Buildmarkets Developer CLI (bm)

The Buildmarkets developer CLI (bm) is a thin, scriptable command-line interface to the Buildmarkets brokerage API. It is designed for developers at terminals, CI/CD pipelines, and autonomous agent workflows.

The bm CLI is distributed as a single static binary for macOS, Linux, and Windows. This repository hosts the published binaries and installation tooling. The source code is maintained privately.

Install & Setup

Set up the CLI in under two minutes by following these steps:

Install the CLI

Install the CLI on your machine using one of the following methods:macOS / Linux (curl)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tappengine/buildmarketsuildmarkets-cli/main/install.sh | sh

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install tappengine/tap/bm

Windows / Manual Download the latest binary for your operating system and architecture directly from the GitHub Releases page.

Verify installation

Ensure the binary is installed correctly and is accessible in your system path:

bm --version

Configure your environment

Set the environment (sandbox, qa, or live) and authenticate using your partner API credentials:

bm config set environment qa

bm config set api-key <your-api-key>

bm config set api-secret <your-api-secret>

Verify connection

Verify your current authenticated identity and environment:

bm whoami

Authentication

The CLI supports two modes of authentication. Credentials are resolved in the following priority order (first match wins):

Priority	Source	Auth Type
1	`--api-key` / `--api-secret` command flags	Partner / Machine-to-Machine
2	`BUILDMARKETS_API_KEY` / `BUILDMARKETS_API_SECRET` env vars	Partner / Machine-to-Machine
3	Keycloak token from running `bm login`	Trader / Individual Account
4	Stored API credentials via `bm config`	Partner / Machine-to-Machine

Partner / M2M Auth (API Key)

Configure M2M credentials:

bm config set api-key tapp_sandbox_xxx

bm config set api-secret sk_xxx

These credentials are sent as X-API-Key and X-API-Secret headers on every API request.

Trader Auth (OAuth Device Flow)

For individual account/trader authentication:

bm login

This starts the OAuth device flow, printing a code and URL to approve in your web browser. Once approved, the JWT token is stored locally and sent as an Authorization: Bearer <token> header. The token refreshes automatically.

bm whoami

bm logout

Credentials are safely stored in your operating system’s native keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, or libsecret). If no keychain is available, they fallback to a secure file at ~/.buildmarkets/config.yaml with 0600 permissions.

Configuration & Environments

View and modify your CLI settings: Set environment:

bm config set environment qa     # Options: sandbox | qa | live

Get effective base URL:

bm config get api-base-url

List all configurations (secrets masked):

bm config list

Environment Mappings

Environment	Base URL
`sandbox`	`https://dev-tapp-api.tappengine.com`
`qa`	`https://qa-tapp-api.tappengine.com`
`live`	`https://tapp-api.tappengine.com`

Environment Variables

You can override any config setting at runtime using environment variables. This is the preferred method for CI/CD and automation pipelines:

Variable	Description
`BUILDMARKETS_ENV`	Override the current active environment (`sandbox`, `qa`, `live`).
`BUILDMARKETS_API_KEY` / `_API_SECRET`	Override partner M2M authentication credentials.
`BUILDMARKETS_API_BASE_URL`	Force a specific API gateway URL.
`BUILDMARKETS_DEBUG`	Enable verbose request/response debugging output to `stderr`.
`BUILDMARKETS_NON_INTERACTIVE`	Disable interactive prompts, animations, and ANSI color.
`BUILDMARKETS_NO_UPDATE_CHECK`	Skip checking for new CLI versions on invocation.

Global Options & Conventions

The following global flags can be supplied to any CLI command:

Flag	Purpose
`--json` / `--table`	Force output format (bypasses auto-detection).
`--non-interactive`	Disable all terminal animations, color, and input prompts.
`--yes`	Automatically accept confirmation prompts.
`--api-key` / `--api-secret`	Pass partner API credentials for a single invocation.
`--watch` / `--watch-interval <s>`	Poll a read command at an interval (defaults to 2 seconds).
`--debug`	Output verbose API logging to `stderr`.

Argument Conventions

Target resource ID: Always passed as a positional argument:
bm accounts get <id>
Parent account scope: Specified using the --account flag:
bm orders list --account <id>
Creation data: Supplied via specific flags or as a JSON string/file:
bm orders place --symbol AAPL --side buy --qty 10

Output Formats & Exit Codes

Interactive TTY: Outputs styled tables.
Piped/Redirected Output: Automatically switches to JSON.
Stream Monitoring: Running a command with --watch piped to a script outputs NDJSON (Newlined-delimited JSON) for streaming parse compatibility.

For example, to extract a specific JSON field:

bm marketdata quote AAPL --json | jq .data.lastPrice

Process Exit Codes

The bm CLI returns structured exit codes on failure so you can script control flows around them:

Exit Code	Meaning
`0`	Success
`1`	Generic execution error
`2`	Validation error (invalid command arguments or flags)
`3`	Authentication or authorization error
`4`	Requested resource not found
`5`	API rate limit exceeded
`6`	Upstream clearing or banking gateway unavailable

Command Reference Summary

Below are the most common CLI commands by resource category. For the complete, auto-generated list of all subcommands, options, and flags, see the exhaustive CLI Command Reference.

System Status

Unauthenticated readiness and health checks. Check API Health:

bm system health

Check readiness:

bm system ready

Brokerage Accounts

Open, view, and manage customer accounts. List accounts (filterable):

bm accounts list --status ACTIVE --limit 25

Get account details:

bm accounts get TAPP-AFP-1257090

Get account balances (cash, buying power, equity):

bm accounts balances <id>

Open a brokerage account interactively:

bm accounts open --interactive

Open an account using preconfigured JSON:

bm accounts open --data @account.json

Sandbox KYC Testing: When opening accounts in the sandbox environment, using a tax_id ending in 0001 results in auto-approval, 0002 results in rejection, and 0003 puts the account in manual review.

