provides decentralized computing, storage, and indexing services. With aleph-client, you can:

Deploy VMs (Instances) — Run persistent virtual machines on decentralized infrastructure
Deploy Functions (Programs) — Deploy serverless functions that scale automatically
Store Data — Upload files and data to decentralized storage
Send Messages — Post, aggregate, and forget messages on the Aleph network
Manage Domains — Configure custom domains for your deployments

Quick Start

Installation

# Install from PyPI
pip install aleph-client

# Verify installation
aleph --help

Create Your First Instance

# Create a new account (generates keys)
aleph account create

# Deploy an Ubuntu instance with pay-as-you-go credits
aleph instance create --payment-type=credit --name="my-first-vm"

# List your instances
aleph instance list

# SSH into your instance
ssh root@<ipv6-address>

Deploy a Serverless Function

# Create a simple FastAPI app
mkdir my-app && cd my-app
cat > main.py << 'EOF'
from fastapi import FastAPI
app = FastAPI()

@app.get("/")
def hello():
    return {"message": "Hello from Aleph Cloud!"}
EOF

# Deploy it
aleph program upload . main:app --name="my-function"

Store Data

# Upload a file
aleph file upload myfile.txt

# Pin existing content by hash
aleph file pin QmYourContentHash

Commands Overview

Command	Description
`aleph account`	Manage accounts and keys
`aleph instance`	Manage virtual machines (create, list, delete, logs)
`aleph program`	Deploy serverless functions
`aleph file`	Upload and manage files
`aleph message`	Send messages to the network
`aleph aggregate`	Manage key-value aggregates
`aleph domain`	Configure custom domains
`aleph node`	Interact with Compute Resource Nodes
`aleph credits`	Check credit balance
`aleph pricing`	View compute pricing

Run aleph <command> --help for detailed usage of each command.

Payment Options

Aleph Cloud supports multiple payment methods:

Credits (Pay-as-you-go) — No token staking required, pay only for what you use
Hold — Stake ALEPH tokens for allocation
Superfluid — Stream payments for continuous services
NFT — Use NFT vouchers for payment

Documentation

Full Documentation: https://docs.aleph.cloud/devhub/sdks-and-tools/aleph-cli/
API Reference: https://docs.aleph.cloud/devhub/api/
Tutorials: https://docs.aleph.cloud/devhub/tutorials/

Requirements

Linux

apt-get install -y python3-pip libsecp256k1-dev squashfs-tools

macOS

brew tap cuber/homebrew-libsecp256k1
brew install libsecp256k1

Windows

We recommend using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Using Docker

Run the CLI without installing locally:

docker run --rm -ti -v $(pwd)/data:/data ghcr.io/aleph-im/aleph-client/aleph-client:master --help

Note: This uses an ephemeral key pair that is discarded when the container stops.

Development

Setup

We use hatch for development:

pip install hatch

Running Tests

hatch test
# or with coverage
hatch run testing:cov

Code Quality

# Format code
hatch run linting:fmt

# Type checking
hatch run linting:typing

Publishing

hatch build
hatch upload

Additional Chains

For NULS2 support:

pip install aleph-sdk-python[nuls2]

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see our contribution guidelines and open a pull request.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Release files for aleph-client 1.9.3

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for aleph-client 1.9.3
File	Size	Uploaded
aleph_client-1.9.3.tar.gz	86.8 kB	May 28, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for aleph-client 1.9.3
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
aleph_client-1.9.3-py3-none-any.whl 101.7 kB May 28, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 188.5 kB

Release files / aleph_client-1.9.3.tar.gz

Download URL	aleph_client-1.9.3.tar.gz
Size	86.8 kB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`2fcd4f6e0602b36d1b46c9be4e500c1d78e8582adc96f1f695289fb189f7223a`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`502c970e68133dca82e8e0cc089ecbaa0921317a15649fdedc392df153d41700`
Upload date	May 28, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.13.12`

Release files / aleph_client-1.9.3-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	aleph_client-1.9.3-py3-none-any.whl
Size	101.7 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`4b7a4b6e5eee59ee3ec46bdc3356bed7d685dba88cf2834e26e6a126f88fd6e5`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`1d5e81bab02a60705b63e53b4def25f1f2d482bbcfd464522db3d60864c43b19`
Upload date	May 28, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/6.2.0 CPython/3.13.12`