How-to: Set spending policies

Spending policies let you cap your agent wallet’s USDC transfers over a rolling time window, or restrict the wallet to specific recipient or contract addresses. Policies apply to mainnet agent wallets only. Policies are set per blockchain. For example, a limit configured with --chain ARC applies on Arc only. When no policy is set, a default limit of 100 USDC per month applies. Run circle wallet limit to see the limits in effect.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

Installed Node.js v20.18.2 or later.
Installed Circle CLI:
npm install -g @circle-fin/cli
Authenticated your agent wallet.

Spending policies require a mainnet agent wallet. Testnet is not supported. Setting a policy triggers a second email OTP to confirm the change. The OTP is used once and not stored.

Steps

Choose the policy type that matches your goal.

Transfer limits
Allowlists and blocklists

Transfer limits cap the outbound USDC transfers your agent initiates through Circle. They don’t apply to token allowances, so neither approve() nor the spender’s subsequent transferFrom counts toward your limits. Approve only the amount each spender needs.

Set the limits

Run circle wallet limit set with per-transaction, daily, weekly, and monthly caps:

circle wallet limit set \
  --address 0xYourWalletAddress \
  --chain ARC \
  --policy-type stablecoin \
  --per-tx 100 \
  --daily 500 \
  --weekly 2000 \
  --monthly 5000

Circle sends an email OTP to your agent session email to confirm the policy change. Limits must satisfy: per-transaction ≤ daily ≤ weekly ≤ monthly.

Verify the policy

Confirm the limits are in effect:

circle wallet limit --address 0xYourWalletAddress --chain ARC

Allowlists and blocklists restrict your wallet to specific recipient or contract addresses. Contract rules match the token contract address, not the spender address.

Set the rule

Run circle wallet limit set with --rule-type and a bracketed, comma-separated --targets list of EVM addresses. The example below blocks transfers to two recipient addresses:

circle wallet limit set \
  --address 0xYourWalletAddress \
  --chain ARC \
  --policy-type stablecoin \
  --rule-type recipient-blocklist \
  --targets "[0xBAD1,0xBAD2]"

--rule-type accepts:

recipient-allowlist / recipient-blocklist: allow or block USDC transfers to specific addresses.
contract-allowlist / contract-blocklist: allow or block contract interactions with specific addresses.

Circle sends an email OTP to your agent session email to confirm the policy change.

Verify the policy

Confirm the rule is in effect:

circle wallet limit --address 0xYourWalletAddress --chain ARC

See the CLI command reference for full syntax and options.

Circle CLI

Agent marketplace

x402 facilitators

How-to: Set spending policies

Prerequisites

Steps

​Prerequisites

​Steps

Prerequisites

Steps