Prerequisites

Assume the Dune CLI is already installed and authenticated. Do not run upfront install or auth checks. Just execute the requested dune command directly.

If a dune command fails, inspect the error to determine the cause and follow the recovery steps in install-and-recovery.md:

"command not found" → CLI not installed. See CLI Not Found Recovery.
401 / "unauthorized" / "missing API key" → Auth failure. See Authentication Failure Recovery.
Unknown subcommand or flag / unexpected output → Possible version mismatch. See Version Compatibility.

Dune CLI

A command-line interface for Dune -- the leading blockchain data platform. Use it to write and execute DuneSQL queries against on-chain data, discover datasets, search documentation, and monitor credit usage.

Authentication

All commands except docs search require authentication via a Dune API key. The key is resolved in this priority order:

# 1. Flag (highest priority -- overrides everything)
dune query run 12345 --api-key <key>

# 2. Environment variable
export DUNE_API_KEY=<key>
dune query run 12345

# 3. Saved config file (lowest priority)
dune auth --api-key <key>        # saves to ~/.config/dune/config.yaml
dune query run 12345              # uses saved key

To save your key interactively (prompted from stdin):

dune auth

Config file location: ~/.config/dune/config.yaml

Global Flags

Flag	Description
`--api-key <KEY>`	Dune API key (overrides `DUNE_API_KEY` env var and saved config)

Output Format (per-command flag)

Most commands support -o, --output <FORMAT> with values text (default, human-readable tables) or json (machine-readable).

Always use -o json on every command that supports it. JSON output contains more detail than text (full API response objects vs. summarized tables) and is unambiguous to parse. The text format is for human terminal use and drops fields.

DuneSQL

Dune uses DuneSQL, a Trino-based SQL dialect, as its query engine. Key points:

All SQL passed to --sql flags or saved queries must be valid DuneSQL
DuneSQL supports standard SQL with extensions for blockchain data types (addresses, hashes, etc.)
See dunesql-cheatsheet.md for common types, functions, patterns, and pitfalls
Use dune docs search --query "DuneSQL functions" to look up syntax and functions
Reference docs: Writing Efficient Queries, Functions and Operators

Key Concepts

Performance Tiers

Available tiers: free, medium, large. Do not pass --performance by default — omit it and the API auto-selects. Only provide it when:

The user explicitly requests a tier
The query is clearly complex (heavy joins, large aggregations)
A previous run returned a timeout or resource-limit error

Execution States

After submitting a query, the execution progresses through these states:

State	Meaning	Action
`QUERY_STATE_PENDING`	Queued for execution	Wait
`QUERY_STATE_EXECUTING`	Currently running	Wait
`QUERY_STATE_COMPLETED`	Results available	Fetch results
`QUERY_STATE_FAILED`	Execution failed	Check error message; fix SQL and retry
`QUERY_STATE_CANCELLED`	Cancelled by user or system	Re-execute if needed

Dataset Categories

Category	Description
`canonical`	Core blockchain data (blocks, transactions, traces, logs)
`decoded`	ABI-decoded contract data (events and function calls)
`spell`	Dune Spellbook transformations (curated, higher-level tables like `dex.trades`)
`community`	Community-contributed datasets

Dataset Types

Type	Description
`dune_table`	Core Dune-maintained tables
`decoded_table`	Contract ABI-decoded tables
`spell`	Spellbook transformation tables
`uploaded_table`	User-uploaded CSV/data tables
`transformation_table`	Materialized transformation tables
`transformation_view`	Virtual transformation views

Query Parameters

Parameters let you create reusable queries with variable inputs. Pass them as --param key=value (repeatable). The API auto-detects the type, but parameters support these types: text, number, datetime, enum.

dune query run 12345 --param wallet=0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045 --param days=30 -o json

Command Overview

Command	Description	Auth
`dune auth`	Save API key to config file	No
`dune query create`	Create a new saved query	Yes
`dune query get <id>`	Fetch a saved query's SQL and metadata	Yes
`dune query update <id>`	Update an existing query	Yes
`dune query archive <id>`	Archive a saved query	Yes
`dune query run <id>`	Execute a saved query and wait for results	Yes
`dune query run-sql`	Execute raw DuneSQL directly (no saved query needed)	Yes
`dune execution results <id>`	Fetch results of a previous execution	Yes
`dune dataset search`	Search the Dune dataset catalog	Yes
`dune dataset search-by-contract`	Find decoded tables for a contract address	Yes
`dune viz create`	Create a visualization on a saved query	Yes
`dune viz get <id>`	Fetch visualization details and options	Yes
`dune viz list`	List all visualizations for a query	Yes
`dune viz update <id>`	Update an existing visualization	Yes
`dune viz delete <id>`	Permanently delete a visualization	Yes
`dune docs search`	Search Dune documentation	No
`dune usage`	Show credit and resource usage	Yes
`dune dashboard create`	Create a new dashboard	Yes
`dune dashboard get <id>`	Fetch a dashboard's metadata and widgets	Yes
`dune dashboard update <id>`	Update an existing dashboard	Yes
`dune dashboard archive <id>`	Archive a dashboard	Yes

