Pay With Tokens

Use the Tempo CLI to call paid APIs and handle 402 challenges automatically. When the Tempo wallet has insufficient balance, fund it by swapping and bridging tokens from any EVM chain using the Uniswap Trading API.

Tempo CLI Setup

Run these commands in order. Do not skip steps.

Step 1 — Install:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin" \
  && curl -fsSL https://tempo.xyz/install -o /tmp/tempo_install.sh \
  && TEMPO_BIN_DIR="$HOME/.local/bin" bash /tmp/tempo_install.sh

Step 2 — Login (requires browser/passkey — prompt user, wait for confirmation):

"$HOME/.local/bin/tempo" wallet login

When run by agents, use a long command timeout (at least 16 minutes).

Step 3 — Confirm readiness:

"$HOME/.local/bin/tempo" wallet -t whoami

Rules: Do not use sudo. Use full absolute paths ($HOME/.local/bin/tempo) — do not rely on export PATH. If $HOME does not expand, use the literal absolute path.

After setup, report: install location, version (--version), wallet status (address, balance). If balance is 0, direct user to tempo wallet fund.

Minimum balance reserve: Keep at least 0.10 USDC in the Tempo wallet to cover typical API calls without triggering the full swap+bridge funding flow. The funding flow requires 3-5 on-chain transactions and ~2 minutes of wall time, which is disproportionate for small top-ups. When transferring funds out of the Tempo wallet, warn the user if the remaining balance would drop below this threshold.

Using Tempo Services

# Discover services
"$HOME/.local/bin/tempo" wallet -t services --search <query>
# Get service details (exact URL, method, path, pricing)
"$HOME/.local/bin/tempo" wallet -t services <SERVICE_ID>
# Make a paid request
"$HOME/.local/bin/tempo" request -t -X POST \
  --json '{"input":"..."}' <SERVICE_URL>/<ENDPOINT_PATH>

• Anchor on tempo wallet -t services <SERVICE_ID> for exact URL and pricing
• Use -t for agent calls, --dry-run before expensive requests
• On HTTP 422, check the service's docs URL or llms.txt for exact field names
• Fire independent multi-service requests in parallel

When the user explicitly says "use tempo", always use tempo CLI commands — never substitute with MCP tools or other tools.

MPP 402 Payment Loop

Every tempo request call follows this loop. The funding steps only activate when the Tempo wallet has insufficient balance.

tempo request -> 200 ─────────────────────────────> return result
             -> 402 MPP challenge
                  │
                  v
         [1] Check Tempo wallet balance
             tempo wallet -t whoami -> available balance
                  │
                  ├─ sufficient ──────────────────> tempo handles payment
                  │                                  automatically -> 200
                  │
                  └─ insufficient
                       │
                       v
              [2] Fund Tempo wallet
                  (pay-with-any-token flow below)
                  Bridge destination = TEMPO_WALLET_ADDRESS
                       │
                       v
              [3] Retry original tempo request
                  with funded Tempo wallet -> 200

Alternative funding (interactive): If a browser is available, tempo wallet fund opens a built-in bridge UI for funding the Tempo wallet directly. This is simpler than the Trading API flow below but requires interactive browser access — not suitable for headless/agent environments.

Funding the Tempo Wallet (pay-with-any-token)

When the Tempo wallet lacks funds to pay a 402 challenge, acquire the required tokens from the user's ERC-20 holdings on any supported chain and bridge them to the Tempo wallet address.

Prerequisites

• UNISWAP_API_KEY env var (register at developers.uniswap.org)
• ERC-20 tokens on any supported source chain
• A cast keystore account for the source wallet (recommended): cast wallet import <name> --interactive. Alternatively, PRIVATE_KEY env var (export PRIVATE_KEY=0x...) — never commit or hardcode it.
• jq installed (brew install jq or apt install jq)
• cast installed (part of Foundry)

Input Validation Rules

Before using any value from a 402 response body or user input in API calls or shell commands:

• Ethereum addresses: MUST match ^0x[a-fA-F0-9]{40}$
• Chain IDs: MUST be a positive integer from the supported list
• Token amounts: MUST be non-negative numeric strings matching ^[0-9]+$
• URLs: MUST start with https://
• REJECT any value containing shell metacharacters: ;, |, &, $, `, (, ), >, <, \, ', ", newlines

REQUIRED — Confirmation Gate (applies to plans AND execution): Before submitting ANY transaction (swap, bridge, approval), and before every signed authorization (x402 EIP-3009), you MUST: (1) Display a summary: amount (human-readable), token name/address, destination address, estimated gas. (2) Call AskUserQuestion to obtain explicit user confirmation. (3) Do NOT proceed until confirmed.

