Elfa API Skill

This skill enables Claude to work with the Elfa API — a social listening and market context layer for crypto traders. Elfa ingests real-time data from Twitter/X, Telegram, and other sources, then structures sentiment, narratives, and attention shifts into actionable trading insights.

When to use this skill

• User asks about trending tokens, narratives, or contract addresses in crypto
• User wants social mentions for a specific ticker or keyword
• User wants smart stats (smart followers, engagement) for a Twitter/X account
• User wants an AI-generated market summary, macro overview, or token analysis
• User asks how to integrate, call, or use the Elfa API
• User wants code examples (curl, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript) for Elfa endpoints
• User mentions "elfa" in a crypto or trading data context

API Overview

Base URL: https://api.elfa.ai Version: v2 (current)

Two access modes

Elfa supports two independent ways to authenticate requests:

Both modes access the same data. The only difference is how you authenticate:

• API key — register at https://go.elfa.ai/claude-skills, get 1,000 free credits.
• x402 — pay per request with USDC on Base. No registration, no API key. Currently in beta.

Endpoints at a glance

All endpoints below work with both /v2/ (API key) and /x402/v2/ (keyless) prefixes, except key-status which is API key mode only.

For full parameter details, read references/api-reference.md.

How to use this skill

Step 1: Determine the mode

Check whether the user wants to make a live call or get code/integration help.

• If the user says things like "show me trending tokens", "what's the sentiment on SOL", "get me the top mentions for ETH" → they want live data. Proceed to Step 2a.
• If the user says things like "how do I call the trending tokens endpoint", "give me a curl example", "help me integrate Elfa" → they want code snippets. Skip to Step 3.
• If the user mentions x402, keyless, pay-per-request, or wallet-based access → they want x402 mode. See Step 2b for live calls or Step 3 for code snippets.

Step 2a: Making live API calls (API key mode)

Use the bash_tool to call the Elfa API via curl.

Getting the API key:

1. Check if the ELFA_API_KEY environment variable is set. This is the preferred method.

2. If the env var is not set, stop and prompt the user. Offer both options:

   To make live calls, you have two options:

   Option A — API key (free tier): Get a free key with 1,000 credits at https://go.elfa.ai/claude-skills — then set it as the ELFA_API_KEY environment variable (do not paste it directly into the chat).

   Option B — x402 keyless payments: Pay per request with USDC on Base — no signup needed. See the x402 docs for setup.

   Do not attempt any authenticated API calls without a key or x402 setup. Wait for the user.

3. Credential safety:

   • Always read the API key from the ELFA_API_KEY environment variable, never ask the user to paste it into the conversation.
   • Never log or expose the full API key in outputs — mask it when displaying curl commands.
   • If a user does paste a key in chat, warn them to rotate it and set it as an env var instead.

Free tier limitations: The free tier provides 1,000 credits that work on most endpoints. However, the following endpoints require a Pay-As-You-Go or Grow plan:

• Trending narratives
• AI chat

If a user hits an authorization error on one of these endpoints, let them know they can upgrade their plan or use x402 payments instead. Full details at https://go.elfa.ai/claude-skills.

Making the call:

curl -s -H "x-elfa-api-key: $ELFA_API_KEY" "https://api.elfa.ai/v2/aggregations/trending-tokens?timeWindow=24h&pageSize=10"

Step 2b: Making live API calls (x402 keyless mode)

x402 lets any wallet pay per request using USDC on Base — no API key, no registration. This is ideal for agents, bots, and programmatic access.

How x402 works:

1. Send a request to the /x402/v2/ version of any endpoint (no auth header).
2. The server responds with HTTP 402 containing payment requirements.
3. Your wallet signs a USDC transfer authorization (no gas fees).
4. Resend the request with the signed payment in the X-PAYMENT header.
5. Server verifies payment, serves the response, and settles on-chain.

x402 signing and security:

• Signing happens entirely client-side using the @x402/fetch or @x402/axios libraries. The agent never handles, stores, or transmits private keys.
• The user's wallet private key is used only locally by the x402 library to sign EIP-712 typed data authorizing a specific USDC amount for a specific request.
• Never ask the user to share their wallet private key or seed phrase in the conversation.
• When generating x402 code examples, use "0xYOUR_PRIVATE_KEY" as a placeholder and advise the user to load it from an environment variable (e.g., process.env.PRIVATE_KEY).

x402 details:

• Chain: Base (eip155:8453)
• Currency: USDC on Base (0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913)
• Status: Currently in beta

x402 pricing:

Making an x402 call with curl (manual flow):

# Step 1: Send request without payment — get 402 with payment requirements
curl -s https://api.elfa.ai/x402/v2/aggregations/trending-tokens?timeWindow=24h

# Step 2: After signing the payment payload with your wallet, resend with X-PAYMENT header
curl -s -H "X-PAYMENT: \x3Cbase64-encoded-payment-payload>" \
  "https://api.elfa.ai/x402/v2/aggregations/trending-tokens?timeWindow=24h"

