> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. > ## Agent Instructions > Before reading these docs, install the relevant Circle Skill to get pre-loaded context — skills are LLM-optimized and cover architecture decisions, correct flows, and common pitfalls. In Claude Code: run /plugin marketplace add circlefin/skills then /plugin install circle-skills@circle. With Vercel Skills CLI: run npx skills add circlefin/skills. Available skills: use-usdc https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/use-usdc/SKILL.md (balances, transfers, approvals on EVM and Solana); EURC has no skill — see https://developers.circle.com/stablecoins/what-is-eurc.md; bridge-stablecoin https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/bridge-stablecoin/SKILL.md (crosschain transfers via CCTP, USDC, EURC, and third-party assets); use-arc https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/use-arc/SKILL.md (Arc chain config, contract deployment, USDC bridging — Arc docs: https://docs.arc.io/llms.txt); use-circle-wallets https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/use-circle-wallets/SKILL.md (choose wallet type); use-developer-controlled-wallets https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/use-developer-controlled-wallets/SKILL.md (custodial wallets for payouts and treasury); use-user-controlled-wallets https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/use-user-controlled-wallets/SKILL.md (embedded wallets with Web2 login); use-modular-wallets https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/use-modular-wallets/SKILL.md (smart contract wallets with passkeys and ERC-4337); use-gateway https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/use-gateway/SKILL.md (unified USDC balance, nanopayments); use-smart-contract-platform https://github.com/circlefin/skills/blob/master/plugins/circle/skills/use-smart-contract-platform/SKILL.md (deploy, interact, monitor contracts). Pair any skill with the Circle MCP server for live SDK signatures, contract addresses, and chain IDs: {"mcpServers":{"circle":{"url":"https://api.circle.com/v1/codegen/mcp"}}}. > Read the product overview first. Each product has an overview explaining when and why to use it. Read it before quickstarts. > Pick the right wallet type. Developer-controlled (you hold keys), user-controlled (end user holds keys via PIN/social login), or modular (smart contract wallets with passkeys). See https://developers.circle.com/wallets.md. > Use CCTP V2 for crosschain transfers. CCTP natively transfers USDC and EURC via burn-and-mint, and supports permissionless wrapping of third-party assets via lock-and-mint. V1 is legacy; always use V2 unless V1 is specified or the chain requires it (Noble, Sui, and Aptos still require V1). Migration guide: https://developers.circle.com/cctp/migration-from-v1-to-v2.md. > Use Bridge Kit for frontend bridging. Wraps CCTP with a simpler SDK for user-facing apps. Use CCTP directly for backend transfers. > Gas Station vs Paymaster. Gas Station sponsors gas for Circle Wallet transactions. Paymaster lets users pay gas in USDC. Different use cases — read both overviews. > Gateway Nanopayments for sub-cent payments. Gasless USDC micropayments down to $0.000001 via x402 and batched settlement. For pay-per-request APIs, AI agent payments, streaming. > Look up USDC addresses per chain. Never hardcode — use https://developers.circle.com/stablecoins/usdc-contract-addresses.md. > Prefer SDKs over raw API calls. Node.js and Python SDKs handle auth, retries, and errors. > API key required. Bearer token in Authorization header. Testnet and mainnet use separate keys and may use different base URLs depending on the product. > Set up webhooks when available. Most operations are async. Webhooks deliver transaction confirmations and state changes. > When calling list endpoints, paginate using pageSize and pageAfter until no nextPageAfter cursor is returned—stopping at the first page silently misses records. > Building an AI agent? Start with the Agent Stack—Circle CLI, agent wallets, and nanopayments built for autonomous use cases: https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack.md. # Create a payment intent > Create a continuous or transient payment intent. Always set `type`: when it is omitted, the default type depends on account configuration. **Digital Asset Accounts:** crypto payments are available only for custody accounts (`purpose: custody`) and are for third-party payments only. They are not supported when the distributor or the end user is under the Circle FR (`CIRCLE_FR`) or Circle SG (`CIRCLE_SG`) legal entity. Set `merchantWalletId` to the `accountId` of the end user's custody account. Requests that target the master wallet, either by omitting `merchantWalletId` or by passing the distributor's own master wallet ID, are rejected with `403`. `purposeOfTransfer` is required for Circle Inc (`CIRCLE_INC`) entities with Managed Payments enabled and optional otherwise. `PMT006` is not allowed. ## OpenAPI ````yaml openapi/accounts.yaml post /v1/paymentIntents openapi: 3.1.0 info: version: 1.0.0 title: Accounts (Stablecoin) API description: > Circle's Accounts API provides endpoints for managing stablecoin accounts -- including transfers, withdrawals, deposits, wire and ACH bank accounts, and blockchain addresses. An **Account** is a general representation of a ledger or custody object that holds balances. It can be a business account, a stablecoin account ledger for an end user, an extra sub-ledger, or any future custody solution. license: name: Circle License url: https://circle.com/terms servers: - url: https://api-sandbox.circle.com - url: https://api.circle.com security: [] tags: - name: Accounts description: Manage accounts. - name: Account Groups description: Manage custody account groups and their memberships. - name: Limits description: