Frequently asked questions
Which platforms are supported?
Every Flap token and every four.meme token on BNB Chain - on its bonding curve and, after graduation, in the PancakeSwap pool the launchpad migrated it to. You never say which; the API asks both launchpads, reads the token's status and picks the venue. Launching through the API is on Flap, standard or tax token; four.meme launches go through four.meme's own site.
Do I need an API key or an account?
No. Every endpoint is open. Two limits apply per IP address: 3 requests a second on any one endpoint, and one open launch-feed socket.
Is my private key safe?
It never leaves your machine. Every response is an unsigned transaction. Signing happens in your script, with your key; only the signed bytes are posted to /api/send, which broadcasts them and can do nothing else with them. Nothing about the key ever reaches shrine.trade, and there is no custody of any kind.
What does it cost?
A 0.5% fee on buys and on sells, charged in the settlement asset. Everything else - token info, the launch feed, creating a token - costs nothing. The launchpad's own curve fee (Flap 1.25%, four.meme 1%) and the token's tax apply on top, and gas is a fraction of a cent. See Fees.
Which currency is amount in?
On a buy, BNB, whatever the token is priced in - the launchpad swaps into USDT, USD1 or whichever asset the token uses on the way. On a sell, tokens, or a percentage of your balance like "50%". Flap sells pay out BNB; four.meme sells pay out the asset the token is priced in (BNB for a BNB-priced token). To pay with the quote asset itself, hold it and send payWithQuote; receiveQuote insists on it for a Flap sell.
What is a tax token?
A Flap or four.meme token whose creator takes a percentage of every buy and sell. Most launches are. The tax is inside every quote (creatorTaxBps is the rate on your side), so expectedOut is what you actually get. Token Info shows both rates before you trade.
Why did my buy fill for less than I asked?
The token caps how much one wallet may buy on the curve and you reached it. Flap fills up to the cap and refunds the rest in the same transaction. The quote already knows your remaining allowance, and buy_quota_exhausted tells you when there is none left.
Are trades front-run protected?
The on-chain minimum (minOut, from your slippage) is enforced by Flap's contracts, so a trade that would fill worse than quoted fails instead of filling badly. A dev buy on a launch runs inside the transaction that creates the curve, so it cannot be sniped. BNB Chain does have a public mempool, but you never touch it: signed transactions go through /api/send, which broadcasts them over our private endpoint rather than a public node.
How does slippage work here?
slippage is the percentage the fill may fall short of the quote before the transaction refuses to execute; the API turns it into an on-chain minOut. The default of 5 suits most curve tokens. A busy launch may need more, a quiet graduated token can take less. slippage_exceeded means the floor was hit.
The wallet holds enough for the trade, so why insufficient_funds?
A BNB Chain node sets aside gasLimit x maxFeePerGas before it executes anything, and only refunds the unused part afterwards. The API applies the same check up front and states the exact balance required. Keep 0.002 BNB extra and this never comes up. Details in gas and fees.
When can I buy a new launch?
On Flap, immediately: it has no opening snipe tax, only optional per-wallet buy caps and the token's own tax, both visible in the quote. On four.meme, a launch flagged antiSniper in the feed charges a trading fee that starts high and falls block by block; poll currentBuyFeeBps in Token Info and buy when it is back at 100 (1%), or accept the fee for the head start. The sniper tutorial shows a bot that reads the launch event, checks the tax, and buys.
Is the live feed really free?
Yes. wss://api.shrine.trade/bnb/api/launches/ws streams every Flap and four.meme launch and graduation. No key, one connection per IP. It is a stream, not a database: no history endpoint exists.
Where is my creator revenue?
Flap pays a tax token's tax to its beneficiary automatically. /api/fees/{wallet}?token=YOUR_TOKEN shows what has been paid and what is waiting, and /api/claim-fees builds the transactions for anything that is. See Creator Revenue.
Can AI coding tools read these docs?
Yes. Two files are kept for that: llms.txt, an index with one line per page, and llms-full.txt, the entire site as plain text. Both are rebuilt with every release.
Where do I get help?
Ask in the Telegram group. New versions are posted on X.