Synchain quickstart From sign-up to your first API call

Step by step

1. Create a free account

   Sign up with your email address, then create a project or join one through an invite link. Everything below works on the projects your account belongs to.

2. Install Synchain Bridge in your DAW (optional, for live DAW audio)

   Synchain Bridge is the DAW plug-in — VST3 on Windows, VST3 and AU on Apple Silicon Macs — that streams your session audio into Creative Space. Skip this step if you only need the CLI or the API. Downloads and install steps are on the download page.

3. Install the CLI

   The Synchain CLI needs Node.js 20 or later. Install it globally from npm, then check which version you got. The command reference lists every command and option.

   npm i -g @synchain/cli
   synchain --version

4. Create a CLI key

   Sign in, open Settings → CLI Access, tick the sections the key may reach and generate a key. It is shown only once, so copy it straight away; generating a new key revokes the old one. Inside each project, an admin decides what the CLI may reach under Project Settings → Project CLI Access. The CLI gets a section only when both your key and the project allow it; Project Files and Discussion are on by default.

5. Log in and pick a project

   synchain login asks for the base URL (press Enter to keep the default) and then for your key, with the input hidden. The key is never accepted as a command-line argument, where it would end up in your shell history; in CI, put it in the SYNCHAIN_TOKEN environment variable and add --base-url so that nothing prompts. Then list the projects you can reach and make one active: project use takes an ID shown by project ls.

   synchain login
   synchain project ls
   synchain project use <project-id>

6. Upload a file and read it back

   Upload a local file to the root of the active project, then list the files at the root as JSON to see it arrive. Replace ./mix.wav with a real path on your machine.

   Needs @synchain/cli 0.9.0 or later.

   synchain files upload ./mix.wav
   synchain files ls --format json

7. Call the API directly

   The same key works as a Bearer token on the HTTP API. Don't write the key into an export command, where it would stay in your shell history: run read -rs SYNCHAIN_TOKEN && export SYNCHAIN_TOKEN, paste the key and press Enter (nothing is echoed). The request below then returns your account and the projects you can access, as JSON. These commands assume bash or zsh (macOS, Linux, WSL or Git Bash).

   curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYNCHAIN_TOKEN" https://dev.synchain.ca/api/user/me

For AI agents

Agents should start with /AGENTS.md and the agent install guide. Three habits cover most of it: read the command tree as JSON, rehearse every write with --dry-run before running it for real, and let synchain doctor check the local setup without calling the API. Hand an agent its key through SYNCHAIN_TOKEN, never inside a chat or on a command line.

Needs @synchain/cli 0.9.0 or later.

synchain --help --format json
synchain files rm <file-id> --dry-run --format json
synchain doctor --json