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 $HOME does not expand, use the literal
absolute path.
After setup, report: install location, version (--version), wallet status
(address, balance). If balance is 0, direct user to tempo wallet fund.
Using Tempo Services
# Discover services
"$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
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
PRIVATE_KEY for the source wallet (export PRIVATE_KEY=0x...). Never
commit or hardcode it.jq installed (brew install jq or apt install jq)
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: Before submitting ANY transaction (swap, bridge, approval),
use AskUserQuestion to show the user a summary (amount, token, destination,
estimated gas) and obtain explicit confirmation. Never auto-submit. Each
confirmation gate must be satisfied independently.
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 source chains:
# USDC on Base
cast call 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913 \
"balanceOf(address)(uint256)" "$WALLET_ADDRESS" \
--rpc-url https://mainnet.base.org
Select the cheapest payment method if multiple are accepted. Priority:
- Wallet holds USDC on Base (bridge only, minimal path)
- Wallet holds ETH on Base or Ethereum (swap to USDC + bridge)
- Any other liquid ERC-20 (swap + bridge)
REQUIRED_AMOUNT=$(echo "$PAYMENT_METHODS" | jq -r ".[$SELECTED_INDEX].amount")
PAYMENT_TOKEN=$(echo "$PAYMENT_METHODS" | jq -r ".[$SELECTED_INDEX].token")
Step 3 — Plan the Payment Path
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)
-> tempo request retries automatically with funded wallet
Skip Phase 4A if the source token is already USDC on the bridge chain.
Phase 4A — Swap to USDC on Source Chain (if needed)
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 WETH address as
TOKEN_IN; SWAP_VALUE will be non-zero
- After swap, verify USDC balance before proceeding to Phase 4B
Phase 4B — Bridge to Tempo Wallet
Bridge USDC from Base to the Tempo CLI wallet address using the Uniswap
Trading API (powered by Across Protocol).
CRITICAL: The bridge recipient must be TEMPO_WALLET_ADDRESS (from
tempo wallet -t whoami), NOT WALLET_ADDRESS (your source ERC-20 wallet).
This funds the Tempo CLI wallet so tempo request can retry the payment.
Detailed steps: Read
references/trading-api-flows.md
for full bash scripts: approval, bridge quote, execution, and arrival polling.
Key points:
- Route: USDC on Base -> USDC.e on Tempo (to
TEMPO_WALLET_ADDRESS)
- Flow:
check_approval -> quote (EXACT_OUTPUT, cross-chain) -> execute via /swap -> poll balance
- 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
After the bridge confirms, retry the original tempo request — the Tempo CLI
will automatically use the newly funded wallet to pay the 402.
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.
x402 Payment Flow
The x402 protocol uses a different mechanism than MPP — it is not handled by
the Tempo CLI. When PROTOCOL is "x402" (detected by checking
has("x402Version") in the 402 body), use this flow instead.
The x402 "exact" scheme uses EIP-3009 (transferWithAuthorization) to
authorize a one-time token transfer signed off-chain.
Detailed steps: Read
references/credential-construction.md
for full 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 using Tempo CLI
- Maps
X402_NETWORK to chain ID and RPC URL (base, ethereum, tempo supported)
- Checks wallet balance on target chain; runs Phase 4A/4B if insufficient
- Signs
TransferWithAuthorization typed data using token's own domain
value in payload must be a string (--arg, not --argjson) for uint256- Confirmation gate required before signing
| Protocol | Version | Handler |
|---|
| MPP | v1 | Tempo CLI |
| x402 | v1 | Manual (above) |
Error Handling
| Situation | Action |
|---|
tempo: command not found | Reinstall via install script; use full path |
legacy V1 keychain signature | Reinstall; tempo update wallet && tempo update request |
access key does not exist | tempo wallet logout --yes && tempo wallet login |
ready=false / no wallet | tempo wallet login, then whoami |
| HTTP 422 from service | Check service details + llms.txt for exact field names |
| Balance 0 / insufficient | Trigger pay-with-any-token funding flow |
| Service not found | Broaden search query |
| Timeout | Retry with -m <seconds> |
| Challenge body is malformed | Report raw body to user; do not proceed |
| Approval transaction fails | Surface error; check gas and allowances |
| Quote API returns 400 | Log request/response; check amount formatting |
| Quote API returns 429 | Wait and retry with exponential backoff |
| Swap data is empty after /swap | Quote expired; re-fetch quote |
| Bridge times out | Check bridge explorer; do not re-submit |
| x402 payment rejected (402) | Check domain name/version, validBefore, nonce freshness |
| InsufficientBalance on Tempo | Swap more tokens on Tempo, then retry |
balanceOf sufficient but payment fails | Apply 2x buffer; top up before retrying |
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
- USDC-e on Arbitrum (42161):
0xFF970A61A04b1cA14834A43f5dE4533eBDDB5CC8
- Supported chains for Trading API: 1, 8453, 42161, 10, 137, 130
- x402 spec:
https://github.com/coinbase/x402
When NOT to Use
- Do NOT use for simple ETH transfers — this skill is for token swaps + 402 payment flows
- Do NOT use when no 402 challenge is present — only activate on HTTP 402 responses or explicit pay/fund requests
- Do NOT use if the user hasn't provided or approved wallet/private key access
- Do NOT use for reading blockchain state, checking balances only, or non-payment API interactions
- Do NOT use for fiat payment flows (credit card, ACH, Stripe) — crypto ERC-20 and x402 only
- Do NOT auto-submit any transaction without explicit user confirmation at each gate
Related Skills
- swap-integration — Full Uniswap swap
integration reference (Trading API, Universal Router, Permit2)
