Quick Start

The FastFold platform provides a simple, production-ready API to fold protein sequences, compute structural properties, run complex workflows, and orchestrate agents. This section focuses on the Python SDK and CLI.

Create an API key

Before you can use the API, you need to create an API key. You can do this in the cloud dashboard. Once you have created an API key, you can use to authenticate requests to the API. Make sure to keep your API key secret and do not share it with anyone. You can store in your environment variables (.zshrc, .bashrc, .env, etc.) to use in your code.

export FASTFOLD_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

The Python SDK will automatically pick up the API key from FASTFOLD_API_KEY by default.

Install the FastFold Python SDK

Requires Python 3.8+.

# Recommended (from PyPI)
pip install fastfold-ai

# Local development (from project root)
pip install -e .

Fold a protein sequence

from fastfold import Client

client = Client()

myJob = client.fold.create(
    sequence="LLGDFFRKSKEKIGKEFKRIVQRIKDFLRNLVPRTES",
    model="boltz-2",
    is_public=True,
)

results = client.jobs.wait_for_completion(myJob.id, poll_interval=5.0, timeout=900.0)

print("Status:", results.job.status)
print("CIF URL:", results.cif_url())
print("Mean PLDDT:", results.metrics().mean_PLDDT)

link = results.get_viewer_link()
print("Open in viewer:", link)

Run the same flow with the CLI

fastfold fold --sequence "LLGDFFRKSKEKIGKEFKRIVQRIKDFLRNLVPRTES" --model boltz-2

On success, the CLI prints the created job ID to stdout.

Next steps

• Read Python SDK details (auth, configuration, patterns): /docs/developer/python-sdk
• Browse reference examples (Boltz-2 affinity, pockets, indexing, artifacts, metrics): /docs/developer/python-examples
• Learn CLI flags and workflows: /docs/developer/cli
• Read the API Reference to discover all endpoints: /docs/api
• Explore available models and their capabilities: cloud.fastfold.ai/models

You’re ready to fold your own sequences and integrate FastFold into your pipelines.