> ## 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 crypto payout > Create a stablecoin payout to a recipient address. **Digital Asset Accounts:** crypto payouts are available only for custody accounts (`purpose: custody`) and are for third-party payouts 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. `source` is required: set `source.id` to the `accountId` of the end user's custody account. A master wallet source is rejected with `403`. The destination must be an address book recipient created with `clientEntityId` set to the end user who owns that account. The following table includes the supported pairs of `amount.currency` and `toAmount.currency`: | amount.currency | toAmount.currency | | --------------- | ----------------- | | USD | USD | | EUR | EUR | For Circle Inc (`CIRCLE_INC`) customers using Managed Payments, `purposeOfTransfer` is **required** and must use a payment reason code from [Crypto Payouts payment reason codes](https://developers.circle.com/circle-mint/crypto-payouts-payment-reason-codes). Invalid or missing values can return error code `5020`. ## OpenAPI ````yaml openapi/accounts.yaml post /v1/payouts 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/payouts: post: tags: - Crypto Payouts summary: Create a crypto payout description: > Create a stablecoin payout to a recipient address. **Digital Asset Accounts:** crypto payouts are available only for custody accounts (`purpose: custody`) and are for third-party payouts 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. `source` is required: set `source.id` to the `accountId` of the end user's custody account. A master wallet source is rejected with `403`. The destination must be an address book recipient created with `clientEntityId` set to the end user who owns that account. The following table includes the supported pairs of `amount.currency` and `toAmount.currency`: | amount.currency | toAmount.currency | | --------------- | ----------------- | | USD | USD | | EUR | EUR | For Circle Inc (`CIRCLE_INC`) customers using Managed Payments, `purposeOfTransfer` is **required** and must use a payment reason code from [Crypto Payouts payment reason codes](https://developers.circle.com/circle-mint/crypto-payouts-payment-reason-codes). Invalid or missing values can return error code `5020`. operationId: createPayout requestBody: required: true content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPayoutCreationRequest' responses: '201': description: Successfully created a payout. headers: X-Request-Id: $ref: '#/components/headers/XRequestId' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CreatePayoutResponse' '400': $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest' '401': $ref: '#/components/responses/NotAuthorized' '403': $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden' '500': $ref: '#/components/responses/InternalServerError' security: - bearerAuth: [] components: schemas: CryptoPayoutCreationRequest: type: object required: - idempotencyKey - source - destination - amount - riskSignals properties: idempotencyKey: $ref: '#/components/schemas/IdempotencyKey' source: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPayoutSource' destination: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPayoutDestination' amount: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPayoutMoney' toAmount: type: object description: The destination currency. Defaults to `amount.currency`. required: - currency properties: currency: type: string description: The ISO 4217 currency code for the destination amount. enum: - USD - EUR purposeOfTransfer: description: >- Required for Circle Inc (`CIRCLE_INC`) customers using Managed Payments, based on the source account's legal entity. allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPayoutPurposeOfTransfer' metadata: type: object description: Additional properties related to the crypto payout. properties: customerExternalRef: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CustomerExternalRef' riskSignals: description: >- Risk metadata for the end user initiating the payout. For payouts, a risk denial fails the payout with `errorCode` `transaction_denied`. allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/RiskSignals' CreatePayoutResponse: title: CreatePayoutResponse properties: data: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPayout' 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 CryptoPayoutSource: type: object description: > The source wallet to fund the payout. Required for Digital Asset Accounts: set `id` to the `accountId` of the custody account to pay out from. required: - type - id properties: type: type: string enum: - wallet id: type: string description: The identifier of the wallet. example: '1000662322' CryptoPayoutDestination: type: object description: > The payout destination: an address book recipient created with `POST /v1/addressBook/recipients`. The recipient must be in `active` status and created with `clientEntityId` set to the end user who owns the payout's source account. required: - type - id properties: type: type: string description: The destination type. enum: - address_book id: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id' CryptoPayoutMoney: type: object required: - amount - currency properties: amount: type: string description: > The numeric value of the amount, expressed in units of the specified currency. Use a period (`.