View effective account limits and current usage. - name: Transfers description: Manage account transfers. - name: Transactions description: | Get a unified, customer-friendly view of account transaction activity. - name: Wires description: Manage account bank accounts for wire transfers. - name: Deposits description: Get information on account bank deposits. - name: Withdrawals description: Manage account bank withdrawals (fiat offramp). - name: ACH description: Manage account bank accounts for ACH transfers. - name: Deposit Addresses description: Manage account deposit addresses. - name: Recipient Addresses description: Manage account recipient addresses used for transfers. - name: Passkeys description: > Manage WebAuthn passkeys and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) challenges for end users. - name: Crypto Payments description: > Get crypto payments and crypto refunds received through payment intents. Available for Digital Asset Accounts only on custody accounts (`purpose: custody`), and only for third-party payments. Not supported when the distributor or the end user is under the Circle FR (`CIRCLE_FR`) or Circle SG (`CIRCLE_SG`) legal entity. - name: Crypto Payment Intents description: > Create, expire, refund, and track payment intents for receiving crypto payments. Available for Digital Asset Accounts only on custody accounts (`purpose: custody`), and only for third-party payments. Not supported when the distributor or the end user is under the Circle FR (`CIRCLE_FR`) or Circle SG (`CIRCLE_SG`) legal entity. - name: Crypto Payouts description: > Create and track crypto payouts to recipient addresses. Available for Digital Asset Accounts only on custody accounts (`purpose: custody`), and only for third-party payouts. Not supported when the distributor or the end user is under the Circle FR (`CIRCLE_FR`) or Circle SG (`CIRCLE_SG`) legal entity. - name: Crypto Address Book description: > Manage address book recipients used as crypto payout destinations. Available for Digital Asset Accounts only on custody accounts (`purpose: custody`), and only for third-party payouts. Not supported when the distributor or the end user is under the Circle FR (`CIRCLE_FR`) or Circle SG (`CIRCLE_SG`) legal entity. - name: Webhook Subscriptions description: Manage subscriptions to Digital Asset Accounts webhook notifications. paths: /v1/paymentIntents: post: tags: - Crypto Payment Intents summary: Create a payment intent description: > Create a continuous or transient payment intent. Always set `type`: when it is omitted, the default type depends on account configuration. **Digital Asset Accounts:** crypto payments are available only for custody accounts (`purpose: custody`) and are for third-party payments only. They are not supported when the distributor or the end user is under the Circle FR (`CIRCLE_FR`) or Circle SG (`CIRCLE_SG`) legal entity. Set `merchantWalletId` to the `accountId` of the end user's custody account. Requests that target the master wallet, either by omitting `merchantWalletId` or by passing the distributor's own master wallet ID, are rejected with `403`. `purposeOfTransfer` is required for Circle Inc (`CIRCLE_INC`) entities with Managed Payments enabled and optional otherwise. `PMT006` is not allowed. operationId: createPaymentIntent requestBody: required: true content: application/json: schema: oneOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/ContinuousPaymentIntentCreationRequest' - $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentCreationRequest' discriminator: propertyName: type mapping: continuous: '#/components/schemas/ContinuousPaymentIntentCreationRequest' transient: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentCreationRequest' responses: '201': description: Successfully created a payment intent. headers: X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CreatePaymentIntentResponse' '400': $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest' '401': $ref: '#/components/responses/NotAuthorized' '403': $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden' '404': $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound' '422': description: >- The request body could not be parsed, for example a malformed `expiresOn` timestamp. headers: X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: code: 2 message: Invalid value for field 'expiresOn' '500': $ref: '#/components/responses/InternalServerError' '503': description: >- A dependency is temporarily unavailable or the same request is already being processed. Retry after the number of seconds in `Retry-After`. headers: Retry-After: description: Seconds to wait before retrying. schema: type: integer example: 10 X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' security: - bearerAuth: [] components: schemas: ContinuousPaymentIntentCreationRequest: type: object title: Continuous payment intent required: - idempotencyKey - currency - settlementCurrency - paymentMethods - merchantWalletId - type properties: idempotencyKey: $ref: '#/components/schemas/IdempotencyKey' currency: description: Desired currency for the payment. type: string enum: - USD - EUR settlementCurrency: description: >- Desired currency for the payments to settle in. This must match the currency used for the payment. type: string enum: - USD - EUR paymentMethods: type: array description: Exactly one blockchain payment method. minItems: 1 maxItems: 1 items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentMethodBlockchainRequest' merchantWalletId: description: > The `accountId` of the end user's custody account that receives the payment. Required for Digital Asset Accounts: omitting it, or passing the distributor's own master wallet ID, is rejected with `403`. allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/MerchantWalletId' purposeOfTransfer: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentPurposeOfTransfer' type: