Tracking Crypto Prices
Contents
Overview | Prerequisites | Instructions | Output | Error Handling | Examples | Resources
Overview
Foundation skill providing real-time and historical cryptocurrency price data for 10,000+ coins. This is the data layer for the crypto plugin ecosystem -- 10+ other skills depend on it for price information.
Prerequisites
- Install dependencies:
pip install requests pandas yfinance
- Optional:
pip install python-dotenv for API key management
- Optional: Get free API key from https://www.coingecko.com/en/api for higher rate limits
- Add API key to
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/config/settings.yaml or set COINGECKO_API_KEY env var
Instructions
Check current prices for one or more symbols:
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --symbol BTC
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --symbols BTC,ETH,SOL
Use watchlists to scan predefined groups (available: top10, defi, layer2, stablecoins, memecoins):
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --watchlist top10 # Top 10 by market cap
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --watchlist defi # DeFi tokens
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --watchlist layer2 # Layer 2 tokens
Fetch historical data by period or custom date range:
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --symbol BTC --period 30d
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --symbol BTC --period 90d --output csv
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --symbol ETH --start 2024-01-01 --end 2024-12-31 # 2024 full year
Configure settings by editing ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/config/settings.yaml to customize cache TTLs, default currency, and custom watchlists. See references/implementation.md for the full configuration reference.
Output
- Table (default): Symbol, price, 24h change, volume, market cap in formatted columns
- JSON (
--format json): Machine-readable with prices array and metadata
- CSV (
--output csv): OHLCV historical data export to ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/data/
See ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/implementation.md for detailed output format examples.
Error Handling
| Error |
Cause |
Solution |
Unknown symbol: XYZ |
Invalid ticker |
Check spelling, use --list to search |
Rate limit exceeded |
Too many API calls |
Wait 60s, or add API key for higher limits |
Network error |
No internet |
Check connection; cached data used automatically |
Cache stale |
Data older than TTL |
Shown with warning, refreshes on next call |
The skill auto-manages rate limits: cache first, exponential backoff, yfinance fallback, stale cache as last resort.
Examples
Quick price check:
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --symbol BTC
# Output: BTC (Bitcoin) $97,234.56 USD +2.34% (24h) | Vol: $28.5B | MCap: $1.92T
Watchlist scan:
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --watchlist top10
Historical export:
python ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/price_tracker.py --symbol ETH --period 90d --output csv
# Creates: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/data/ETH_90d_[date].csv
Resources
${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/implementation.md - Output formats, full config, integration guide, file map- CoinGecko API - Primary data source
- yfinance - Fallback for historical data
