Glossary
Definitions of every key term used across the Balchemy platform and documentation. Entries are ordered alphabetically. Click any "See also" link to jump to the relevant documentation page.
0x
The on-chain swap aggregator used by Balchemy for EVM trades (Base, Ethereum). 0x sources liquidity across multiple DEXes to find the best execution price for a given trade. See also: EVM Trading.
Agent
An autonomous AI entity — either a Balchemy bot (built in Studio) or an external AI system (onboarded via Hub) — that can call Balchemy's tools, analyze market data, and execute trades on behalf of its owner. Agents are identified by an agentId and authenticate using signed JWT tokens. See also: Hub Overview, Your First Bot.
Agent Card
A machine-readable JSON document published at /.well-known/agent.json that describes an agent's capabilities, supported tools, input/output schemas, and authentication requirements. Agent cards follow the ERC-8004 standard and are used by discovery services to index available agents. See also: ERC-8004.
agentId
The stable public identifier assigned to an external agent during Hub onboarding. An agentId is distinct from a botId — it belongs to the agent's external identity, not to a Balchemy bot configuration. The agentId appears in audit logs and scopes records.
Ask Bot
A conversational tool (ask_bot) that routes a natural-language query through the full AI pipeline — knowledge base retrieval, strategy context, and tool resolution — and returns a structured response. ask_bot performs one LLM hop. Compare with trade_command, which bypasses the LLM for direct execution. See also: Tool Catalog.
Automation
A rules engine within Studio that executes predefined actions when trigger conditions are met. Automations can send alerts, post messages to connected platforms, or adjust bot parameters without human input. See also: Automation.
Base (chain)
An EVM-compatible Layer 2 blockchain built on Ethereum and operated by Coinbase. Balchemy supports token swaps on Base using the 0x aggregator. Base uses the same Ethereum address format (0x...) as Ethereum mainnet. See also: EVM Trading.
Bot
A Balchemy-configured AI trading agent built and managed in Studio. A bot combines an AI persona, a knowledge base, a risk policy, a strategy, wallet connections, and platform channel settings into a single deployable entity. Each bot has a unique botId. See also: Studio Overview, Your First Bot.
Circuit Breaker
A fault-tolerance mechanism that monitors a trading provider (Jupiter for Solana, 0x for EVM) and temporarily halts order execution when error rates exceed a threshold. When the circuit breaker is open, all new orders for that provider are rejected immediately without attempting execution. The circuit breaker can be closed (normal), half_open (testing recovery), or open (halted). See also: Order Lifecycle.
Claim
The action an operator performs in Hub to take ownership of an external agent. Claiming requires a manage-scope step-up authentication. Once claimed, the operator's wallet address becomes the agent's controlling address, and the operator can configure wallets, scopes, and API keys for that agent. See also: Hub Overview.
Controlling Address
The wallet address registered as the owner of a Hub agent. The controlling address is the on-chain identity that authorized the claim transaction and retains the right to revoke, reconfigure, or transfer the agent. See also: Agent Wallet Management.
Custodial Wallet
A wallet whose private key is managed by Balchemy's secure key management system (AES-256-GCM with a DEK envelope) rather than by the user. Balchemy creates custodial wallets for Hub agents during onboarding. Custodial wallets enable autonomous trading without requiring the user to sign each transaction. See also: Wallets, Agent Wallet Management.
DCA
Dollar-Cost Averaging. A trading strategy that splits a large buy or sell into multiple smaller orders executed at regular intervals or price levels. DCA orders in Balchemy are represented as recurring sub-orders (dca_leg_index) tracked under a parent order document. See also: Order Lifecycle, Solana Trading.
DEK
Data Encryption Key. A symmetric key used to encrypt a custodial wallet's private key at rest. The DEK itself is encrypted by the Key Encryption Key (KEK), forming a two-layer envelope. You never interact with DEKs directly — this is an internal security implementation detail. See also: KEK.
Discovery
The process by which external agents or users find available Balchemy bots in the Explorer. Discoverable bots appear in the public Explorer catalog with their strategy description, performance metrics, and a "Clone to Studio" action. See also: Explorer.
ERC-8004
An emerging agent identity standard that defines a machine-readable agent card format (capabilities, skills, authentication) and a well-known discovery endpoint (/.well-known/agent.json). Balchemy implements ERC-8004 so that external AI systems can autonomously discover and onboard with Balchemy agents. See also: ERC-8004.
Enterprise policyMode
A bot configuration flag (policyMode: "enterprise") that applies a lower platform swap fee (0.5% by default, versus 1% for standard). The policyMode field is set at the bot level and affects fee calculation on every trade that bot executes. See also: Standard policyMode, Pricing and Fees.
Explorer
The public-facing discovery surface at /explorer where anyone can browse available Balchemy bot strategies, view performance metrics, and clone a bot configuration to their own Studio workspace. Explorer requires no authentication to browse. See also: Explorer.
Fee Account
On Solana, a designated wallet address (the Jupiter feeAccount) that receives the platform's portion of each swap fee at the protocol level. The fee deduction happens atomically within the swap transaction — no secondary transfer is needed. See also: Solana Trading, Pricing and Fees.
