Trading Tokens

Use the npx [email protected] trade command to swap tokens on Base or Polygon via the CDP Swap API. You must be authenticated to trade.

Confirm wallet is initialized and authed

npx [email protected] status

If the wallet is not authenticated, refer to the authenticate-wallet skill.

Command Syntax

npx [email protected] trade <amount> <from> <to> [options]

The command is also available as npx [email protected] swap (alias).

Arguments

Amount Formats

The amount can be specified in multiple formats:

Auto-detection: Large integers without a decimal point are treated as atomic units. For example, 500000 for USDC (6 decimals) = $0.50.

Decimals: For known tokens (usdc=6, eth=18, pol=18), decimals are automatic. For arbitrary contract addresses, decimals are read from the token contract.

Options

Token Aliases

IMPORTANT: Always single-quote amounts that use $ to prevent bash variable expansion (e.g. '$1.00' not $1.00).

Input Validation

Before constructing the command, validate all user-provided values to prevent shell injection:

• amount: Must match ^\$?[\d.]+$ (digits, optional decimal point, optional $ prefix). Reject if it contains spaces, semicolons, pipes, backticks, or other shell metacharacters.
• from / to: Must be a known alias (usdc, eth, pol) or a valid 0x hex address (^0x[0-9a-fA-F]{40}$). Reject any other value.
• slippage: Must be a positive integer (^\d+$).

Do not pass unvalidated user input into the command.

Examples

# Swap $1 USDC for ETH (dollar prefix — note the single quotes)
npx [email protected] trade '$1' usdc eth

# Swap 0.50 USDC for ETH (decimal format)
npx [email protected] trade 0.50 usdc eth

# Swap 500000 atomic units of USDC for ETH
npx [email protected] trade 500000 usdc eth

# Swap 0.01 ETH for USDC
npx [email protected] trade 0.01 eth usdc

# Swap with custom slippage (2%)
npx [email protected] trade '$5' usdc eth --slippage 200

# Swap using contract addresses (decimals read from chain)
npx [email protected] trade 100 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913 0x4200000000000000000000000000000000000006

# Get JSON output
npx [email protected] trade '$1' usdc eth --json

# Swap USDC for POL on Polygon
npx [email protected] trade '$1' usdc pol --chain polygon

Prerequisites

• Must be authenticated (awal status to check)
• Wallet must have sufficient balance of the source token

Error Handling

Common errors:

• "Not authenticated" - Run awal auth login <email> first
• "Invalid token" - Use a valid alias (usdc, eth, pol) or 0x address
• "POL only supported on polygon chain" - Use --chain polygon when trading POL
• "Cannot swap a token to itself" - From and to must be different
• "Swap failed: TRANSFER_FROM_FAILED" - Insufficient balance or approval issue
• "No liquidity" - Try a smaller amount or different token pair
• "Amount has X decimals but token only supports Y" - Too many decimal places