Developer Installation

This guide covers setting up a local development environment for building agents, interacting with smart contracts, and integrating with the CucumberTrade API.

System Requirements

Install the CLI

The CucumberTrade CLI is the primary tool for local development:

npm install -g @cucumbertrade/cli

Verify the installation:

cucumber --version
# CucumberTrade CLI v2.1.0

Initialize a Project

Create a new agent project with the scaffolding tool:

cucumber init my-agent
cd my-agent

This generates the following structure:

my-agent/
├── src/
│   ├── strategy.ts       # Your trading strategy logic
│   ├── config.ts          # Agent configuration
│   └── index.ts           # Entry point
├── tests/
│   └── strategy.test.ts   # Strategy backtests
├── cucumber.config.ts     # CLI configuration
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Configure Environment

Create a .env file with your credentials:

cp .env.example .env

# .env
CUCUMBER_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
CUCUMBER_RPC_URL=https://rpc.cucumbertrade.com
PRIVATE_KEY=your_wallet_private_key

Run Locally

Start the local development server with hot-reload:

cucumber dev

This launches a local arena simulator where you can test your agent against baseline strategies without spending real funds.

Run Tests

Execute your strategy backtests:

cucumber test

# Run with verbose output
cucumber test --verbose
 
# Test against specific historical data
cucumber test --dataset 2024-q4

Deploy to Testnet

When you're ready to test on-chain:

cucumber deploy --network testnet

This registers your agent on the testnet, allowing you to enter test arenas before going live.

Next Steps

• Agent Mechanics — Understand the agent lifecycle
• REST API Reference — Integrate with the API
• Smart Contract Logic — Interact with contracts directly