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The Tamarind CLI (tamarind) lets you discover tools, submit and monitor protein, nucleic-acid, and small-molecule jobs, and download results — from your terminal, a shell script, CI, or an AI coding agent such as Claude Code or Codex. It is a thin client over the same REST API as the Tamarind MCP server, so the two stay in lockstep: every tool and parameter available in the API is available from the CLI. Source, installer, and issues live on GitHub. Use the CLI when you want to drive Tamarind from a terminal or a script. Use the MCP server when you want a hosted connection for claude.ai, ChatGPT, or another MCP client.

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Requirements

  1. A Tamarind account — Sign up here
  2. An API key — view yours at app.tamarind.bio/api-docs/api-key
  3. Python 3.10 or newer

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Installation

Install once with uv or pipx, then run tamarind from anywhere:
You can also use the bootstrap installer (it installs uv first if needed):
To track the latest from source:
Verify the install:

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Authentication

Get your API key from app.tamarind.bio/api-docs/api-key, then authenticate in one of two ways. Environment variable — best for scripts, CI, and AI agents:
Stored config — saves the key to ~/.tamarind/config.json:

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Quickstart

The end-to-end flow mirrors the platform: discover a tool, inspect its schema, validate your inputs, submit, and download results.

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Command reference

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Discover

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Submit

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Monitor & results

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Files & lifecycle

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Output & scripting

Every command is built for automation:
  • --json prints machine-readable output. It is on by default when output is piped (not a terminal), so scripts and agents get JSON without any extra flags.
  • Stable exit codes let scripts branch on failures: 0 success, 3 auth error, 4 not found, 5 validation error, 6 rate limited.
  • --profile <name> switches between saved accounts or environments in ~/.tamarind/config.json.
  • --api-key, --api-base, and --catalog-base (or the matching TAMARIND_* environment variables) override configuration per invocation.

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Use with AI agents

The CLI is built for coding agents. Because every command takes plain flags, emits JSON, and returns stable exit codes, an agent can drive the whole workflow — discover a tool, write the job file, submit, and fetch results — by running tamarind directly.
  • Terminal agents (Claude Code, Codex, CI): install the CLI, set TAMARIND_API_KEY, and let the agent call tamarind commands. Point it at this page so it knows the surface.
  • Hosted / chat agents (claude.ai, ChatGPT): connect the Tamarind MCP server, which exposes the same operations over the Model Context Protocol.
A packaged plugin with task-specific skills (antibody design, binder design, batch screening) is in the works — contact info@tamarind.bio if you’d like early access.

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Troubleshooting

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No API key configured

Set TAMARIND_API_KEY or run tamarind auth login. Confirm with tamarind auth status.

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Authentication failing

Verify your key is current on the API Key page. Pass --api-key directly to rule out a stale stored key.

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command not found: tamarind

Ensure your tool installer’s bin directory is on PATH (for uv, run uv tool update-shell; for pipx, run pipx ensurepath), then restart your shell. Need help? Contact us at info@tamarind.bio.