Guardrail
A safety constraint applied to a bot's trading activity — for example, a maximum position size, a daily loss limit, or a prohibited token list. Guardrails are part of the Risk Policy and are enforced by the trading engine before order execution. See also: Order Lifecycle.
HMAC
Hash-based Message Authentication Code. Balchemy uses HMAC signatures to authenticate inter-service communications between the NestJS backend and the Rust trading engine. The trading engine verifies the HMAC of every inbound gRPC callback to confirm the request originated from the authenticated backend. Not to be confused with API key authentication for external agents.
Hub
Balchemy's product surface for external AI agent operations. Hub provides the control plane for machine-to-machine integrations — including agent onboarding, API key management, scope configuration, webhook setup, and audit log monitoring. Hub is distinct from Studio, which is designed for human operators. See also: Hub Overview.
JWT (ES256)
JSON Web Token signed with an elliptic-curve ES256 (ECDSA P-256) private key. Balchemy uses ES256 JWTs for agent authentication and session tokens. ES256 is preferred over HMAC-based JWT (HS256) because the verification key can be published publicly without exposing the signing key. See also: Security, ERC-8004.
Jupiter
The primary DEX aggregator used by Balchemy for Solana token swaps. Jupiter sources liquidity across Solana's major AMMs and returns the optimal swap route for a given input amount and slippage tolerance. The circuit breaker for Solana trades monitors Jupiter's availability. See also: Solana Trading.
KEK
Key Encryption Key. A master key used to encrypt the DEK (Data Encryption Key) for custodial wallet storage. Balchemy supports a local KEK (environment variable) and AWS KMS for production deployments. The KEK never leaves the key management boundary.
Kill Switch
An emergency control that immediately halts all trading activity — globally or per chain. When the global kill switch is active, every new order is rejected at the policy gate before any database write occurs. The kill switch is a Redis-backed flag set by authorized administrators. See also: Order Lifecycle.
Knowledge Base
A collection of documents, facts, and Q&A pairs that a Balchemy bot uses as a retrieval context during AI reasoning. Knowledge base entries are indexed for semantic search (RAG) and injected into the bot's context when a user asks a question that matches relevant content. See also: Knowledge Base.
Launchpad
The section of Balchemy's Explorer where newly published bot strategies are featured. The Launchpad surface highlights strategies that have recently been made public and are available for cloning.
MCP
Model Context Protocol. The standardized JSON-RPC 2.0 protocol that Balchemy uses to expose its tool catalog to external AI agents. Each Balchemy bot has an MCP endpoint at https://api.balchemy.ai/mcp/{publicId}. External agents connect to this endpoint and call tools using bearer-token authentication. See also: MCP Integration, Tool Catalog.
MCP Key
An API key scoped for use with the MCP protocol endpoint. MCP keys carry a scope (read, trade, or manage) that restricts which tools the key holder can call. Keys are created in Hub and revealed once at creation time. See also: API Keys.
Nonce
A single-use random value used during wallet-based authentication (SIWS/SIWE) to prevent replay attacks. The Balchemy backend issues a nonce, the user's wallet signs a message containing that nonce, and the backend verifies the signature and immediately marks the nonce as consumed. See also: Security.
Order Profile
The complete set of parameters describing a single trade order — including action (buy/sell), token, amount, order type, chain, wallet, slippage tolerance, fee data, and execution history. The order profile is stored in MongoDB and updated at each state transition. See also: Order Lifecycle.
Pending Order
An order in the pending or pending_approval state that has not yet been submitted to the chain. Pending orders require either automatic progression (for market orders) or explicit user approval (for orders routed through the approval flow). You can view and approve pending orders in the Studio trading dashboard. See also: Order Lifecycle.
policyMode
A bot-level configuration field that controls which fee schedule applies to that bot's trades. Accepted values are "standard" (1% default fee) and "enterprise" (0.5% default fee). The policyMode field also controls certain message-handling behaviors. See also: Enterprise policyMode, Standard policyMode.
Pre-trade Report
A structured analysis generated before executing a swap, covering the expected output, price impact, slippage estimate, and fee breakdown. The pre-trade report is surfaced in the chat interface when a user issues a trade command and in the order confirmation flow. See also: Solana Trading.
Primary Channel
The single external platform channel (Telegram, Discord, Twitter/X, or Widget) designated as the bot's main communication interface. A bot may only have one primary channel active at a time. Changing the primary channel locks the previous one out until the new one is confirmed. See also: Bot Settings.
Primary Wallet
The wallet address designated as the main funding and trading wallet for a bot. A custodial wallet gate requires a primary wallet to be set on the relevant chain before trading can begin. See also: Wallets.
publicId
A stable, publicly shareable identifier for a Balchemy bot used in MCP endpoint URLs. The publicId is different from the internal botId (MongoDB ObjectId) and is safe to include in public-facing configurations and documentation. Format: https://api.balchemy.ai/mcp/{publicId}.
