Output Formats

Overview

The CoinPaprika CLI supports two output formats: Table (human-readable) and JSON (machine-readable). You can control the output format globally using the --output flag.

Output Modes

Table (Default)
JSON
Raw JSON

The default output format displays data in formatted, human-readable tables with automatic column width adjustment and styling.

Example

coinpaprika-cli ticker btc-bitcoin

Output:

╭─────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ ID                  │ btc-bitcoin                                          │
│ Name                │ Bitcoin                                              │
│ Symbol              │ BTC                                                  │
│ Rank                │ 1                                                    │
│ Price (USD)         │ $97234.56                                            │
│ Volume 24h          │ $42.1B                                               │
│ Market Cap          │ $1.9T                                                │
│ Change 24h          │ +2.34%                                               │
│ Change 7d           │ +5.67%                                               │
│ ATH                 │ $108,135                                             │
│ ATH Date            │ 2024-12-17                                           │
╰─────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Data: CoinPaprika (coinpaprika.com) · Free API: api.coinpaprika.com

Features

Rounded table borders for better readability
Automatic text wrapping for long values
Smart number formatting (K, M, B, T suffixes)
Attribution footer included

Best For

Interactive terminal usage
Quick data inspection
Human consumption
Screenshots and documentation

JSON output provides structured, machine-readable data with metadata included by default.

Example

coinpaprika-cli --output json ticker btc-bitcoin

Output:

{
  "data": {
    "id": "btc-bitcoin",
    "name": "Bitcoin",
    "symbol": "BTC",
    "rank": 1,
    "quotes": {
      "USD": {
        "price": 97234.56,
        "volume_24h": 42123456789.12,
        "market_cap": 1900000000000.00,
        "percent_change_24h": 2.34,
        "percent_change_7d": 5.67
      }
    }
  },
  "_meta": {
    "source": "CoinPaprika",
    "url": "https://coinpaprika.com/coin/btc-bitcoin",
    "api_docs": "https://api.coinpaprika.com",
    "attribution": "Powered by CoinPaprika · Free crypto market data",
    "timestamp": "2024-03-15T10:30:45Z"
  }
}

Features

Pretty-printed JSON (human-readable)
Metadata wrapper with attribution and timestamp
Full precision for numbers (no rounding)
Standard JSON format for parsing

Best For

API integrations
Data processing pipelines
Logging and debugging
When you need attribution metadata

Raw JSON mode removes the metadata wrapper and returns only the data payload. This is ideal for shell scripting and data pipelines.

Example

coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw ticker btc-bitcoin

Output:

{
  "id": "btc-bitcoin",
  "name": "Bitcoin",
  "symbol": "BTC",
  "rank": 1,
  "quotes": {
    "USD": {
      "price": 97234.56,
      "volume_24h": 42123456789.12,
      "market_cap": 1900000000000.00,
      "percent_change_24h": 2.34,
      "percent_change_7d": 5.67
    }
  }
}

The --raw flag only affects JSON output. It has no effect on table output.

Features

No metadata wrapper
Direct API response format
Smaller payload size
Easier to pipe to jq and other tools

Best For

Shell scripts
Data extraction with jq
Automated systems
When attribution metadata is not needed

Usage Examples

Basic Output Control

# Default table output
coinpaprika-cli ticker btc-bitcoin

# JSON with metadata
coinpaprika-cli --output json ticker btc-bitcoin

# Raw JSON (no metadata)
coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw ticker btc-bitcoin

Scripting with jq

Extract specific fields using jq:

# Get just the price
coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw ticker btc-bitcoin | jq -r '.quotes.USD.price'

# Get name and price
coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw ticker btc-bitcoin | jq '{name, price: .quotes.USD.price}'

# Filter multiple tickers
coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw tickers --limit 10 | jq '.[] | select(.rank <= 5)'

Save to File

# Save JSON to file
coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw ticker btc-bitcoin > btc-data.json

# Save multiple tickers
coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw tickers --limit 100 > top-100-coins.json

Compare With and Without Metadata

coinpaprika-cli --output json ticker btc-bitcoin | jq '.'