`) as the decimal separator. example: '3.14' currency: type: string description: The ISO 4217 currency code for the amount. enum: - USD - EUR CryptoPayoutPurposeOfTransfer: type: string description: > Payment reason code for the payout. Aligned with Circle payment reason codes for Crypto Payouts. Do not use `PMT006`. See [Crypto Payouts payment reason codes](https://developers.circle.com/circle-mint/crypto-payouts-payment-reason-codes). Invalid values can return error code `5020`. enum: - PMT000 - PMT001 - PMT002 - PMT003 - PMT004 - PMT005 - PMT007 - PMT008 - PMT009 - PMT010 - PMT011 - PMT012 - PMT013 - PMT014 - PMT015 - PMT016 - PMT017 - PMT018 - PMT019 - PMT020 - PMT021 - PMT022 - PMT023 - PMT024 - PMT025 - PMT026 - PMT027 - PMT028 - PMT029 - PMT030 example: PMT001 CustomerExternalRef: type: string description: A customer-supplied reference for reconciliation purposes. pattern: ^[A-Za-z0-9-]{1,36}$ example: INV-2024-001234 RiskSignals: type: object description: > Risk metadata for the end user initiating the request. All three fields must be present. `deviceId` must be the identifier returned by `checkDevice()` in the `@circle-fin/device-checks` SDK. Circle resolves it against the device check that produced it, so an identifier you generate yourself does not resolve. When it does not resolve, the request is accepted and then declined: the endpoint returns `201`, and the transaction later settles as `failed` with `errorCode` `transfer_denied`. See [Collect device risk signals](https://developers.circle.com/end-user-onboarding/howtos/collect-device-risk-signals). required: - ipAddress - sessionId - deviceId properties: ipAddress: type: string description: IP address of the end user initiating the request. example: 203.0.113.42 sessionId: type: string description: Identifier for the end user's session. example: 8f3b2c1a-9d4e-4f6a-b7c8-1e2d3f4a5b6c deviceId: type: string description: > The identifier returned by `checkDevice()` in the `@circle-fin/device-checks` SDK. Store that value and send it here. Do not generate your own device identifier: Circle looks this value up against the completed device check, and an unrecognized value causes the transaction to be declined after the endpoint has already returned `201`. example: 2a7d9e5f-1c3b-4a8e-9f0d-6b5c4a3e2d1f XRequestId: type: string format: uuid example: 2adba88e-9d63-44bc-b975-9b6ae3440dde CryptoPayout: type: object description: A crypto payout. properties: id: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Id' sourceWalletId: type: string description: The identifier of the source wallet used to fund the payout. example: '1000662322' destination: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPayoutDestination' amount: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PayoutMoney' toAmount: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PayoutMoney' fees: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PayoutMoney' networkFees: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PayoutMoney' purposeOfTransfer: description: >- Present when it was provided at create time. Omitted from list results. allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/CryptoPayoutPurposeOfTransfer' customerExternalRef: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CustomerExternalRef' status: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PayoutStatus' errorCode: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PayoutErrorCode' riskEvaluation: $ref: '#/components/schemas/PayoutRiskEvaluation' externalRef: type: - string - 'null' description: >- Onchain transaction hash for the payout. Present once the transaction has been broadcast to the network. Returned only by `GET /v1/payouts/{id}`. example: '0x7351585460bd657f320b9afa02a52c26d89272d0d10cc29913eb8b28e64fd906' createDate: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UtcTimestamp' updateDate: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UtcTimestamp' 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: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorDetail' Id: type: string description: Unique system-generated identifier for the entity. format: uuid example: b8627ae8-732b-4d25-b947-1df8f4007a29 PayoutMoney: type: object required: - amount - currency properties: amount: type: string description: Magnitude of the amount, in units of the currency, with a `.`. example: '3.14' currency: type: string description: ISO 4217 alpha-3 currency code for the amount. pattern: ^[A-Z]{3}$ example: USD PayoutStatus: type: string description: >- Status of the payout. Status `pending` indicates that the payout is in process; `complete` indicates it finished successfully; `failed` indicates it failed. enum: - pending - complete - failed PayoutErrorCode: type: - string - 'null' description: >- Indicates the failure reason of a payout. Only present for payouts in a failed state. enum: - insufficient_funds - transaction_denied - transaction_failed - transaction_returned - bank_transaction_error - fiat_account_limit_exceeded - invalid_bank_account_number - invalid_ach_rtn - invalid_wire_rtn - vendor_inactive - payout_canceled - invalid_travel_rule_identity - intermediary_bank_required - sen_not_supported PayoutRiskEvaluation: type: - object - 'null' description: >- Results of risk evaluation. Only present when the payout was denied or failed by Circle's risk service. properties: decision: description: Risk decision for the payout. type: string enum: - denied - failed reason: description: Risk reason code for the decision. type: - string - 'null' example: '3000' UtcTimestamp: type: string description: ISO-8601 UTC date/time format. example: '2020-04-10T02:13:30.000Z' 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. 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. 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 ````