RAG
Retrieval-Augmented Generation. The AI technique used by Balchemy bots to pull relevant knowledge base entries into the LLM context before generating a response. When a user asks a question, the system performs a semantic similarity search against the knowledge base and injects the top matches as context. See also: Knowledge Base.
Rate Limit
A per-user or per-key constraint on how many requests or tool calls can be made within a time window. Balchemy enforces rate limits using Redis-backed counters. The platform operates with a fail-open policy — if the Redis rate limit check is unavailable, the request is allowed through. See also: Rate Limits.
Risk Policy
A configurable set of trading constraints attached to a bot — including maximum position size, stop-loss percentage, take-profit levels, and allowed token lists. The risk policy is evaluated by the trading engine at order creation time. Violations result in the order being rejected before execution. See also: Order Lifecycle.
RugCheck
An on-chain token safety check performed during the token research flow. RugCheck analyzes a token's contract for common rug-pull indicators — such as mutable mint authority, high insider concentration, or honeypot patterns. Results appear in the pre-trade report and token research output. See also: Solana Trading.
Scope (read / trade / manage)
The three-level permission hierarchy for API key and agent access. read grants access to portfolio views, market data, and research tools. trade adds order creation, approval, and cancellation. manage adds bot configuration, key management, and agent claiming — and requires step-up authentication. Each tool in the catalog declares its minimum required scope. See also: Scopes and Access Control, API Keys.
SIWE
Sign-In with Ethereum. The EVM wallet authentication standard used by Balchemy for Ethereum and Base wallet connections. The user signs a structured message containing a nonce and domain with their EVM wallet (MetaMask, WalletConnect, or compatible), and the backend verifies the signature to establish a session. See also: Security.
SIWS
Sign-In with Solana. The Solana wallet authentication standard used by Balchemy for Solana wallet connections. Functionally equivalent to SIWE but uses Solana's ed25519 signing scheme and base58-encoded public keys. See also: Security.
Slippage
The difference between the expected execution price of a swap and the actual price at which it executes on-chain. Balchemy expresses slippage tolerance in basis points (bps). A slippage tolerance of 50 bps (0.5%) means the order will fail if the actual price deviates more than 0.5% from the quoted price. See also: Solana Trading, EVM Trading.
Smart Order
An order type that uses conditional logic — such as price triggers, take-profit levels, or trailing stops — to determine when and how to execute. Smart orders are monitored by the trading engine and submitted to the chain automatically when conditions are met.
Solana
A high-performance Layer 1 blockchain that Balchemy uses as its primary trading chain. Solana trades are routed through the Jupiter aggregator. Solana wallet addresses use the base58 format and are 32 bytes long (typically 43–44 characters). See also: Solana Trading.
Standard policyMode
A bot configuration flag (policyMode: "standard") that applies the default platform swap fee (1%). This is the default mode for all newly created bots. See also: Enterprise policyMode, Pricing and Fees.
Step-up Authentication
An additional authentication challenge required for sensitive operations such as creating a manage-scope API key or claiming an agent. Step-up authentication asks the user to re-sign a message with their wallet to confirm intent, even if they are already logged in. See also: API Keys, Security.
Strategy
The trading logic and decision rules configured for a bot — including which tokens to trade, under what market conditions to enter or exit, and what order types to use. Strategies are defined in Studio and can be made public for other users to discover in the Explorer. See also: Explorer.
Studio
Balchemy's operator workspace at /studio — the visual interface where human users create bots, configure AI personas, connect wallets, manage platform channels, and monitor trading activity. Studio is distinct from Hub, which is designed for external AI agent integrations. See also: Studio Overview.
Swap Fee
The platform fee Balchemy charges on each executed token swap. The fee rate depends on the bot's policyMode: 1% for standard, 0.5% for enterprise (both configurable via environment variables). On Solana, the fee is collected via Jupiter's feeAccount mechanism at the protocol level. On EVM, the fee is deducted before the swap executes. See also: Pricing and Fees.
Token Approval
On EVM chains, an on-chain transaction that authorizes a smart contract (the 0x router) to spend a specific amount of an ERC-20 token on behalf of the user's wallet. Token approvals are required before a sell order can execute. Balchemy handles approval checks and submission automatically. See also: EVM Trading.
Tool
A discrete, server-executed capability exposed through Balchemy's MCP gateway. Each tool has a name, description, input schema, required scope, and category. Tool execution is scope-checked, rate-limited, and logged. Balchemy registers 100 tools in total. See also: Tool Catalog.
Trading Engine
The Rust-based gRPC service (balchemy-trading-engine) that handles order lifecycle management, on-chain execution (Solana and EVM), fee calculation, circuit breaker logic, and position tracking. The trading engine replaced the original NestJS trading service in March 2026 and uses approximately 5.8 MB of memory — 26x less than its predecessor. See also: Order Lifecycle.
Widget
An embeddable web component that bot owners can install on any website to give their site visitors access to the bot's AI chat interface. The widget is configured in Studio, supports wallet authentication for trading, and is served through the backend's Widget module. See also: Web Widget Integration.