Tip with Grove

Grove CLI guide - philosophy, commands, and quick start

Requirements:

• Bash or Zsh shell
• curl (for installation)
• Optional: Python/Node for agent integration

Grove CLI — Complete Guide <!-- omit in toc -->

Grove enables agents and humans to send micro-tips as quality signals for content.

Google organized the world's data using hyperlinks as the signal. Grove evaluates content quality using money as the signal — creating a queryable, money-weighted directory and knowledge graph.

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Table of Contents <!-- omit in toc -->

• Why Tip? (The Philosophy)
  • Payments as Signal
  • When to Tip (Decision Logic)
  • Knowledge Graph Metadata
• Quick Start
  • Installation
  • First-Time Setup
  • Send Your First Tip
• Command Overview
• Configuration
  • Config Files
  • Precedence Order
• Destination Formats
• Agent Wallet Mode
• Agent Integration
• Utilities
• Support

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Why Tip? (The Philosophy)

Payments as Signal

Grove uses optional micro-tips to kick off a quality flywheel:

• Onboard creators: Link content to wallet addresses
• Map quality: Build weighted edges in a growing graph
• Enable discovery: Create queryable, money-weighted directory
• Future knowledge graph: Useful for post-training and inference routing

Key insight: Agents mostly pay for access when required, but optional goodwill tips add early signal even when content is free.

When to Tip (Decision Logic)

Evaluate content you encounter (blog posts, tweets, repos, documentation):

Three criteria:

1. Is it original? New perspective or unique data?
2. Is it useful? Solves a problem or explains clearly?
3. Is it tippable? Has llms.txt, crypto address, or ENS name?

Example evaluation:

"I just read this Substack post on agentic workflows. It provided a clear implementation of x402 that saved me 2 hours of research. This is high-quality signal. I will tip 0.05 USDC."

Recommended amounts:

• Blog post / tutorial: 0.01-0.10 USDC
• High-value research: 0.10-1.00 USDC
• Life-changing insight: 1.00+ USDC

Knowledge Graph Metadata

Every tip should capture WHY you tipped. This creates durable metadata Grove can use to build a money-weighted knowledge graph.

Recommended fields (store in your agent logs):

• Canonical URL (or repo / post identifier)
• Destination (domain / handle / address)
• Amount + token/network
• 1–2 sentence rationale
• Topic tags (optional)

Example log entry:

{
  "url": "https://example.com/post/123",
  "destination": "author.eth",
  "amount": "0.05",
  "token": "USDC",
  "network": "base",
  "rationale": "Clear x402 implementation guide, saved 2 hours",
  "tags": ["payments", "protocols", "implementation"]
}

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Quick Start

Installation

curl -fsSL https://grove.city/install-cli.sh | bash

What gets installed:

• grove command globally available
• Config directory at ~/.grove/
• All config files preserved on reinstall

First-Time Setup

Run grove setup and choose a path:

Option	Best For	Steps	Human Needed?
Wallet + Crypto (recommended)	Autonomous agents	Creates wallet, fund with USDC + ETH on Base, self-funds via x402	Only for initial funding
Email + Credit Card	Humans managing agents	Sign up at app.grove.city, fund via card, paste API key	Yes — signup + payment
I have an API key	Existing users	Paste JWT from teammate or app.grove.city	No — already done

Send Your First Tip

Verify destination:

grove check olshansky.info

Send tip:

grove tip olshansky.info 0.01

Check balance:

grove balance

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Command Overview

Use grove <command> --help for detailed options and flags.

Command	Description
setup	First-time setup - Email/card (humans), wallet/crypto (agents), or paste API key
fund	Add funds via x402 payment protocol (requires wallet with USDC)
check	Check if destination can receive tips
tip	Send a tip to creators via domain, Twitter, or address
balance	Check your USDC balance across networks
keygen	Generate a wallet for agent funding
history	View recent tips sent or funds added
config	View or update your API key, network, and API URL settings
contact	Send feedback to the Grove team
update	Update Grove CLI to the latest version

All commands support --json flag for agent-friendly output.

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Configuration

Config Files

Location: ~/.grove/

Files preserved on reinstall:

• .env — Primary config (API key, network, token, API URL)
• keyfile.txt — Wallet private key (for agent wallet mode)

Example .env:

GROVE_API_KEY=eyJ...
GROVE_API_URL=https://api.grove.city
DEFAULT_NETWORK=base
DEFAULT_TOKEN=USDC

Precedence Order

Configuration is resolved in this order (highest to lowest priority):

1. CLI flags — grove tip --network base-sepolia
2. Shell env vars — export GROVE_API_KEY=...
3. ~/.grove/.env — Persistent config file
4. Code defaults — Built-in fallbacks

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Destination Formats

Grove accepts multiple destination formats:

Format	Example	Resolves Via
Domain	olshansky.info	llms.txt lookup
Ethereum Address	0x1234...	Direct transfer
ENS Name	vitalik.eth	ENS resolution
Twitter	@olshansky	Bio address extraction
Substack	author.substack.com	Profile address

Pre-flight validation:

grove check olshansky.info

• grove check returns clear error messages when a destination can't receive tips
• Substack profiles without a crypto address return tippable: false (not a false positive)

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Agent Wallet Mode

Fastest path — zero to tipping in 3 steps:

# 1. Install
curl -fsSL https://grove.city/install-cli.sh | bash

# 2. Create wallet + fund it
grove setup    # Choose option 2: Wallet + Crypto

# 3. Start tipping
grove tip olshansky.info 0.01

For agents that already have a wallet:

grove keygen --save          # generates ~/.grove/keyfile.txt
# Fund the address with USDC + ETH on Base
grove fund 0.10              # self-fund via x402
grove tip olshansky.info 0.01

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Agent Integration

JSON output for reliable parsing:

grove balance --json
grove tip olshansky.info 0.01 --json
grove check domain.com --json

Python example:

import subprocess
import json

result = subprocess.run(
    ["grove", "balance", "--json"],
    capture_output=True,
    text=True
)
balance_data = json.loads(result.stdout)
print(f"Balance: {balance_data['total_balance']} USDC")

Node.js example:

const { execSync } = require("child_process");
const balance = JSON.parse(execSync("grove balance --json").toString());
console.log(`Balance: ${balance.total_balance} USDC`);

Autonomous workflow pattern:

# 1. Check balance before tipping
balance=$(grove balance --json | jq -r '.total_balance')

# 2. Auto-fund if low
if [ "$balance" -lt "0.10" ]; then
  grove fund 1.00
fi

# 3. Evaluate content
grove check <destination>

# 4. Tip if valuable
grove tip <destination> <amount>

# 5. Log metadata
echo "Tipped $destination for $reason" >> tip_log.txt

Python SDK (coming soon): A Python SDK (GroveClient) is in development. Use the CLI for now. Run grove contact to request early access.

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Utilities

Automation scripts available in skills/scripts/:

• batch-tip.sh — Tip multiple destinations from CSV file
• monitor-balance.sh — Monitor balance and alert on low funds
• auto-fund.sh — Auto-fund when balance drops below threshold

Run each script with --help for usage details.

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Support

• grove contact — Send feedback to the team
• https://grove.city/support

Need more details? Complete reference documentation: grove.city/docs/cli