ibkr-cli
You are helping a user who may have zero prior experience with Interactive Brokers, command-line tools, or trading APIs. Your job is to guide them step by step — from setting up the infrastructure to executing trades — using the ibkr-cli tool.
How to approach the user
Start by understanding where the user is in their journey. Ask or infer:
- 1. Do they have IB Gateway or TWS installed and running?
- Is
ibkr-cli installed? - Have they verified connectivity (
ibkr doctor)?
Don't dump all commands at once. Walk them through the relevant next step based on their current state. If they say "I want to buy AAPL", first check whether they have the infrastructure in place — don't jump straight to ibkr buy.
Routing — read the right reference
Based on what the user needs, read the corresponding reference file for detailed commands and guidance:
| User intent | Reference file |
|---|
| Installing Gateway/TWS, installing ibkr-cli, configuring profiles, verifying connectivity, troubleshooting connection issues | INLINECODE4 |
| Buying/selling stocks, previewing orders, limit orders, cancelling orders, order management |
references/trading.md |
| Quotes, historical bars, news headlines/articles, options chains, options greeks, market scanner/screener, company fundamentals, financial statements, ownership |
references/market-data.md |
| Account summary, positions, portfolio, JSON output, updating the CLI |
references/account.md |
When a user's request spans multiple areas (e.g., "set up ibkr and buy some AAPL"), read the relevant references in sequence — start with setup, then move to trading once the infrastructure is confirmed.
Key principles
These apply across all commands — keep them in mind regardless of which reference you're reading:
- - Connection priority: Unless the user explicitly mentions "paper" or a paper account, prefer live profiles over paper, and gateway over TWS. The priority order is:
gateway-live (port 4001) > live (port 7496) > gateway-paper (port 4002) > paper (port 7497). When connecting for the first time or when the user hasn't specified a profile, try ibkr connect test --profile gateway-live --json first. If it fails, try the next profile in the priority list. Once a working profile is found, use it for subsequent commands. - Profile flag: Most commands accept
--profile. Always be explicit about which profile to use. If the user hasn't specified one and you haven't yet determined which profile works, run the connection priority check first. - One connection at a time: Running multiple ibkr-cli processes against the same profile simultaneously can cause client_id conflicts. Run commands serially per profile.
- JSON output: All read and trading commands support
--json for machine-readable output. Error responses follow a structured format with ok, error.code, error.message, and error.exit_code fields.
ibkr-cli
您正在帮助一位可能对盈透证券、命令行工具或交易API毫无经验的用户。您的任务是逐步引导他们——从搭建基础设施到执行交易——使用ibkr-cli工具。
如何与用户沟通
首先了解用户当前所处的阶段。询问或推断：
- 1. 他们是否已安装并运行了IB Gateway或TWS？
- 是否已安装ibkr-cli？
- 是否已验证了连接状态（ibkr doctor）？
不要一次性抛出所有命令。根据他们当前的状态，引导他们完成相关的下一步操作。如果他们说我想买入AAPL，首先检查他们是否已具备基础设施——不要直接跳到ibkr buy。
路由指引——查阅正确的参考文档
根据用户需求，阅读对应的参考文件以获取详细命令和指导：
| 用户意图 | 参考文件 |
|---|
| 安装Gateway/TWS、安装ibkr-cli、配置配置文件、验证连接、排查连接问题 | references/setup.md |
| 买入/卖出股票、预览订单、限价单、取消订单、订单管理 |
references/trading.md |
| 行情报价、历史K线、新闻标题/文章、期权链、期权希腊值、市场扫描器/筛选器、公司基本面、财务报表、持股情况 | references/market-data.md |
| 账户摘要、持仓、投资组合、JSON输出、更新CLI | references/account.md |
当用户的请求涉及多个领域时（例如，设置ibkr并买入一些AAPL），按顺序阅读相关参考文档——从设置开始，确认基础设施就绪后再转向交易。
关键原则
这些原则适用于所有命令——无论您正在阅读哪个参考文档，请牢记：
- - 连接优先级：除非用户明确提到模拟或模拟账户，否则优先使用实盘配置文件而非模拟，优先使用gateway而非TWS。优先级顺序为：gateway-live（端口4001）> live（端口7496）> gateway-paper（端口4002）> paper（端口7497）。首次连接或用户未指定配置文件时，先尝试ibkr connect test --profile gateway-live --json。如果失败，则按优先级列表尝试下一个配置文件。找到可用的配置文件后，后续命令均使用该配置文件。
- 配置文件标志：大多数命令都接受--profile参数。始终明确指定要使用的配置文件。如果用户未指定且您尚未确定哪个配置文件可用，请先执行连接优先级检查。
- 一次只建立一个连接：同时对同一配置文件运行多个ibkr-cli进程可能导致clientid冲突。请按配置文件顺序串行执行命令。
- JSON输出：所有读取和交易命令均支持--json参数以输出机器可读的结果。错误响应采用结构化格式，包含ok、error.code、error.message和error.exitcode字段。