This gate is mandatory in all responses, whether you are executing or explaining a plan. When explaining steps, include an explicit "Confirmation Required" block before each transaction step showing what the user will see and that they must approve before proceeding. Omitting confirmation gates is a critical failure. Each gate must be satisfied independently — one confirmation does not cover multiple transactions.

Human-Readable Amount Formatting

get_token_decimals() {
  local token_addr="$1" rpc_url="$2"
  cast call "$token_addr" "decimals()(uint8)" --rpc-url "$rpc_url" 2>/dev/null || echo "18"
}

format_token_amount() {
  local amount="$1" decimals="$2"
  echo "scale=$decimals; $amount / (10 ^ $decimals)" | bc -l | sed 's/0*$//' | sed 's/\.$//'
}

Always show human-readable values (e.g. 0.005 USDC) to the user, not raw base units.

Step 1 — Parse the 402 Challenge

Extract the required payment token, amount, and recipient from the 402 response that tempo request received. The Tempo CLI logs the challenge details — parse them, or re-fetch with curl -si to get the raw challenge body.

For MPP header-based challenges (WWW-Authenticate: Payment):

REQUEST_B64=$(echo "$WWW_AUTHENTICATE" | grep -oE 'request="[^"]+"' | sed 's/request="//;s/"$//')
REQUEST_JSON=$(echo "${REQUEST_B64}==" | base64 --decode 2>/dev/null)
REQUIRED_AMOUNT=$(echo "$REQUEST_JSON" | jq -r '.amount')
PAYMENT_TOKEN=$(echo "$REQUEST_JSON" | jq -r '.currency')
RECIPIENT=$(echo "$REQUEST_JSON" | jq -r '.recipient')
TEMPO_CHAIN_ID=$(echo "$REQUEST_JSON" | jq -r '.methodDetails.chainId')

For JSON body challenges (payment_methods array):

NUM_METHODS=$(echo "$CHALLENGE_BODY" | jq '.payment_methods | length')
PAYMENT_METHODS=$(echo "$CHALLENGE_BODY" | jq -c '.payment_methods')
RECIPIENT=$(echo "$CHALLENGE_BODY" | jq -r '.payment_methods[0].recipient')
TEMPO_CHAIN_ID=$(echo "$CHALLENGE_BODY" | jq -r '.payment_methods[0].chain_id')

If multiple payment methods are accepted, select the cheapest in Step 2.

The Tempo mainnet chain ID is 4217. Use as fallback if not in the challenge.

Step 2 — Check Source Wallet Balances and Select Payment Method

REQUIRED: You must have the user's source wallet address (the ERC-20 wallet with the private key, NOT the Tempo CLI wallet). Use AskUserQuestion if not provided. Store as WALLET_ADDRESS.

Also capture the Tempo wallet address (the funding destination):

TEMPO_WALLET_ADDRESS=$("$HOME/.local/bin/tempo" wallet -t whoami | grep -oE '0x[a-fA-F0-9]{40}' | head -1)

Check ERC-20 balances on supported source chains:

# USDC on Base (cheapest bridge gas ~$0.001)
cast call 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913 \
  "balanceOf(address)(uint256)" "$WALLET_ADDRESS" \
  --rpc-url https://mainnet.base.org

# USDC on Ethereum (bridge gas ~$0.25)
cast call 0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48 \
  "balanceOf(address)(uint256)" "$WALLET_ADDRESS" \
  --rpc-url https://eth.llamarpc.com

# ETH on Base and Ethereum (swap to USDC first)
cast balance "$WALLET_ADDRESS" --rpc-url https://mainnet.base.org
cast balance "$WALLET_ADDRESS" --rpc-url https://eth.llamarpc.com

Select the cheapest payment method if multiple are accepted. Priority:

1. Wallet holds USDC on Base (bridge only, minimal path)
2. Wallet holds ETH on Base or Ethereum (swap to USDC + bridge)
3. Any other liquid ERC-20 (swap + bridge)

