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

1. Install dependencies: pip install requests pandas yfinance
2. Optional: pip install python-dotenv for API key management
3. Optional: Get free API key from https://www.coingecko.com/en/api for higher rate limits
4. Add API key to ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/config/settings.yaml or set COINGECKO_API_KEY env var

Instructions

1. 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
   

2. 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
   

3. 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
   

4. 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