Carbon DeFi — On-Chain Maker Trading via MCP

Carbon DeFi is a fully on-chain maker trading protocol. Users set prices upfront — strategies execute automatically with zero gas on fills. No bots, no agent needs to stay online after placing a strategy.

Connect to the MCP Server

Add to Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "carbon-defi": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.carbondefi.xyz/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving. Alternatively, call tools directly via REST:

curl -X POST https://mcp.carbondefi.xyz/tools/get_strategies \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"owner": "0xYourAddress", "chain": "ethereum"}'

Core Concepts

Maker-first. Every strategy is a maker order — you set the price, the market comes to you.

Unsigned transactions. All write operations return an unsigned transaction (to, data, value). The user must sign and broadcast it. Never assume a transaction has been submitted.

Base and quote tokens.

• base_token — the token being bought or sold (e.g. ETH)
• quote_token — the pricing token (e.g. USDC)
• All prices are expressed as: quote per 1 base (e.g. 2000 USDC per ETH)

Budgets.

• buy_budget — always in quote token (e.g. USDC to spend buying ETH)
• sell_budget — always in base token (e.g. ETH to sell)

Native ETH. Use address 0xEeeeeEeeeEeEeeEeEeEeeEEEeeeeEeeeeeeeEEeE. Never WETH. ETH never requires approval.

Supported chains. ethereum, sei, celo, tac, coti

Strategy Types

A range order executes gradually as price moves through the range — correct for "scale in" or "DCA". Do not split into multiple orders.

All 25 Tools

Explore

• carbon_get_strategies — all active strategies for a wallet. Always call first.
• carbon_get_strategy — single strategy by ID — type, status, prices, budgets, trade count
• carbon_get_activity — trade and event history for a wallet or strategy
• carbon_explore_pair — top strategies for a token pair, ranked by trade count
• carbon_simulate_strategy — backtest against real historical prices before going on-chain
• carbon_resolve_token — fuzzy token symbol/name → on-chain address ("dollar" finds USDC/USDT/DAI)
• carbon_find_opportunities — discount buys or premium sells vs market price
• carbon_get_protocol_stats — TVL, volume, fees history
• carbon_get_price_history — OHLC price data for any token pair

Trade (swap against Carbon liquidity)

• carbon_get_trade_quote — swap quote: expected output, rate, strategies used. Always call before execute.
• carbon_execute_trade — unsigned swap transaction. Requires trade_actions from get_trade_quote.

Create

• carbon_create_limit_order — one-time buy or sell at exact price
• carbon_create_range_order — gradual execution across a price range
• carbon_create_recurring_strategy — looping buy+sell, repeats forever, zero gas on fills
• carbon_create_concentrated_strategy — two-sided liquidity with a defined spread
• carbon_create_full_range_strategy — two-sided liquidity up to 1000x from market price

Manage

• carbon_reprice_strategy — update price ranges only
• carbon_edit_strategy — update prices and budgets in one transaction
• carbon_deposit_budget — add funds without interrupting the strategy
• carbon_withdraw_budget — remove funds without closing the strategy
• carbon_pause_strategy — pause orders, funds stay, resume anytime
• carbon_resume_strategy — reactivate a paused strategy
• carbon_delete_strategy — permanently close and return all funds

Help & Knowledge

• carbon_help — detailed guidance on any tool or full overview
• carbon_learn — protocol concepts: fees, security, marginal price, overlapping liquidity, contracts, SDK, API, and more

Behavior Rules

1. Always call carbon_get_strategies first to check existing positions
2. Never invent a market price — always ask the user. Never reuse a price from earlier in the conversation.
3. Present a strategy proposal and wait for explicit user approval before building a transaction
4. Always show the full unsigned transaction (to, data, value) after creation
5. Check the warnings array in every response — if allowance warning exists, show approval steps before the transaction
6. When market price is inside a buy range, ask: full range or below market only?
   • Full range: omit buy_price_marginal
   • Below market only: set buy_price_marginal to current market price
7. Overlapping buy/sell ranges: warn but allow — ask user to confirm intent
8. Buy price above market: warn and offer to adjust
9. Sell price below market: warn and offer to adjust
10. For pause: show current prices first, confirm before pausing
11. For resume: restore prices only — funds already in strategy, never ask for budgets
12. For reprice: call once with all four prices — fill missing side from current strategy state
13. For delete: always confirm with user — irreversible

Token Allowances

Before any strategy depositing ERC-20 tokens, check if the Carbon DeFi controller has sufficient allowance. If not, the user must send an approval transaction first.

Note: USDT on Ethereum requires setting allowance to 0 before increasing.

Transaction Verification

All write operations return unsigned transactions. To independently verify calldata before signing:

• Spec: https://docs.carbondefi.xyz/developer-guides/carbon-defi-transaction-encoding
• Covers: contract addresses per chain, function selectors, price encoding, budget encoding, verification checklist

Batch API

Run multiple tools in parallel as a single request (counts against rate limit once):

curl -X POST https://mcp.carbondefi.xyz/batch \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[
    {"tool": "get_strategies", "params": {"owner": "0x...", "chain": "ethereum"}},
    {"tool": "get_protocol_stats", "params": {"chain": "ethereum"}}
  ]'

Rate Limits

• 30 requests/min per IP, burst of 10
• Use /batch for parallel calls — counts as 1 request
• REST endpoints (/tools/:toolName) are faster than MCP proxy

Links

• App: https://app.carbondefi.xyz
• Docs: https://docs.carbondefi.xyz
• AI Agents & MCP: https://docs.carbondefi.xyz/ai-agents-and-mcp-integration
• MCP endpoint: https://mcp.carbondefi.xyz/mcp
• OpenAPI spec: https://mcp.carbondefi.xyz/openapi.json
• Litepaper: https://carbondefi.xyz/litepaper