nansen-agent-guide

# Agent vs CLI Routing | Need a... | Use | |-----------|-----| | **take** (analysis, interpretation) | `nansen agent` | | **table** (raw data, specific metrics) | Direct CLI commands | | **report** (both) | Agent for narrative + CLI for data | ## Use `nansen agent` when - Question requires interpretation or synthesis across multiple data sources - Open-ended research: "analyse this wallet", "what's happening with ETH smart money?" ```bash nansen agent "What are top smart money tokens on Solana today and why?" nansen agent "Analyse wallet 0x123... -- is this a smart trader?" nansen agent "..." --expert # deeper analysis, 750 credits ``` Cost: 200 credits (fast) / 750 credits (expert) ## Use direct CLI commands when - You need specific structured data -- prices, volumes, holders, flows - Deterministic question: "top 10 tokens by netflow on ethereum" - Piping output or building a data table ```bash nansen research token screener --chain ethereum --smart-money --limit 10 nansen research smart-money netflow --chain solana nansen research profiler balance --address 0x123... --chain ethereum ``` Cost: 5-50 credits per call ## Anti-patterns - Don't use `nansen agent` for simple data fetches -- 40x more expensive - Don't use raw CLI for open-ended analysis -- returns data, not interpretation - Don't chain 3+ agent calls -- get raw data via CLI, call agent once for synthesis