Introduction to NEAR CLI

NEAR CLI (Command Line Interface) is a powerful tool designed to help developers and users interact with the NEAR Protocol directly from the command line. It simplifies managing accounts, deploying contracts, and other tasks without needing a graphical interface.

What is NEAR CLI?

NEAR CLI is a command-line tool for working with the NEAR blockchain. It allows users to:

• Manage accounts
• Deploy and interact with smart contracts
• Send and receive tokens
• View account balances and transaction history
• Run various scripts to automate tasks

Why Use NEAR CLI?

If you’re a developer or advanced user, NEAR CLI gives you direct control over NEAR accounts and smart contracts. It’s lightweight and can be easily integrated into development workflows for automation and scripting purposes.

Getting Started

1. Installation: On Windows machine NEAR CLI can be via .msi installer.
   Find the most recent one here:
   https://github.com/near/near-cli-rs/releases/
   For Windows users this is the default choice
   
2. Run Windows Command Prompt
   Click the Start menu, type “cmd” or “Command Prompt,” and press Enter
3. Start using NEAR CLI
   For beginners we recommend to use near-cli in Interactive mode.
   Just type in your Windows terminal
   near
   

Features

• Account Management: Create, delete, and manage NEAR accounts easily.
• Smart Contract Interaction: Deploy contracts and call functions on contracts.
• Token Transfers: Send NEAR tokens to any account.
• Transaction History: View past transactions and balances for any account.

Updates

Since v0.15.0 (Sept 2024) NEAR CLI has evolved from a basic wallet‐and-deploy tool into a full “Swiss-army terminal” for the protocol. Hardware-wallet flows were smoothed first—Ledger devices now auto-launch the NEAR app and –teach-me covers async account look-ups. December brought offline-friendly additions: you can save the raw broadcast_tx_commit payload, replay every generated command from your shell history, and even push fully signed transactions or meta-transactions straight from a file, plus faucet-sponsored account creation in Teach-Me mode. Key management was tightened with commands to fetch an account’s public key, derive it automatically from a plaintext private key, and a new “send-all” flag, memo support, and a --quiet switch for scripting. Spring releases introduced global-contract deployment/inspection, an extended action builder, and eliminated the need to pass a public key when it can be inferred. The latest 0.21.0 (July 2025) tops it off with local contract/source verification, one-line DAO proposal submission, smarter implicit-account import, and extra FAST NEAR & Lava RPC endpoints—rounding out end-to-end dev, ops, and governance from a single CLI prompt.

Conclusion

NEAR CLI is an essential tool for developers and advanced users who want a powerful and flexible way to interact with the NEAR blockchain. It’s easy to use, scriptable, and integrates seamlessly with your development workflow. If you’re ready to dive into the NEAR ecosystem, NEAR CLI is a great place to start!

For more detailed information, visit the NEAR CLI documentation.

Updated: July 8, 2025