# Agents on Chord

> The same API as tools for models — an MCP server, a function-calling manifest, the Ask agent API, and llms.txt for retrieval.

Source: https://getchord.xyz/docs/agents/

Chord is built for agents first: every number the app shows is one GET away, amounts are strings, errors are stable codes, and nothing needs a browser. The ways in:

| Path | What it is | Best for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Docs MCP](/docs/agents/docs-mcp/) | this documentation as tools — search, read a page, look up an endpoint with a real example; hosted at `getchord.xyz/docs/mcp` | any agent writing code against the API; no key, no install |
| [Agent skill](/docs/agents/skill/) | `SKILL.md`, references and a dependency-free Python client in the Agent Skills format; one `curl` loop installs it, no repository access | Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, Hermes: read prices and boards on every chain, quote, prepare an unsigned swap |
| [MCP server](/docs/agents/mcp/) | hosted at `api.getchord.xyz/v1/mcp`: 17 tools, every chain as a parameter, one URL per chain with `?chain=` | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, any MCP client; no install, key optional |
| [Function calling](/docs/agents/function-calling/) | the same tools as OpenAI-style JSON Schema, public at `api.getchord.xyz/v1/mcp/tools.json` | OpenAI, LangChain, anything that takes a manifest |
| [Ask agent API](/docs/agents/ask-api/) | `POST /v1/ask` — Chord's own analyst over the index, 40+ tools, one JSON answer | judgement questions: is this launch real, where is support, who is buying |
| [llms.txt](/docs/agents/llms-txt/) | this documentation as plain text, every page as Markdown, the OpenAPI document, and the discovery files (`/.well-known/api-catalog`, `ai-catalog.json`, `agent-skills/index.json`) | retrieval, system prompts, codegen by a model, finding Chord's tools from the domain alone |

## Prepare, then sign

The API is non-custodial. A tool that trades returns an **unsigned transaction**; the agent's own wallet signs it and broadcasts it to the chain it names. Chord never sees a private key, never holds funds, never broadcasts. Read `otherAmountThreshold` before signing — it is the minimum the transaction enforces — and simulate with `POST /v1/swap/simulate` when the wallet cannot.

## Which tool for which question

- Raw numbers — prices, a token's tape, who launched what, a wallet's PnL: the data tools (MCP / manifest) or the REST endpoints directly. Fast, deterministic, free.
- Judgement — "is ARGUS still being bought by real wallets", "give me an entry ladder", "compare these three launches": the Ask agent. 5–40 s, metered, needs a key.
- Trading: `chord_quote` then `chord_swap_tx`, or the REST pair `/quote` → `/swap`, on any EVM chain Chord routes; Solana swaps go through `/v1/sol/trade/*`.

## Keys

Read tools work without a key at the anonymous limit. Set `CHORD_API_KEY` (MCP) or send `X-API-Key` (manifest, REST) to run at your plan's limit; the Ask agent requires one. Keys come from [getchord.xyz/developer](https://getchord.xyz/developer).