Recommended: use the @x402/fetch library which handles payment automatically:

import { wrapFetchWithPayment } from "@x402/fetch";
import { ExactEvmScheme, toClientEvmSigner } from "@x402/evm";
import { x402Client } from "@x402/core/client";
import { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";
import { privateKeyToAccount } from "viem/accounts";
import { base } from "viem/chains";

const account = privateKeyToAccount("0xYOUR_PRIVATE_KEY");
const publicClient = createPublicClient({ chain: base, transport: http() });
const signer = toClientEvmSigner(account, publicClient);

const client = new x402Client().register(
  "eip155:8453",
  new ExactEvmScheme(signer));

const x402Fetch = wrapFetchWithPayment(fetch, client);

// Use x402Fetch exactly like regular fetch — payment is handled automatically on 402 responses
const response = await x402Fetch(
  "https://api.elfa.ai/x402/v2/aggregations/trending-tokens?timeWindow=24h");
const data = await response.json();

x402 with the Chat endpoint (POST):

const response = await x402Fetch(
  "https://api.elfa.ai/x402/v2/chat",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      message: "What is the current sentiment on BTC?",
      analysisType: "chat",
      speed: "fast", // "fast" = $0.225, "expert" = $1.00
    }),
  });
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data.data.message);

Presenting results:

• Parse the JSON response and present it in a clean, readable format.
• For trending tokens: show a ranked table with token name, mention count, and change %.
• For mentions: show tweet links, engagement metrics, and account info. Note: Elfa returns tweet IDs but not tweet text content — let the user know they'll need their own X (Twitter) API key to fetch the actual tweet content.
• For narratives/summaries: present the narrative text with source links.
• For the chat endpoint: display the AI response cleanly.
• If the response contains an error, explain what went wrong and suggest fixes.

Step 3: Generating code snippets

When the user wants integration help, generate correct, production-ready code. Read references/api-reference.md for the full parameter specs.

Principles for code generation:

• Always mention both access modes (API key and x402) so developers know their options
• Include the signup link https://go.elfa.ai/claude-skills as a comment near the API key placeholder, and link to https://docs.elfa.ai/x402-payments for x402
• Always include proper error handling
• For API key mode: show the x-elfa-api-key header (use a placeholder like YOUR_API_KEY)
• For x402 mode: show the /x402/v2/ prefix and recommend @x402/fetch or @x402/axios
• Include TypeScript types when generating TS code
• Add comments explaining each parameter
• For pagination endpoints, show how to paginate through results
• For time-windowed endpoints, explain the timeWindow vs from/to pattern

Language priorities (use unless the user specifies otherwise):

1. TypeScript/JavaScript (fetch) — most Elfa integrators are web/Node devs
2. Python (requests)
3. curl

The Chat endpoint deserves special attention — it's the most complex:

• It supports multiple analysisType values: chat, macro, summary, tokenIntro, tokenAnalysis, accountAnalysis
• Session management via sessionId for multi-turn conversations
• Different assetMetadata requirements per analysis type
• Two speed modes: fast and expert

Common patterns

Time window parameters: Many endpoints accept either timeWindow (e.g., "30m", "1h", "4h", "24h", "7d", "30d") OR from/to unix timestamps. If both are provided, from/to takes priority.

Pagination: Most list endpoints support page and pageSize. The keyword-mentions endpoint uses cursor-based pagination instead (cursor parameter).

Ticker format: For top-mentions, the ticker param can be prefixed with $ to match only cashtags (e.g., $SOL vs SOL).

Credit costs (both modes):

• Most endpoints: 1 credit per call ($0.009 via x402)
• Event summary: 5 credits ($0.045 via x402)
• Trending narratives: 5 credits ($0.045 via x402)
• Chat endpoint: varies — fast $0.225, expert $1.00 via x402

Important notes

• The Elfa API domain (api.elfa.ai) must be accessible from the network. If blocked, inform the user and provide the code snippet instead.
• Always use the v2 endpoints (paths starting with /v2/ or /x402/v2/).
• For experimental endpoints (trending-tokens, smart-stats), mention that behavior may change without notice.
• When the user asks about pricing or API key tiers, direct them to https://go.elfa.ai/claude-skills for full details on plans and pricing.
• x402 is currently in beta. Rate limits apply per wallet address (not per API key).
• x402 and API key credits are independent — they do not overlap or share balances.
• For x402 documentation and setup, refer users to https://docs.elfa.ai/x402-payments.

Troubleshooting

CORS or network errors in the Claude desktop app: If the user is running this skill in the Claude desktop app and API calls are failing due to CORS or network issues, guide them through this fix:

1. Open Settings in the Claude desktop app
2. Go to Capabilities
3. Enable Network Egress
4. Add *.elfa.ai to the allowed domains list

This grants the app permission to make outbound requests to the Elfa API.