# Output includes _meta wrapper:
# {
#   "data": { ... },
#   "_meta": {
#     "source": "CoinPaprika",
#     "timestamp": "..."
#   }
# }

How It Works

The output format is controlled by two global CLI flags defined in src/main.rs:29-39:

/// Output format: table or json
#[arg(short, long, global = true, default_value = "table")]
pub(crate) output: OutputFormat,

/// JSON output without _meta wrapper (for scripts/piping)
#[arg(long, global = true, default_value = "false")]
pub(crate) raw: bool,

The OutputFormat enum is defined in src/output/mod.rs:8-12:

#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, clap::ValueEnum)]
pub enum OutputFormat {
    Table,
    Json,
}

JSON Output Implementation

JSON output is handled by the print_json_wrapped function in src/output/mod.rs:111-119:

pub fn print_json_wrapped<T: Serialize>(data: &T, meta: ResponseMeta, raw: bool) -> Result<()> {
    if raw {
        println!("{}", serde_json::to_string_pretty(data)?);
    } else {
        let wrapped = WrappedResponse { data, _meta: meta };
        println!("{}", serde_json::to_string_pretty(&wrapped)?);
    }
    Ok(())
}

Metadata Structure

The metadata wrapper includes attribution and timestamp information:

#[derive(Serialize)]
pub struct ResponseMeta {
    pub source: String,           // "CoinPaprika"
    pub url: String,              // Entity URL on coinpaprika.com
    pub api_docs: String,         // "https://api.coinpaprika.com"
    pub attribution: String,      // Attribution text
    pub timestamp: String,        // ISO 8601 timestamp
}

Formatting Details

Table Formatting

The CLI uses smart formatting for different data types in table output:

Currency Values

Large numbers use suffixes (K, M, B, T) for readability.

$1,500,000,000 → $1.5B
$42,000,000 → $42.0M
$5,200 → $5.2K

Prices

Precision adjusts based on value size.

≥ $1.00 → 2 decimals ($97234.56)
≥ $0.01 → 4 decimals ($0.1234)
< $0.01 → 8 decimals ($0.00012340)

Percentages

Includes + prefix for positive values.

Positive: +2.34%
Negative: -1.23%

Supply/Volume

Uses suffixes like currency values.

1,500,000,000 → 1.5B
21,000,000 → 21.0M

These formatting functions are defined in src/output/mod.rs:61-103.

Error Handling

Errors are formatted according to the output mode:

Table Mode

Errors are printed to stderr:

coinpaprika-cli ticker invalid-coin
Error: Not found. Check the ID format (e.g., btc-bitcoin for Bitcoin)

JSON Mode

Errors are returned as JSON objects:

coinpaprika-cli --output json ticker invalid-coin
{
  "error": "Not found. Check the ID format (e.g., btc-bitcoin for Bitcoin)"
}

This is handled in src/main.rs:418-430:

if let Err(e) = run(cli).await {
    match output {
        OutputFormat::Json => {
            println!(
                "{}",
                serde_json::json!({"error": e.to_string()})
            );
        }
        OutputFormat::Table => {
            eprintln!("Error: {e}");
        }
    }
    return ExitCode::FAILURE;
}

Best Practices

Use Table for Interactive Sessions

When running commands manually in a terminal, stick with the default table output for better readability.

Use JSON + Raw for Scripting

Always use --output json --raw in scripts to avoid parsing the metadata wrapper.

#!/bin/bash
price=$(coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw ticker btc-bitcoin | jq -r '.quotes.USD.price')
echo "BTC price: $price"

Include Metadata for Logging

Use JSON without --raw when you want to preserve attribution and timestamps in logs.

Set Shell Aliases

Create aliases for common output patterns:

alias cp='coinpaprika-cli'
alias cpj='coinpaprika-cli --output json --raw'

All commands support the --output and --raw flags:

coinpaprika-cli global - Market overview
coinpaprika-cli tickers - All tickers
coinpaprika-cli ticker <id> - Single ticker
coinpaprika-cli search <query> - Search results
coinpaprika-cli ohlcv <id> - Historical OHLCV data

Get Started

Core Concepts

Commands

Advanced

Overview

Output Modes

Example

Features

Best For

Example

Features

Best For

Example

Features

Best For

Usage Examples

Basic Output Control

Scripting with jq

Save to File

Compare With and Without Metadata

How It Works

JSON Output Implementation

Metadata Structure

Formatting Details

Table Formatting

Error Handling

Table Mode

JSON Mode

Best Practices

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Concepts

Commands

Advanced

​Overview

​Output Modes

​Example

​Features

​Best For

​Example

​Features

​Best For

​Example

​Features

​Best For

​Usage Examples

​Basic Output Control

​Scripting with jq

​Save to File

​Compare With and Without Metadata

​How It Works

​JSON Output Implementation

​Metadata Structure

​Formatting Details

​Table Formatting

​Error Handling

​Table Mode

​JSON Mode

​Best Practices

​Related Commands

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Output Modes

Example

Features

Best For

Example

Features

Best For

Example

Features

Best For

Usage Examples

Basic Output Control

Scripting with jq

Save to File

Compare With and Without Metadata

How It Works

JSON Output Implementation

Metadata Structure

Formatting Details

Table Formatting

Error Handling

Table Mode

JSON Mode

Best Practices

Related Commands