Orders & Execution

Place and manage equity and ETF orders. Place a market buy order:

bm orders place --account <id> --symbol AAPL --side buy --qty 10 --type market

Place a limit buy order (GTC):

bm orders place --account <id> --symbol MSFT --side buy --qty 5 --type limit --limit-price 410.00 --time-in-force gtc

Place a dollar-based order (fractional shares):

bm orders place --account <id> --symbol AAPL --side buy --notional 1000.00

List open/working orders:

bm orders list --account <id>

Cancel a working order:

bm orders cancel <order-id> --account <id>

Positions & Portfolio

View cash and security holdings. List all open positions:

bm positions list --account <id>

Get position details for a specific symbol:

bm positions get AAPL --account <id>

Liquidate all holdings (destructive market sell):

bm positions close-all --account <id>

Money Movement (ACH)

Link bank accounts and initiate funds transfers. Link a bank account:

bm funding ach link --account <id> \
  --bank-account-owner-name "Sarah Martinez" \
  --bank-account-type CHECKING \
  --bank-routing-number 021000021 \
  --bank-account-number 1234567890

Initiate an ACH deposit:

bm funding deposit --account <id> --ach <ach-id> --amount 1000.00 --description "Initial funding"

Initiate an ACH withdrawal:

bm funding withdraw --account <id> --ach <ach-id> --amount 500.00

Market Data

Pull market quotes, corporate profiles, fundamentals, and historical charts. Get real-time bid/ask/last price:

bm marketdata quote AAPL

Get historical EOD bars:

bm marketdata historical AAPL --from 2026-01-01 --to 2026-05-01

List options chain by expiration:

bm marketdata options chain --symbol AAPL --expiration 2026-07-17

Webhook Management

Manage real-time event webhooks. Create a webhook registration:

bm webhooks create --url https://partner.com/webhooks --events order.filled,account.kyc_approved

Test a webhook registration (sends simulated event):

bm webhooks test <id>

Developer Utility Commands

Live Webhook Tunneling (`bm webhooks tail`)

Allows you to capture webhook events sent from your Buildmarkets tenant and stream them directly to your terminal or forward them to a local server without setting up an external proxy tunnel (like ngrok). Stream events to terminal:

bm webhooks tail

Forward events to a local endpoint:

bm webhooks tail --forward-to http://localhost:4242/webhooks --filter 'order.*'

Live Request Logging (`bm logs tail`)

Streams live API request and response diagnostics for your tenant in real-time. Useful for debugging errors during development. Filter logs by POST method, error status, and path:

bm logs tail --method POST --status 4xx --path '/v1/accounts/*'

Sandbox Resetting (`bm dev sandbox reset`)

Resets and reseeds your sandbox tenant back to fresh fixtures. Wipe and load full fixture set (refuses to run on live environments):

bm dev sandbox reset --seed full --yes

Broker Migration Tool (`bm migrate from-alpaca`)

Automates migrating accounts, ACH links, and configurations from the Alpaca Broker API to Buildmarkets in a two-phase (plan -> apply) journaled operation. Phase 1: Generate dry-run migration plan:

bm migrate from-alpaca plan --alpaca-key $KEY --alpaca-secret $SECRET --output ./plan.json

Phase 2: Execute and apply migration plan:

bm migrate from-alpaca apply ./plan.json

Scripting & Automation Recipes

The CLI is optimized for shell scripts, backend automation, and cron jobs.

Run in non-interactive JSON mode

export BUILDMARKETS_NON_INTERACTIVE=1

bm marketdata quote AAPL --json | jq -er '.data.lastPrice'

Capture an order ID from creation response

oid=$(bm orders place --account "$ACC" --symbol AAPL --side buy --qty 1 --json | jq -r '.id')

Loop and process streaming order updates

bm orders list --account "$ACC" --watch --json | while read -r line; do
  echo "$line" | jq '.status'
done

​Install & Setup

​Authentication

​Partner / M2M Auth (API Key)

​Trader Auth (OAuth Device Flow)

​Configuration & Environments

​Environment Mappings

​Environment Variables

​Global Options & Conventions

​Argument Conventions

​Output Formats & Exit Codes

​Process Exit Codes

​Command Reference Summary

​System Status

​Brokerage Accounts

​Orders & Execution

​Positions & Portfolio

​Money Movement (ACH)

​Market Data

​Webhook Management

​Developer Utility Commands

​Live Webhook Tunneling (bm webhooks tail)

​Live Request Logging (bm logs tail)

​Sandbox Resetting (bm dev sandbox reset)

​Broker Migration Tool (bm migrate from-alpaca)

​Scripting & Automation Recipes

​Run in non-interactive JSON mode

​Capture an order ID from creation response

​Loop and process streaming order updates

Install & Setup

Authentication

Partner / M2M Auth (API Key)

Trader Auth (OAuth Device Flow)

Configuration & Environments

Environment Mappings

Environment Variables

Global Options & Conventions

Argument Conventions

Output Formats & Exit Codes

Process Exit Codes

Command Reference Summary

System Status

Brokerage Accounts

Orders & Execution

Positions & Portfolio

Money Movement (ACH)

Market Data

Webhook Management

Developer Utility Commands

Live Webhook Tunneling (`bm webhooks tail`)

Live Request Logging (`bm logs tail`)

Sandbox Resetting (`bm dev sandbox reset`)

Broker Migration Tool (`bm migrate from-alpaca`)

Scripting & Automation Recipes

Run in non-interactive JSON mode

Capture an order ID from creation response

Loop and process streaming order updates