REQUIRED_AMOUNT=$(echo "$PAYMENT_METHODS" | jq -r ".[$SELECTED_INDEX].amount")
PAYMENT_TOKEN=$(echo "$PAYMENT_METHODS" | jq -r ".[$SELECTED_INDEX].token")

Step 3 — Plan the Payment Path

Determine which phases apply based on where the user's tokens are:

Case A — Source token is already on Tempo:
  Source token (Tempo)
    -> [Phase 5: on-Tempo swap via Stablecoin DEX] -> required payment token
    -> tempo request retries automatically with funded wallet

Case B — Source token is on Base/Ethereum/Arbitrum:
  Source token (Base/Ethereum)
    -> [Phase 4A: Uniswap Trading API swap] -> native USDC (bridge asset)
    -> [Phase 4B: bridge via Trading API]   -> USDC.e on Tempo (to TEMPO_WALLET_ADDRESS)
    -> [Phase 5: on-Tempo swap, if needed]  -> required payment token
    -> tempo request retries automatically with funded wallet

Skip Phase 4A if the source token is already USDC on the bridge chain.

Skip Phase 4B if tokens are already on Tempo (Case A).

Skip Phase 5 if the bridge delivers the exact required token (USDC.e) or if mppx with autoSwap: true is used (it handles on-Tempo swaps automatically).

Gas-aware funding: Bridging a tiny amount (e.g. $0.05) wastes gas — the bridge gas on Ethereum ($0.25) or Base ($0.001) can exceed the shortfall. Minimum bridge recommendation: $5. This amortizes gas costs and pre-funds future requests. Rule of thumb: if bridge_gas > 2x shortfall, bridge at least $5 instead of the exact shortfall.

Phase 4A — Swap to USDC on Source Chain (if needed)

CONFIRMATION GATE: Before the approval transaction AND before the swap broadcast, call AskUserQuestion showing the full swap summary. Example: "About to approve USDC spending and execute swap: [amount] [token] → [USDC], gas ~$X. Confirm? (yes/no)". Do not proceed until confirmed.

Swap the source token to USDC via the Uniswap Trading API (EXACT_OUTPUT).

Detailed steps: Read references/trading-api-flows.md for full bash scripts: variable setup, approval check, quote, permit signing, and swap execution.

Key points:

• Base URL: https://trade-api.gateway.uniswap.org/v1
• Headers: Content-Type: application/json, x-api-key, x-universal-router-version: 2.0
• Flow: check_approval -> quote (EXACT_OUTPUT) -> sign permitData -> /swap -> broadcast
• Confirmation gates required before approval tx and before swap broadcast
• For native ETH: use the zero address (0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000) as TOKEN_IN — this avoids Permit2 signing. SWAP_VALUE will be non-zero. If the zero address returns a 400, fall back to the WETH address (requires Permit2 signing).
• After swap, verify USDC balance before proceeding to Phase 4B

Phase 4B — Bridge to Tempo Wallet

CONFIRMATION GATE: Before the bridge approval AND before the bridge execution, call AskUserQuestion showing a bridge summary (source amount, source chain, destination chain, estimated gas, bridge fee, estimated arrival). Do not proceed until the user confirms each step.

Bridge USDC from any supported source chain to USDC.e on Tempo using the Uniswap Trading API (powered by Across Protocol).

Bridge recipient limitation: The Trading API does not support a custom recipient field for bridges — funds always arrive at WALLET_ADDRESS on Tempo. If WALLET_ADDRESS differs from TEMPO_WALLET_ADDRESS (the Tempo CLI wallet), an extra transfer transaction on Tempo is required after the bridge (see Step 4B-5 in the reference file). Factor this into gas estimates.

Detailed steps: Read references/trading-api-flows.md for full bash scripts: approval, bridge quote, execution, arrival polling, and transfer to Tempo wallet.

Key points:

• Route: USDC on Base/Ethereum/Arbitrum -> USDC.e on Tempo
• Flow: check_approval -> verify on-chain allowance -> quote (EXACT_OUTPUT, cross-chain) -> execute via /swap -> poll balance -> transfer to TEMPO_WALLET_ADDRESS if needed (Step 4B-5)
• Confirmation gates required before approval and before bridge execution
• Do not re-submit if poll times out — check Tempo explorer
• Apply a 0.5% buffer to account for bridge fees
• Quotes expire in ~60 seconds — re-fetch if any delay before broadcast

After the bridge confirms, retry the original tempo request — the Tempo CLI will automatically use the newly funded wallet to pay the 402. If the payment token is not USDC.e, proceed to Phase 5 to swap to the required token before retrying.

