kdeck

A wxWidgets-based desktop client for the Kalshi event trading platform written in C++.

Project hosted at: https://github.com/krazkidd/kdeck

License: GPLv3 (see LICENSE.md file)

Getting Started

To get started with the kdeck project, you will need to install a few dependencies. These should be available through your system package manager.

[!NOTE]
The names and versions below come from Debian 12 (Bookworm) and may vary on your system.

System Requirements

Make sure you have the following dependencies installed on your system. The version numbers are not strict requirements but the ones shown were available during development.

• libcurl4 (version 7.88 or higher)
• libcurlpp (version 0.8 or higher)
• libboost-json (version 1.81 or higher)
• libwxgtk (version 3.2 or higher)

Build Requirements

At a minimum, you will need these build tools:

• gcc
• cmake

Don't forget to install development headers for system dependencies if they are distributed separately on your system:

• libcurl4-openssl-dev
• libcurlpp-dev
• libboost-json1.81-dev
• libwxgtk3.2-dev

Build Steps

This project uses CMake for builds. Out-of-source builds are expected.

[!NOTE] Builds used to rely on Microsoft's C/C++ extension for Visual Studio Code. If you're curious, you will find the old config here.

Debug Builds

To build on the command line, simply perform these steps from the root source directory:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Debug" ..
make

Or, alternatively:

cmake --preset debug
cmake --build --preset debug

You will find the final build output under build/bin.

[!TIP] Your IDE may provide a CMake integration for building and attaching a debugger.

Release Builds

[!CAUTION] Release builds will target the live Kalshi trading platform. You are responsible for any activity made through the API.

One way to create a release build is to invoke CMake directly, like a debug build.

For official releases, a Docker container is provided. If you have Docker installed, you may run from the root source directory:

docker build -t kdeck-build .
docker run -v "<MOUNT_PATH>:/src/build" kdeck-build

where <MOUNT_PATH> is a named volume (e.g. kdeck-build-volume) or a bind-mounted directory (e.g. $(pwd)/build).

[!NOTE] Currently, only Debian 12 (Bookworm) releases are produced via the Docker method. Shared libraries are required to run.

Design Tools

This project is not yet making use of wxWidgets' XRC support. In the future, one of the following design tools will be recommended for work on the kdeck project:

• codeblocks
• codelite
• wxglade

Kalshi API

Kalshi provides a REST API for getting portfolio information and making trades, among other things. kdeck uses the Boost.JSON and curlpp (libcURL wrapper) libraries to make API requests.

Kalshi provides a demo environment for API development.