Install the Autonomi CLI
The ant CLI is the one tool this page uses: it can both download data from the network and upload data to it, along with a range of other functions — price quotes and wallet operations. It's the Swiss Army knife for the Autonomi network.
Download Data
Here's an address on the network to try:
This CLI command will download a photo of Lucky the dog. It lives on the Network permanently, nobody can take it down, and you just fetched it with no account, no API key, no wallet, and no payment: just its unique address.
That long hex string is a content address: it identifies what the data is, not where it sits. The client looked up the address, pulled the encrypted chunks from peers around the network, reassembled them locally, and wrote the file. There is no server, and no wallet is involved anywhere in a public download. Reads are free by design. The network doesn't charge for them, ever.
Upload Data
For this part you'll need the ant CLI (install it above if you've jumped straight here), a small file of your own to store (next step), and — for the final two steps only — a wallet holding ANT plus a little ETH for gas, on Arbitrum One. The first two steps are free: choose a file and get a price, then decide.
1Choose something worth keeping
You're about to pay to store data immutably — so store something that could actually be useful to you. A photo you took. A piece of your own writing. A file you'd like to exist somewhere it can't be lost or taken down.
- Keep it small. Cost scales with size; your first upload doesn't need to be a big one.
- Make it yours. The network stores content once, globally: bytes identical to something already stored come back as already paid for rather than a fresh quote. Your own data guarantees you see the real thing.
In the commands below, swap myfile.jpg for your file's name.
2Ask the network what it would cost
This encrypts the file locally to work out its chunk count, then asks live network peers for a price quote. The storage price you get back is quoted live from the network, with a rough estimate of the gas on top — we send you to the network for the number rather than printing one here, because the network's answer is the current one.
3Set up your wallet
You pay for storage from a wallet, a standard Ethereum-style (EVM) wallet. It needs to hold two things: ANT, the Autonomi network token, which pays for the storage itself, and a little ETH on Arbitrum One, which covers the transaction fee.
Starting from zero with no wallet, no ANT, no ETH? The token guide walks through creating a compatible wallet, buying ANT, and adding the Arbitrum network.
4Upload
Upload privately first. The file is encrypted and stored on the network, while its location map is saved beside your source as myfile.jpg.datamap. You need this local DataMap to retrieve the data, so keep it safe — it is the access.
For the CLI to take the payment from your wallet, it needs the wallet's private key. Which, of course, you shouldn't share with anyone, commit to code, nor add to an AI prompt.
Want a public address instead? A public upload is durable and anyone with its address can retrieve it. Only continue with data you are happy to make public.
A public upload gives you an address like the one you downloaded from earlier. Anyone can retrieve it with no further payment from you or from them.
Expect the upload to take on the order of twenty seconds or more, even for a small file — the network is confirming your data is actually stored across independent peers before it tells you so. Autonomi writes are built for durability, not for interactive round-trips; treat the network as your permanent tier, not your hot path.
5Get it back
If you also made a public upload, retrieve that separately with its address:
Compare the result with the file you started with. That's the round trip: data read from and written to a serverless network, with one tool, in one sitting.
Where next
- The smallest possible client — if you only need to read data from the network, antget is perfect: a read-only download tool with no wallet code in it. One install line, one command.
- The rest of the CLI — chunks and wallet inspection: CLI command reference
- Build with agents — agent skills, the MCP server, the CLI, and copy-paste prompts for installing and running them: see Agent Tools on this site
Hand the whole flow to your agent
One prompt, the same journey: your agent installs the CLI, proves the free read, and walks you through the paid upload — stopping for your approval at every step that costs money or needs permissions.
You're going to help me try the Autonomi data network hands-on: one free download, then a paid private upload of a file I choose — with my explicit approval before anything that costs money or needs permissions. Tell me your plan first, and which step you're on as you go. 1. Install the `ant` CLI using the installer at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WithAutonomi/ant-client/main/install.sh (Windows: install.ps1 from the same path). You may fetch and read the script before running it; it installs a single binary plus bootstrap configuration and never uses sudo. Confirm `ant --version` reports 0.3.6. 2. Learn the tool from itself. Read `ant --help` and `ant file --help`, and use only the commands and flags they document — do not guess Autonomi-specific details. The full reference is at https://docs.autonomi.com/developers/cli/command-reference if you need it. 3. Download. Run `ant file download 711c7e20006ff3e0ac6c1f3063286a0c1a3e4c409642e8c526173fa60bb7078a -o lucky.jpg`, confirm the result is a valid JPEG, and show me what you got. This is a free public read: no account, no wallet, no payment. 4. Ask me to choose a small file of my own to store permanently. Don't pick one yourself. 5. Quote it with the verified `ant file cost <file>` template — free, no wallet — and show me the price in ANT plus estimated gas. Stop here until I approve. 6. Payment, safely. Uploads are paid in ANT plus ETH gas on Arbitrum One. If I need to set up or fund a wallet, walk me through it using the official token guide at https://docs.autonomi.com/token — do not name exchanges, bridges, or token contract addresses from your own knowledge. Never ask for, accept, log, or display my private key. The official upload form uses a command-scoped `SECRET_KEY` assignment before `ant`. This guide's `SECRET_KEY=<private key>` template uses Jim's human-readable placeholder for the upstream example key, not upstream copy. Have me replace `<private key>` and run the command locally; do not convert it to a persistent export or add undocumented key-handling behavior. The official docs provide no command-scoped PowerShell equivalent, so if I am using PowerShell, state that this upload documentation is not yet available rather than inventing a command. 7. After I've seen the quote and said go, upload privately first with the verified `SECRET_KEY=<private key> ant file upload <file>` template. Explain that the upload creates a local `<file>.datamap` DataMap needed to retrieve the private data, and have me protect that file. 8. Prove the private round trip with the verified `ant file download --datamap <file>.datamap -o <output>` template, writing the retrieved data to a new path and checking it matches the original byte-for-byte. Report the time and cost. Offer public upload only as a separate optional next action using the verified `SECRET_KEY=<private key> ant file upload <file> --public` template; before asking for approval, warn that it is permanent and publicly retrievable by anyone with its address.