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Quickstart with AI

Build an Envio HyperIndex indexer end-to-end with an AI coding assistant.

Most developers now reach for an AI coding assistant before they open a file. This guide walks through an AI-centric flow for creating, developing, and deploying a HyperIndex indexer. It is semi-generic, so any capable AI coding assistant (Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot Agent, Continue, etc.) will work. That said, we've seen the best results with Claude Code and recommend starting there.

Prefer the interactive flow?

If you'd rather drive the CLI yourself, see the Quickstart.

Prerequisites​

HyperIndex v3

Some features below (notably the built-in Claude skills) ship with HyperIndex v3. See the v3 migration guide for current install guidance.

Step 1. Give the Assistant Access to the Envio Docs (MCP)​

Envio ships a Model Context Protocol server so your AI assistant can search and read Envio documentation directly instead of guessing from stale training data.

Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http envio-docs https://docs.envio.dev/mcp

Cursor / VS Code / other MCP clients, add the endpoint to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "envio-docs": {
      "url": "https://docs.envio.dev/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Full setup details in the MCP Server guide. If your assistant doesn't support MCP, you can still point it at the LLM-friendly docs bundle.

Step 2. Initialize the Indexer Non-Interactively​

pnpx envio init normally walks you through an interactive wizard. When an AI assistant is driving the terminal, it's much easier to skip the prompts with flags so the assistant can run the command end-to-end without blocking on human input.

Option A: Start from a template​

pnpx envio init template \
  -t erc20 \
  -l typescript \
  -d ./working-indexer

Option B: Import a verified contract from an explorer​

pnpx envio init contract-import explorer \
  -n usdc-indexer \
  -c 0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48 \
  -b ethereum-mainnet \
  --single-contract \
  --all-events \
  -l typescript \
  -d usdc-indexer

All init subcommands and flags are documented in the Envio CLI reference.

About the --api-token flag​

--api-token is the flag for your HyperSync API token. A few things to know:

  • The token can't currently be created programmatically. You generate one by logging in to envio.dev/app/api-tokens and copying it into ENVIO_API_TOKEN in your indexer's .env.
  • It's only required for local development and self-hosted deployments. Indexers running on Envio Cloud get special access and don't need a custom token.
  • It's required when using Envio as the data provider (HyperSync). If you only use an external RPC as the data source, no token is needed — you can pass an empty string to skip the prompt.
  • To run pnpm dev locally, generate a token from the link above and set ENVIO_API_TOKEN in .env before starting the indexer.

See API Tokens and Environment Variables for full details.

Step 3. Develop with the Built-in Claude Skills​

HyperIndex v3 ships with Claude skills that teach AI assistants how HyperIndex works: config, schema, handlers, loaders, dynamic contracts, testing, and migration checklists. When an assistant is attached to a v3 project, it can read these skills directly instead of inventing patterns.

A productive loop with skills + the docs MCP looks like:

  1. Describe the behavior you want in plain English.
  2. Let the assistant edit config.yaml, schema.graphql, and src/handlers.
  3. Ask it to run pnpm envio codegen and pnpm dev to validate.
  4. Iterate on failures together.

The three files you'll spend most of your time in:

Step 4. Migrating an Existing Indexer​

If you're porting from The Graph, Ponder, or another indexing framework, start with the AI migration workflow. It scales much better than hand-editing handlers.

Step 5. Deploy Programmatically with envio-cloud​

Once your indexer runs locally, the envio-cloud CLI lets an assistant (or a CI job) deploy and manage the hosted indexer without opening the dashboard.

npm install -g envio-cloud

envio-cloud login --token $ENVIO_GITHUB_TOKEN
envio-cloud indexer add --name my-indexer --repo my-repo
envio-cloud deployment status my-indexer <commit> --watch-till-synced
envio-cloud deployment logs my-indexer <commit> --follow

Every command supports -o json, which makes it easy for assistants and scripts to parse results. Full reference: Envio Cloud CLI.