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Simple Compute Market (SCM) is CLI- and API-first market infrastructure: participation happens through the market command line and signed HTTP role protocols, not through a hosted checkout. This page takes you from nothing to a locally verified CLI and one read-only market query, then hands you to the path for your role.

Outcome. A working, locally verified market CLI with minimal buyer configuration, one successful read-only listing query against a Registry you chose, and a clear next step as a buyer, seller, or Registry operator.

Prerequisites​

  • Linux or macOS (on Windows, use WSL).
  • uv for the recommended install path. The CLI needs Python 3.12+, which uv provisions itself — a system python3.12 is not required.
  • Nothing else for this page. A funded wallet, an RPC URL, and an SSH keypair become prerequisites only when you continue to the buyer quickstart and actually buy.

Install the CLI​

The market console script ships in arkhai-core-buyer; arkhai-vms-buyer adds the virtual-machine compute plugin:

uv tool install arkhai-core-buyer --with arkhai-vms-buyer

Alternative installs — the released build script and the from-repository build — are covered in the synchronized buyer quickstart.

The unversioned PyPI command above and the quickstart's releases/latest shortcut install moving released packages. They may not match the inspected development revision that grounds these docs. For exact reproduction, use the quickstart's source-install path and detach the checkout at the manifest SHA shown on Source and revisions before building.

Verify the install locally​

Before touching any network, confirm the CLI itself:

market --version
market --help

Expected output: market --version prints market (arkhai-core-buyer) version <installed-version>, followed by one line per installed domain plugin with its contract version. market --help lists the command groups the installed plugins registered — with the VM plugin these include listing, config, logs, escrow, buy, negotiate, settle, chain, and plugins. Both commands run entirely locally. The version format and command registry are defined in the pinned CLI source: core_buyer/cli.py.

Minimal configuration​

market reads ~/.config/arkhai/buyer.toml. Scaffold it:

market config init-user

For a read-only query, only the Registry list matters:

[registry]
# Any listing Registry you choose to query, for example a self-hosted one:
urls = ["http://<REGISTRY_HOST>:8080"]

Buyers choose which Registries to query; sellers choose which Registries to publish to. The wallet, chain, and negotiation sections of the same file matter once you buy — the buyer quickstart documents them all.

Target environment​

The synchronized quickstarts pin their examples to Base Sepolia (chain ID 84532) with test USDC, and name one public preproduction Registry, http://34.41.205.175/registry. You may use it as an optional read target for this page's query. That endpoint was observed to be read-open on 2026-08-13; this is not a promise of continuing access, and write authority was not tested or granted. It is preproduction infrastructure for Base Sepolia listings: at the pinned revision it is documented in the quickstart configuration examples, and it can legitimately serve an empty listing set. Nothing on this page or this site implies live inventory or availability.

First read-only market query​

market listing list

This queries every URL in [registry] urls in parallel, deduplicates the results, and prints raw JSON. It reads; it never commits to anything.

Expected output​

The query is read-only, so success looks like data, not a state change. With a reachable Registry that has no open listings, the CLI prints an empty JSON array:

[]

With open listings, each array entry is one listing record in the Registry's domain vocabulary. The raw-JSON contract comes from the pinned CLI source (listing list is documented there as "List open listings from the configured registries as raw JSON"), and the Registry's own response shape — items, count, total_after_filter — from the pinned Registry service: registry listing routes. Annotated record examples live in Machine-readable records.

Choose your role path​

  • Buy compute — fund a wallet, discover listings, accept a listed price (or negotiate, where configured), and receive seller-delivered access: Buyer quickstart.
  • Sell compute — run a storefront, publish signing-address-attributed listings through authenticated requests, and keep delivery under your control: Seller quickstart.
  • Operate a Registry — run the discovery surface itself and set its access policy and filter vocabulary: Registry quickstart.

The Market page is a human-readable presentation layer over the same listing concepts and includes website review projections; it is not a canonical Registry response or a checkout. Actual participation stays with the CLI and signed APIs.

Troubleshooting​

  • market: command not found — uv tool install places executables in ~/.local/bin; ensure it is on PATH, or restart your shell.
  • A Registry read returns HTTP 401 — that Registry gates reads. Add a bearer token under [registry.auth], and note the key must match the URL in [registry] urls exactly (scheme, host, port, no trailing slash) — a mismatch silently sends unauthenticated requests.
  • [] even though you expected listings — an empty array is a valid response; confirm the Registry URL, then filter deliberately (for example market listing list --gpu-model H200) only after a bare query works.

Next steps​

Older links to the former one-page reference land here. The same material is now split into task and reference pages: