CLI Reference

Short	Long	Type	Default	Description
-s	--symbol	string	sample data	Ticker (e.g. AAPL, BTCUSDT). If omitted, chartgen uses random sample data. In --trade mode, defaults to BTCUSDT.
-i	--interval	string	4h	Candle interval: 1m, 5m, 15m, 1h, 4h, 1d, 1wk.
-p	--panels	string (repeat)	cipher_b, macd	Indicator names, bottom to top. Repeat the flag for multiple indicators. See the indicator reference.
-n	--bars	integer	120	Number of bars.
-o	--output	string	chart.png	Output file path (one-shot render mode only).
	--width	integer	1920	Image width in pixels.
	--height	integer	1080	Image height in pixels.
	--source	string	auto	Data source: auto, binance, or yahoo. auto picks by ticker suffix (see below).
	--mcp	flag	off	Run as MCP stdio JSON-RPC server. Use with Claude Desktop.
	--serve	flag	off	Run as remote MCP HTTP server with OAuth 2.1 PKCE. See MCP integration and OAuth.
	--port	integer	9315	HTTP server port, used by both --serve and --trade.
	--trade	flag	off	Start the trading engine: live WebSocket feed, indicator state manager, order tracker, alert engine, and the same HTTP + OAuth server as --serve. Exposes 12 extra MCP tools on top of the 3 charting tools. Mutually exclusive with --serve. See the trading guide.
	--testnet	flag	off	Intended to route --trade orders to Binance testnet. Currently a no-op — see the caution in the trading guide.

Operating modes

chartgen has four modes, picked by the first matching flag in this order (src/main.rs dispatches sequentially and returns early):

1. --mcp — MCP stdio JSON-RPC, for Claude Desktop.
2. --serve — HTTP MCP server with OAuth 2.1 PKCE, for Claude.ai (charting tools only).
3. --trade — trading engine plus the same HTTP + OAuth server as --serve, with all 15 tools exposed.
4. One-shot render (no mode flag) — fetch data, render chart.png, exit.

--serve and --trade are mutually exclusive; passing both runs only --serve. Use --trade whenever you want the engine — it already serves HTTP.

Data source auto-detection

With --source auto (the default), the ticker suffix picks the provider:

Suffix	Source
USDT, BTC, ETH	Binance
anything else	Yahoo Finance

Force a provider with --source binance or --source yahoo.

Example

chartgen -s BTCUSDT -i 4h -n 200 \
  -p ema_stack -p vpvr -p wavetrend \
  --width 2560 --height 1440 \
  -o btc.png

Live trading engine served over HTTP for Claude.ai:

chartgen --trade --testnet \
  --symbol BTCUSDT --interval 1h \
  --port 9315 \
  -p cipher_b -p rsi_mfi_stoch