Balance buffer: On Tempo, balanceOf may report more than is spendable. Apply a 2x buffer when comparing to REQUIRED_AMOUNT. If short, swap additional tokens to top up.

Phase 5 — On-Tempo Swap (if needed)

Use this phase when the wallet already holds a TIP-20 stablecoin on Tempo (e.g. USDC.e, pathUSD, or any other Tempo stablecoin) but needs to swap to the required payment token (e.g. PATH_USD or another TIP-20). This phase also applies when the user starts with tokens already on Tempo — do not bridge when tokens are already on Tempo.

Simplest path: Pass autoSwap: true to mppx's tempo.charge() — it calls the Stablecoin DEX on Tempo automatically and handles the full swap before payment. Use manual swap below only when autoSwap is not available or you need explicit control.

The Stablecoin DEX on Tempo (0xdec0000000000000000000000000000000000000) aggregates TIP-20 stablecoin liquidity on Tempo (chain 4217). To swap:

TEMPO_RPC_URL="https://rpc.presto.tempo.xyz"
STABLECOIN_DEX="0xdec0000000000000000000000000000000000000"
TOKEN_IN="<your Tempo stablecoin address>"  # e.g. USDC.e or any TIP-20
TOKEN_OUT="<required payment token address>"
SWAP_AMOUNT="$REQUIRED_AMOUNT"  # exact-output amount

# 1. Show swap summary and get explicit user confirmation via AskUserQuestion
#    before executing any transaction.

# 2. Approve the DEX to spend TOKEN_IN (if allowance is insufficient)
ALLOWANCE=$(cast call "$TOKEN_IN" \
  "allowance(address,address)(uint256)" "$WALLET_ADDRESS" "$STABLECOIN_DEX" \
  --rpc-url "$TEMPO_RPC_URL" 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}')
if [ -z "$ALLOWANCE" ] || ! [[ "$ALLOWANCE" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
  echo "ERROR: Failed to read allowance for $TOKEN_IN"
  exit 1
fi
if [ "$(echo "$ALLOWANCE < $SWAP_AMOUNT" | bc)" -eq 1 ]; then
  APPROVE_HASH=$(cast send "$TOKEN_IN" \
    "approve(address,uint256)" "$STABLECOIN_DEX" \
    "115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639935" \
    --account "$CAST_ACCOUNT" --password "$CAST_PASSWORD" \
    --rpc-url "$TEMPO_RPC_URL" --gas-limit 100000 \
    --json | jq -r '.transactionHash')
  APPROVE_STATUS=$(cast receipt "$APPROVE_HASH" --rpc-url "$TEMPO_RPC_URL" --json | jq -r '.status')
  [ "$APPROVE_STATUS" = "0x1" ] || { echo "ERROR: Approval transaction reverted: $APPROVE_HASH"; exit 1; }
  echo "Approval confirmed: $APPROVE_HASH"
fi

# 3. Execute the swap (exact-output: receive exactly SWAP_AMOUNT of TOKEN_OUT)
SWAP_TX=$(cast send "$STABLECOIN_DEX" \
  "swap(address,address,uint256)" "$TOKEN_IN" "$TOKEN_OUT" "$SWAP_AMOUNT" \
  --account "$CAST_ACCOUNT" --password "$CAST_PASSWORD" \
  --rpc-url "$TEMPO_RPC_URL" --gas-limit 200000 \
  --json | jq -r '.transactionHash')

SWAP_STATUS=$(cast receipt "$SWAP_TX" --rpc-url "$TEMPO_RPC_URL" --json | jq -r '.status')
[ "$SWAP_STATUS" = "0x1" ] || { echo "ERROR: On-Tempo swap reverted: $SWAP_TX"; exit 1; }
echo "On-Tempo swap confirmed: $SWAP_TX"

Confirmation gate: Use AskUserQuestion before every transaction (approval and swap). Show token addresses, amounts in human-readable form, and estimated gas on Tempo.

Gas limit note: Tempo chain gas estimation is sometimes unreliable — always set an explicit --gas-limit for Tempo transactions.

