/blockrun

name: blockrun
description: |
  Pay-per-call access to AI models, real-time data, media generation and multi-chain RPC over
  x402 micropayments (USDC on Base, Solana or Arc), or a BlockRun account API key. No subscriptions.
  Start here when you have the BlockRun MCP installed and need to know WHICH tool answers a
  question, how the wallet works, or how to make a first call for free.
  TOOLS: blockrun_chat, blockrun_image, blockrun_video, blockrun_music, blockrun_speech,
  blockrun_search, blockrun_exa, blockrun_markets, blockrun_polymarket_read, blockrun_polymarket,
  blockrun_price, blockrun_dex, blockrun_defi, blockrun_rpc, blockrun_phone,
  blockrun_realface, blockrun_modal, blockrun_models, blockrun_wallet.
  TRIGGERS: blockrun, x402, use grok, use gpt, use deepseek, compare models, generate image,
  generate video, generate music, text to speech, web search, news search, prediction market,
  crypto price, on-chain data, blockchain rpc, phone call, run code remotely, pay per call
homepage: https://blockrun.ai
metadata:
  version: 1

BlockRun

One wallet, pay-per-call, no API keys. Every paid tool below settles in USDC over x402 at the moment of the call.

Never quote a price from memory

There is no price table in this skill, and that is deliberate. Every flat per-call price published in this repo drifted by exactly the per-transaction fee the last time that fee changed, because each one was a typed copy. Read prices from a live source instead:

| Need | Where | |------|-------| | Per-token model pricing | `blockrun_models` | | What a call will actually cost | the `402` response — it carries the real amount | | Full endpoint catalog with prices | <https://blockrun.ai/llms.txt> (Base) · <https://sol.blockrun.ai/llms.txt> (Solana) |

The tool descriptions in the MCP server carry the published base prices too; they are typed by hand and verified against live 402 quotes by `npm run verify:prices`, and the 402 header is what actually gets charged.

The two chains are not the same gateway

`blockrun.ai` and `sol.blockrun.ai` are separate deployments, and `blockrun_wallet action: "chain"` switches between them mid-session. Two consequences, both easy to miss because nothing announces the switch:

**Prices differ, on purpose.** Every figure in these skills is the **Base** price. Base adds a flat per-transaction fee; Solana deliberately adds none — the ~$0.001-per-call gap is pricing policy (an incentive to settle on Solana), not drift, so do not expect it to be "fixed". Each gateway's own `llms.txt` quotes its own convention — read the one for the chain you are on, or just read the 402.

**Some tools do not exist on Solana at all.** Verified against both gateways 2026-08-07:

| Tool | On Solana | What you get | |---|---|---| | `blockrun_defi` | ✗ not served | `404` — reads like a bad path, but the path is fine | | `blockrun_modal` | ✗ not served | `503` on all four sandbox actions — reads like an outage | | everything else | ✓ | ~$0.001 cheaper than the figure printed here |

Both tools now refuse before the round trip and tell you to switch, so you should never see the raw `404`/`503` through the MCP. If you are calling the HTTP API directly you will, and neither status says "wrong chain" — check the chain first.

The same applies to counts. Where a number has a canonical source it is wrapped in a `br:` HTML-comment marker in this file, regenerated from `brand-numbers.json` by `scripts/sync-brand-numbers.mjs` and enforced in CI by `--check`. Add the marker rather than the digits — an unmarked number is invisible to that check, which is exactly how the prices drifted.

Getting a first call working

**Free, no wallet, no key.** <!-- br:models.free -->8<!-- /br:models.free --> open-weight chat models cost nothing. Use `blockrun_chat` with `mode: "free"` — the parameter is `mode`, not `routing`, and an unrecognised key is silently dropped, which lands you on the paid `balanced` tier instead. Calling the HTTP API directly, a free model needs no wallet and no `X-PAYMENT` header at all; it returns `200` on the first request rather than a `402`.

Do this first whenever a language model is all the task needs — it is the shortest path to something working, and it costs nothing if it turns out to be the wrong approach.

**When you need the paid catalog**, check the balance with `blockrun_wallet` (`action: "status"`). If it is zero:

1. `blockrun_wallet action: "setup"` prints the address and a funding QR. 2. To fund with a card, `blockrun_wallet action: "deposit"` mints a one-time Coinbase Onramp link and opens it. The call itself is free. Base only — on Solana it returns address and QR guidance instead, so fund Solana by transfer. 3. Or send USDC to the address on Base, Solana or Arc (Arc uses the Base address).

Do not fund a wallet inside an ephemeral sandbox (Claude Cowork / Desktop / Web). The key lives in `~/.blockrun/` on whatever filesystem you are on, and if that is a throwaway VM the USDC goes with it. In a sandbox, use the free models or hand the user the command to run locally.

Deeper wallet, budget and x402 mechanics — including calling the HTTP API directly — are in [rules/wallet-and-payment.md](rules/wallet-and-payment.md).

Which tool

| The question | Tool | Notes | |---|---|---| | Anything a language model can answer | `blockrun_chat` | See routing modes below | | Make an image | `blockrun_image` | Also `/edit` for changes to an existing image | | Make a video | `blockrun_video` | Async — submit, then poll | | Video of one *specific* real person | `blockrun_realface` | Enroll a face, then pass `real_face_asset_id` to `blockrun_video` | | Make music | `blockrun_music` | Full-length tracks | | Speak text aloud | `blockrun_speech` | Also sound effects | | "What just happened" — news, live web | `blockrun_search` | Freshest; flat $0.08 per call | | Research, papers, competitors, page contents | `blockrun_exa` | Semantic, not keyword | | Event odds, betting