type: string description: >- Payment intent type. Must be set to `continuous` for continuous payment intents. enum: - continuous metadata: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentMetadata' PaymentIntentCreationRequest: type: object title: Transient payment intent required: - idempotencyKey - amount - settlementCurrency - paymentMethods - type - merchantWalletId properties: idempotencyKey: $ref: '#/components/schemas/IdempotencyKey' amount: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPaymentsMoney' settlementCurrency: description: >- Desired currency for the payments to settle in. This must match the currency used for the payment method. type: string enum: - USD - EUR paymentMethods: type: array description: Exactly one blockchain payment method. minItems: 1 maxItems: 1 items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentMethodBlockchainRequest' merchantWalletId: description: > The `accountId` of the end user's custody account that receives the payment. Required for Digital Asset Accounts: omitting it, or passing the distributor's own master wallet ID, is rejected with `403`. allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/MerchantWalletId' purposeOfTransfer: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentPurposeOfTransfer' type: type: string description: >- Payment intent type. Must be explicitly set to `transient` for transient payment intents. enum: - transient expiresOn: description: > The time at which the transient payment intent expires. Once expired, the payment intent no longer accepts payments. Must be in the future and no more than 24 hours after the time of creation; otherwise the request returns error `1128`. A value that is not a valid ISO-8601 timestamp returns `422`. allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/UtcTimestamp' metadata: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentMetadata' CreatePaymentIntentResponse: title: CreatePaymentIntentResponse properties: data: anyOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntent' - $ref: '#/components/schemas/ContinuousPaymentIntent' Error: type: object required: - code - message properties: code: type: integer description: > Circle internal status code from the platform `CoreStatusCode` enum (and its domain-specific extensions). **This is not the HTTP status code** — `-1` is the catch-all unknown error, `1`/`2` indicate API parameter problems, `3` is forbidden, `4` is unauthorized, and larger values identify domain-specific failures. Consumers should rely on the HTTP status line for transport-level error class and on this field for the specific Circle error case. example: 2 message: type: string description: >- Internal error message; suitable for logging but not for end-user display. example: API parameter invalid. externalMessage: type: string description: > End-user-displayable error message. Present when the server has generated a customer-facing variant for this error; omitted otherwise. example: The provided amount exceeds the maximum allowed. errors: type: array description: Additional request-field validation errors, when available. items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorDetail' IdempotencyKey: type: string description: >- Universally unique identifier (UUID v4) idempotency key. This key is utilized to ensure exactly-once execution of mutating requests. format: uuid example: ba943ff1-ca16-49b2-ba55-1057e70ca5c7 PaymentMethodBlockchainRequest: type: object required: - type - chain properties: type: type: string enum: - blockchain chain: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Chain' MerchantWalletId: type: string description: >- Identifier of the wallet that receives the payment. For Digital Asset Accounts, this is the `accountId` of the custody account. maxLength: 36 example: '1000662322' PaymentIntentPurposeOfTransfer: type: string description: > Payment reason code describing the purpose of the transfer for the payment intent. Required for Circle Inc (`CIRCLE_INC`) entities with Managed Payments enabled. Optional otherwise. `PMT006` (Transfer to own account) is not allowed for payment intents. A missing value (when required) or a disallowed or invalid value returns error code `INVALID_PURPOSE_OF_TRANSFER`. enum: - PMT000 - PMT001 - PMT002 - PMT003 - PMT004 - PMT005 - PMT007 - PMT008 - PMT009 - PMT010 - PMT011 - PMT012 - PMT013 - PMT014 - PMT015 - PMT016 - PMT017 - PMT018 - PMT019 - PMT020 - PMT021 - PMT022 - PMT023 - PMT024 - PMT025 - PMT026 - PMT027 - PMT028 - PMT029 - PMT030 example: PMT001 PaymentIntentMetadata: type: object description: Optional metadata associated with the payment intent. properties: customerExternalRef: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentCustomerExternalRef' CryptoPaymentsMoney: type: object required: - amount - currency properties: amount: type: string description: Magnitude of the amount, in units of the currency, with a `.`. example: '3.14' currency: description: Currency code. type: string enum: - USD - EUR UtcTimestamp: type: string description: ISO-8601 UTC date/time format. example: '2020-04-10T02:13:30.000Z' XRequestId: type: string format: uuid example: 2adba88e-9d63-44bc-b975-9b6ae3440dde PaymentIntent: type: object description: A transient payment intent. required: - amount - settlementCurrency - paymentMethods properties: id: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id' amount: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPaymentsMoney' amountPaid: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPaymentsMoney' amountRefunded: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPaymentsMoney' settlementCurrency: description: Desired currency for the payments to settle in. type: string enum: - USD - EUR