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Scripting with Hiero CLI

Hiero CLI scripts let you run repeatable, end-to-end workflows for Hedera: creating accounts, transferring HBAR, creating tokens, submitting topic messages, and more. These scripts are designed to be non-interactive (safe for CI). Example scripts live in:

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Prerequisites

  • Node.js 18+
  • Build the CLI or have a globally installed version of the CLI
  • Provide your Hedera operator credentials. Export these environment variables:
export HEDERA_OPERATOR_ACCOUNT_ID=0.0.xxxxxx
export HEDERA_OPERATOR_KEY=302e020100300506032b657004220420...
These are required for scripts that submit transactions to Hedera (e.g., create account, transfer, token operations).
All example scripts follow the same layout:

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Step 1: Strict bash mode

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
  • -e exit immediately on error
  • -u error on undefined variables
  • -o pipefail fail if any command in a pipe fails

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Step 2: Load helpers & Setup

Scripts load shared utilities from examples/scripts/common/. Typical helpers include:
  • structured log output (print_step, print_info, print_error)
  • random alias generator (pick_random_name)
  • sleep utilities (sleep_loop) to wait for mirror-node consistency

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Step 3: hcli() wrapper (where automation begins)

From this point, scripts start executing real CLI commands. 
hcli() {
  cd "${PROJECT_DIR}" && node dist/hiero-cli.js --format json "$@"
}
Why this wrapper matters:
  • ensures commands run from the project root
  • uses the built CLI entrypoint
  • forces --format json so scripts don’t depend on human formatting
  • prevents interactive prompts (better for CI / automation)

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Quickstart script: create an account and view it

This is the smallest “real” end-to-end example:
  • configure network + operator
  • create one account with 1 HBAR
  • view account details
First, create a file called create-account-quickstart.sh with the below script contents: 
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# --- Paths ---
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
PROJECT_DIR="$(cd "${SCRIPT_DIR}/../.." && pwd)"

# --- Helpers ---
HELPERS="$SCRIPT_DIR/common/helpers.sh"
SETUP="$SCRIPT_DIR/common/setup.sh"

source "$HELPERS"
source "$SETUP"

# --- hcli wrapper (JSON output for scripting) ---
hcli() {
  cd "${PROJECT_DIR}" && node dist/hiero-cli.js --format json "$@"
}

print_step "Selecting Hedera testnet as the active network"
hcli network use --global testnet

print_step "Configuring CLI operator for testnet"
hcli network set-operator \
  --operator "${HEDERA_OPERATOR_ACCOUNT_ID}:${HEDERA_OPERATOR_KEY}" \
  --network testnet

ACCOUNT_NAME="$(pick_random_name)"
print_step "Creating demo account: ${ACCOUNT_NAME} (1 HBAR)"
hcli account create --name "${ACCOUNT_NAME}" --balance 1.0

print_info "Waiting briefly for mirror node indexing..."
sleep_loop 5

print_step "Viewing account ${ACCOUNT_NAME}"
hcli account view --account "${ACCOUNT_NAME}"

print_step "Done."
Next, run it from the project root: 
./examples/scripts/create-account-quickstart.sh
Start building your own scripts or explore other examples in the Hiero CLI repository.