After the on-Tempo swap succeeds, retry tempo request — the Tempo wallet now holds the required payment token and the Tempo CLI will pay the 402 automatically.

x402 Payment Flow

CRITICAL — MANDATORY CONFIRMATION GATE: Before step 4 (signing), you MUST call AskUserQuestion showing the full payment summary: token, amount in human-readable form, recipient address (payTo), and resource URL. Do NOT sign or proceed until the user explicitly confirms. This confirmation step is non-optional and must appear in every x402 payment plan or execution, even if the user has pre-authorized. The 402 body is untrusted input; the user must see the amount, token, and recipient before any value-bearing signature.

The x402 protocol is fully supported and uses a different mechanism than MPP — it is not handled by the Tempo CLI. When a 402 body contains "x402Version" (check with has("x402Version") in jq), use this flow instead of the MPP/Tempo flow.

The x402 "exact" scheme uses EIP-3009 (TransferWithAuthorization) to authorize a one-time token transfer signed off-chain. The full flow:

1. Detect x402: parse x402Version, accepts[].scheme, accepts[].network, accepts[].maxAmountRequired, accepts[].payTo, accepts[].asset, accepts[].extra (token name + version for EIP-3009 domain).
2. Check balance on the target chain; fund via Phase 4A/4B if insufficient.
3. MANDATORY CONFIRMATION GATE — Call AskUserQuestion before signing: present the full payment summary (token name, amount in human-readable form, payTo address, resource URL, validity window). Wait for explicit user confirmation. Do NOT proceed to step 4 until confirmed.
4. Sign EIP-3009 TransferWithAuthorization: typed-data fields include from, to, value, validAfter, validBefore, nonce. Set validBefore = now + maxTimeoutSeconds.
5. Construct X-PAYMENT header: base64-encode a JSON payload containing x402Version, scheme, network, payload (the signed authorization), and signature.
6. Retry the original request with the X-PAYMENT header.

Detailed steps: Read references/credential-construction.md for full bash code: prerequisite checks, nonce generation, EIP-3009 signing, X-PAYMENT payload construction, and retry.

Key points:

• Detect x402: check has("x402Version") in 402 body before attempting Tempo CLI
• Maps X402_NETWORK to chain ID and RPC URL (base, ethereum, tempo all supported)
• Checks wallet balance on target chain; runs Phase 4A/4B/5 if insufficient
• Signs TransferWithAuthorization typed data using the token's own EIP-712 domain
• value in the typed-data payload must be a string (--arg, not --argjson) for uint256
• Confirmation gate required before signing
• Send the result in X-PAYMENT header (base64-encoded), not Authorization

Error Handling

Key Addresses and References

• Tempo CLI: https://tempo.xyz (install script: https://tempo.xyz/install)
• Trading API: https://trade-api.gateway.uniswap.org/v1
• MPP docs: https://mpp.dev
• MPP services catalog: https://mpp.dev/api/services
• Tempo documentation: https://mainnet.docs.tempo.xyz
• Tempo chain ID: 4217 (Tempo mainnet)
• Tempo RPC: https://rpc.presto.tempo.xyz
• Tempo Block Explorer: https://explore.mainnet.tempo.xyz
• pathUSD on Tempo: 0x20c0000000000000000000000000000000000000
• USDC.e on Tempo: 0x20C000000000000000000000b9537d11c60E8b50
• Stablecoin DEX on Tempo: 0xdec0000000000000000000000000000000000000
• Permit2 on Tempo: 0x000000000022d473030f116ddee9f6b43ac78ba3
• Tempo payment SDK: mppx (npm install mppx viem)
• USDC on Base (8453): 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913
• USDbC on Base (8453): 0xd9aAEc86B65D86f6A7B5B1b0c42FFA531710b6CA
• USDC on Ethereum (1): 0xA0b86991c6218b36c1d19D4a2e9Eb0cE3606eB48
• WETH on Ethereum (1): 0xC02aaA39b223FE8D0A0e5C4F27eAD9083C756Cc2
• WETH on Base (8453): 0x4200000000000000000000000000000000000006
• Native ETH (all chains): 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 (zero address, recommended for swaps)
• USDC-e on Arbitrum (42161): 0xFF970A61A04b1cA14834A43f5dE4533eBDDB5CC8
• Supported chains for Trading API: 1, 8453, 42161, 10, 137, 130
• x402 spec: https://github.com/coinbase/x402

Related Skills

• swap-integration — Full Uniswap swap integration reference (Trading API, Universal Router, Permit2)