# Quickstart (/docs)



Market data works with **no API key**. Add one later if you want the assistant
to read your own account.

## Install [#install]

Pick your client. The base install serves market data; tick **+ Account/Trade**
to add your API key to the command.

<InstallBuilder />

### Install uv [#install-uv]

The copyable commands launch the server with `uvx`, part of
[`uv`](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/):

<UvInstall />

Check that the server resolves:

```bash
uvx delta-exchange-mcp --help
```

## Verify it works [#verify-it-works]

Restart your client and send a prompt that needs no key:

```text
Using the Delta Exchange tools, show the current BTCUSD ticker: last price,
24h change, and funding rate.
```

## Add an API key [#add-an-api-key]

Create a key with the **Read Data** permission under
[Account → API Keys](https://www.delta.exchange/app/account/manageapikeys)
(walkthrough in [Authentication](/docs/authentication&#x29;). Tick
**+ Account/Trade** above, type the key and secret straight into the command,
and restart your client: account tools such as `get_positions` appear in the
tool list.

```text
List my open positions on Delta and their unrealised PnL.
```

Or set the key once for every client on the machine instead of per client:

```bash
uvx delta-exchange-mcp login
```

That prompts with the input hidden, checks the key with Delta before saving, and
writes `~/.delta-exchange-mcp/config.env`, which every MCP client reads. Leave
the two slots above empty if you do. [Authentication](/docs/authentication)
covers both routes, and the one that works from inside the chat.

## Place orders [#place-orders]

Use a key with the **Trading** permission instead, which Delta requires an IP
whitelist for. Nothing else changes: the same install, the same tool list, and
orders go through from the moment that key is saved.

```text
Place a reduce-only limit sell of 1 BTCUSD contract at 90000.
```

<Callout type="warn" title="Orders are real and immediate">
  The key is the only gate. There is no rehearsal, no size cap and no confirmation
  step, and orders are sized in contracts rather than coins. Use
  `DELTA_MCP_ENV=india_testnet` to practise. See
  [Trading tools](/docs/tools/trading) and [Security](/docs/security).
</Callout>

Next: browse the [Use Cases](/docs/use-cases) or the full
[Tool Reference](/docs/tools). New to MCP? Start with
[What is MCP?](/docs/what-is-mcp)

<Callout type="warn" title="Not investment advice">
  Output is generated by an AI model and can be inaccurate, incomplete, or
  non-deterministic. It is **not investment advice**. Trading crypto derivatives
  involves substantial risk. Delta Exchange is registered with the Financial
  Intelligence Unit (FIU), Govt. of India.
</Callout>