paymentMethods: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentMethodBlockchain' fees: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentFees' paymentIds: description: List of associated payments. type: array items: type: string format: uuid example: 69808f36-3e5e-4f37-bf82-ca79e4d70fc1 refundIds: description: List of associated refunds. type: array items: type: string format: uuid example: 425dca6d-ac79-43b6-b0f9-43fdc51de91b timeline: description: State management timeline. type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentTimeline' expiresOn: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UtcTimestamp' description: >- The time at which the transient payment intent expires. Once expired, the payment intent no longer accepts payments. updateDate: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UtcTimestamp' createDate: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UtcTimestamp' merchantWalletId: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MerchantWalletId' purposeOfTransfer: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentPurposeOfTransfer' customerExternalRef: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentCustomerExternalRef' ContinuousPaymentIntent: type: object description: A continuous payment intent. required: - currency - settlementCurrency - paymentMethods - type properties: id: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id' currency: description: Desired currency of the payment. type: string enum: - USD - EUR amountPaid: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPaymentsMoney' amountRefunded: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPaymentsMoney' settlementCurrency: description: Desired currency for the payments to settle in. type: string enum: - USD - EUR paymentMethods: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentMethodBlockchain' fees: type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentFees' timeline: description: State management timeline. type: array items: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentTimeline' updateDate: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UtcTimestamp' createDate: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UtcTimestamp' type: type: string enum: - continuous merchantWalletId: $ref: '#/components/schemas/MerchantWalletId' purposeOfTransfer: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentIntentPurposeOfTransfer' customerExternalRef: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PaymentCustomerExternalRef' ErrorDetail: type: object required: - error - message properties: error: type: string description: Machine-readable error identifier. example: invalid_value location: type: string description: Query parameter or request field that caused the error. example: assetType message: type: string description: Human-readable description of the specific error. example: The operation and assetType combination is invalid. Chain: type: string description: A blockchain that a given currency is available on. example: ETH enum: - ALGO - APTOS - ARB - ARC - AVAX - BASE - BTC - CELO - CODEX - ETH - HBAR - HYPEREVM - INK - LINEA - NEAR - NOBLE - OP - PLUME - PAH - POLY - SEI - SOL - SONIC - SUI - UNI - WORLDCHAIN - XDC - XLM - XRP - ZKS PaymentCustomerExternalRef: type: string format: uuid description: >- A customer-supplied reference for reconciliation purposes, used on payment intents, payments, and refunds. Must be a UUID. Payouts use a separate 36-character limit schema. example: 310c458a-18eb-4cbd-8a9a-586d9448ae69 Id: type: string description: Unique system-generated identifier for the entity. format: uuid example: b8627ae8-732b-4d25-b947-1df8f4007a29 PaymentMethodBlockchain: type: object required: - type - chain properties: type: type: string enum: - blockchain chain: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Chain' address: type: string example: '0x8381470ED67C3802402dbbFa0058E8871F017A6F' PaymentIntentFees: type: object required: - type - amount - currency properties: type: type: string enum: - blockchainLeaseFee - totalPaymentFees amount: type: string description: Magnitude of the amount, in units of the currency, with a `.`. example: '3.14' currency: description: Currency code. type: string enum: - USD PaymentIntentTimeline: type: object required: - status - time properties: status: type: string enum: - created - pending - active - complete - expired - failed - refunded context: type: string enum: - underpaid - paid - overpaid reason: type: string enum: - requested_by_merchant - fee_collection_failed time: description: ISO-8601 UTC date/time format. type: string format: date-time headers: XRequestId: description: > Circle-generated universally unique identifier (UUID v4). Useful for identifying a specific request when communicating with Circle Support. schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/XRequestId' responses: BadRequest: description: The request cannot be processed due to a client error. headers: X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: code: 2 message: API parameter invalid. NotAuthorized: description: >- The request has not been applied because it lacks valid authentication credentials. headers: X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: code: 4 message: Unauthorized. Forbidden: description: The API key does not have permission to access this resource. headers: X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: code: 3 message: Missing permission. NotFound: description: The specified resource was not found. headers: X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: code: 404 message: Not found. InternalServerError: description: >- The server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request. headers: X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: code: -1 message: 'Something went wrong. errId: 1f0b0c455e40f753f07b4f0ae6abd4b4' securitySchemes: bearerAuth: type: http scheme: bearer ````