Common Workflows

Ad-hoc SQL Analysis

# Run a one-off query directly
dune query run-sql --sql "SELECT block_number, block_time FROM ethereum.blocks ORDER BY block_number DESC LIMIT 5" -o json

Discover Tables, Then Query

# 1. Find relevant tables with column schemas
dune dataset search --query "uniswap swaps" --categories decoded --include-schema -o json

# 2. Write and execute SQL using discovered table/column names
dune query run-sql --sql "SELECT * FROM uniswap_v3_ethereum.evt_Swap LIMIT 10" -o json

Find Contract Tables, Then Query

# 1. Find decoded tables for a specific contract
dune dataset search-by-contract --contract-address 0x1f9840a85d5aF5bf1D1762F925BDADdC4201F984 --include-schema -o json

# 2. Query the discovered tables
dune query run-sql --sql "SELECT * FROM uniswap_v3_ethereum.evt_Transfer LIMIT 10" -o json

Save and Execute a Reusable Query

# 1. Create a saved query with parameters
dune query create --name "Top Wallets" --sql "SELECT address, balance FROM ethereum.balances WHERE balance > {{min_balance}} LIMIT {{row_limit}}" -o json

# 2. Run it with parameter values
dune query run <returned-id> --param min_balance=1000 --param row_limit=50 -o json

Long-Running Query (Submit and Poll)

# 1. Submit without waiting
dune query run 12345 --no-wait --performance large -o json
# Output: {"execution_id": "01ABC...", "state": "QUERY_STATE_PENDING"}

# 2. Check results later
dune execution results 01ABC... -o json

Build a Dashboard from Scratch

# 1. Create queries for each section
QUERY_ID=$(dune query create --name "Daily Volume" --sql "SELECT date_trunc('day', block_time) AS day, SUM(amount) AS volume FROM trades GROUP BY 1 ORDER BY 1" -o json | jq -r '.query_id')

# 2. Execute to verify data
dune query run $QUERY_ID -o json

# 3. Create visualizations for each query
VIZ_ID=$(dune viz create --query-id $QUERY_ID --name "Daily Volume Chart" --type chart --options '{"globalSeriesType":"line","columnMapping":{"day":"x","volume":"y"}}' -o json | jq -r '.id')

# 4. Assemble the dashboard
dune dashboard create --name "Trading Dashboard" \
  --text-widgets '[{"text":"# Trading Dashboard\nDaily volume and metrics"}]' \
  --visualization-ids $VIZ_ID -o json

Update a Dashboard (Preserve Existing Widgets)

# 1. Fetch current state
dune dashboard get 12345 -o json > dashboard.json

# 2. Modify as needed (add a new visualization widget)
# 3. Pass the complete widget state back
dune dashboard update 12345 \
  --visualization-widgets '[{"visualization_id":111},{"visualization_id":222},{"visualization_id":333}]' \
  -o json

Limitations

The following capabilities are available via the Dune MCP server or web UI but not via the CLI:

Blockchain listing (list all indexed blockchains with table counts)
Table size analysis (storage size of specific tables)

Security

Never output API keys or tokens in responses. Before presenting CLI output to the user, scan for strings that look like API keys (e.g. long alphanumeric tokens, strings prefixed with dune_, or values from DUNE_API_KEY). Redact them with [REDACTED].
Always confirm with the user before running write commands (query create, query update, query archive, viz create, viz update, viz delete, dashboard create, dashboard update, dashboard archive)
Always use -o json on every command -- JSON output is more detailed and reliably parseable
Use --temp when creating throwaway queries to avoid cluttering the user's saved queries
Never pass --api-key on the command line when other users might see the terminal history. Prefer dune auth or the DUNE_API_KEY environment variable.

Reference Documents

Load the relevant reference when you need detailed command syntax and flags:

Task	Reference
Create, get, update, or archive saved queries	query-management.md
Execute queries (run, run-sql) or fetch execution results	query-execution.md
Search datasets or find tables for a contract address	dataset-discovery.md
Search documentation or check account usage	docs-and-usage.md
DuneSQL types, functions, common patterns, and pitfalls	dunesql-cheatsheet.md
Create, get, update, delete, or list visualizations on saved queries	visualization-management.md
Create, get, update, or archive dashboards	dashboard-management.md
CLI install, authentication, and version recovery	install-and-recovery.md