CoinMarketCap MCP Skill
Use this skill to run CoinMarketCap MCP operations through uxc.
Reuse the uxc skill for shared protocol discovery, output parsing, and generic auth/binding flows.
Prerequisites
uxcis installed and available inPATH.- Network access to
https://mcp.coinmarketcap.com/mcp. - A CoinMarketCap MCP API key is available.
Core Workflow
- Confirm endpoint and protocol with help-first probing:
- uxc https://mcp.coinmarketcap.com/mcp -h - expected unauthenticated behavior today: 401 Unauthorized with Token not found
- Configure credential/binding for repeatable auth:
- uxc auth credential set coinmarketcap-mcp --auth-type api_key --header "X-CMC-MCP-API-KEY={{secret}}" --secret-env COINMARKETCAP_MCP_API_KEY - uxc auth credential set coinmarketcap-mcp --auth-type api_key --header "X-CMC-MCP-API-KEY={{secret}}" --secret-op op://Engineering/coinmarketcap/mcp-api-key - uxc auth binding add --id coinmarketcap-mcp --host mcp.coinmarketcap.com --path-prefix /mcp --scheme https --credential coinmarketcap-mcp --priority 100
- Use fixed link command by default:
- command -v coinmarketcap-mcp-cli - If missing, create it: uxc link coinmarketcap-mcp-cli https://mcp.coinmarketcap.com/mcp - coinmarketcap-mcp-cli -h
- Inspect operation schema before execution:
- coinmarketcap-mcp-cli get_crypto_quotes_latest -h - coinmarketcap-mcp-cli get_global_metrics_latest -h - coinmarketcap-mcp-cli trending_crypto_narratives -h - coinmarketcap-mcp-cli get_crypto_latest_news -h
- Prefer read-only discovery first, then expand into higher-cost or plan-gated endpoints.
Capability Map
- Market data and discovery:
- get_crypto_quotes_latest - search_cryptos - get_crypto_info
- Technical analysis:
- get_crypto_technical_analysis - get_crypto_marketcap_technical_analysis
- On-chain and macro metrics:
- get_crypto_metrics - get_global_metrics_latest - get_global_crypto_derivatives_metrics - get_upcoming_macro_events
- Themes, news, and search:
- trending_crypto_narratives - get_crypto_latest_news - search_crypto_info
Inspect coinmarketcap-mcp-cli -h after auth setup for the current full tool list. CoinMarketCap can revise or expand its MCP tool surface independently of this wrapper skill.
Recommended Usage Pattern
- Start with one focused read goal:
- current quote and market cap for a coin - trend or narrative scan for a sector - global market and derivatives snapshot - latest news or semantic lookup on a project/topic
- Run
-hon the specific tool before the first real call. - Prefer id-, slug-, or keyword-scoped reads before broad market sweeps.
- Parse the JSON envelope first, then inspect
data.
Guardrails
- Keep automation on JSON output envelope; do not rely on
--text. - Parse stable fields first:
ok,kind,protocol,data,error. - Use
coinmarketcap-mcp-clias default command path. coinmarketcap-mcp-cli <operation>...is equivalent touxc https://mcp.coinmarketcap.com/mcp <operation>....- If unauthenticated probe or runtime call returns
401 UnauthorizedorToken not found:
- confirm auth binding matches endpoint with uxc auth binding match https://mcp.coinmarketcap.com/mcp - confirm credential shape with uxc auth credential info coinmarketcap-mcp - reset credential as API-key header if needed: uxc auth credential set coinmarketcap-mcp --auth-type api_key --header "X-CMC-MCP-API-KEY={{secret}}" --secret-env COINMARKETCAP_MCP_API_KEY
- CoinMarketCap documents an x402 pay-per-call path, but
uxcdoes not implement x402 payment handling today. This skill documents only the API-key route. - Higher CoinMarketCap plans unlock additional datasets or request rates. If a tool returns a plan or quota error, verify the current account tier before retrying.
- CoinMarketCap MCP is read-only. Do not present it as a trading or order-routing integration.
- Use
key=valueonly for simple scalar inputs. - Prefer positional JSON when an operation accepts nested objects, arrays, or optional filters that may evolve.
- Do not assume tool argument names from memory; inspect
<operation> -hfirst because CoinMarketCap may revise MCP schemas independently of this skill.
References
- Invocation patterns:
- references/usage-patterns.md