Simmer Wallet Setup

Self-custody wallet setup for an agent that signs its own real-money trades on Polymarket or Kalshi. Three paths:

Mode	Who signs	When to choose
External key (default)	Local SDK with WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY env — or an OWS key store via OWS_WALLET	Any self-custody setup: your own wallet, your key, your machine.
Import a Polymarket wallet	Same local signing — key exported from polymarket.com	Fund with card/exchange via Polymarket's onramps; the wallet arrives at Simmer already funded and approved.
Connect existing agent	Same local signing, wallet already registered in the dashboard	You already activated a dedicated per-agent wallet in the dashboard and want to wire your runtime to it.

Already on a managed wallet? You don't need this skill — managed setup is a dashboard flow, not an agent task. Open simmer.markets/dashboard, go to your agent's Wallet tab, and click Fund & activate trading. The wizard opens a multi-chain bridge that accepts USDC, USDT, or USDC.e on Ethereum / Polygon / Base / Arbitrum / Solana — funds land as pUSD on your Polymarket Deposit Wallet, contracts auto-approve. Do not tell the user to send funds directly to their agent wallet's EOA expecting them to sweep — only legacy USDC.e on Polygon is recognized on the direct path; native USDC, USDT, and cross-chain tokens must go through the bridge wizard.

Key safety (read this first)

The private key goes in exactly one place: the agent host's environment, or a local key store.

• Use read -s to set it — never paste a key into a pipe, a chat, a ticket, a shared config file, or a second browser extension "just to sign" (per SIM-2118):

  read -s -p 'WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY: ' K && export WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY=$K
  

• Prefer a key store over a bare env var. OWS (Open Wallet Standard) keeps the key encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM); the SDK picks it up via OWS_WALLET and signs through the vault. Its policy engine can scope the agent's signing token to Polymarket orders only.

  curl -fsSL https://docs.openwallet.sh/install.sh | bash   # one-time OWS install
  pip install 'simmer-sdk[ows]'
  ows wallet import --name "my-agent-wallet" --private-key "$WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY"
  unset WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY
  export OWS_WALLET=my-agent-wallet   # SDK signs via the vault from here
  

• If a key ever touches a chat or shared surface, treat it as compromised: withdraw to a fresh wallet and start over.

Path A — External key

Set the key (see key safety above), then construct the client:

client = SimmerClient(api_key="sk_live_...")
# signer auto-detected: WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY or OWS_WALLET env var
client.link_wallet()    # signs a challenge message locally — fully headless
client.set_approvals()  # signs approval txs locally — fully headless, key never leaves agent

# If your account uses a Polymarket Deposit Wallet (upgraded accounts):
client.activate_polymarket_dw()  # one-time — signs EIP-712 batch locally, no browser needed

# If you have stranded USDC.e on your Deposit Wallet, wrap it to pUSD:
result = client.wrap_on_dw()  # idempotent — no-op when nothing stranded

All calls work without a browser session. link_wallet() signs a challenge with your local key. set_approvals() builds, signs, and broadcasts each approval transaction via Simmer's RPC proxy — your key never leaves the agent process.

Using a Deposit Wallet? If your account has been upgraded to a Polymarket Deposit Wallet (DW), run client.activate_polymarket_dw() after set_approvals() — it signs the EIP-712 activation batch headlessly with your local key. Alternatively, use the dashboard browser flow at simmer.markets/dashboard → Wallets → Activate Trading.

Stranded USDC.e on your DW? Run client.wrap_on_dw() to convert it to pUSD headlessly. Idempotent — safe to call on every startup; returns immediately if nothing is stranded. Returns {"wrapped": bool, "amount_units": int, "calls_count": int, "success": bool}. Requires the same signer as activate_polymarket_dw(). Added in SDK 0.17.7.

For Kalshi (Solana)

Set SOLANA_PRIVATE_KEY (base58) in the env, fund with SOL + USDC, complete KYC at dflow.net/proof. If the key lives in an OWS vault, the same wallet's derived Solana account signs — no SOLANA_PRIVATE_KEY needed:

client = SimmerClient.from_env(venue="kalshi")
client.trade(market_id, "yes", 5.0, reasoning="...")

Path B — Import a Polymarket wallet

For a wallet born on polymarket.com: create the account there, fund it with their onramps (card, exchange transfer), export the private key (polymarket.com → Settings → Export Private Key), and set it as WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY on the agent host (key safety above applies in full — this is a raw key).

client = SimmerClient.from_env()
result = client.import_polymarket_wallet()   # SDK 0.24.4+
# links with ownership proof, adopts the Polymarket-deployed deposit wallet
# (no redeploy), tops up approvals gaslessly, derives creds, reports balance

The wallet arrives already funded and approved — Polymarket deployed the deposit wallet and pre-set the core exchange allowance. Note the shared surface: manual trades on polymarket.com use the same wallet as the agent and can collide with its positions.

Docs: docs.simmer.markets/polymarket-import.

Dedicated per-agent wallets (Elite)

Elite accounts can give each agent its own wallet (own EOA + own deposit wallet, clean per-agent P&L). Register the wallet from the dashboard (My Agents → your agent → Add wallet), then activate on the host where the key lives:

# WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY must be set to the agent EOA private key.
client.activate_polymarket_dw(agent_id="<agent_id>")     # sets on-chain approvals — OWS/raw-key signed, gasless relay
client.update_agent_wallet_creds(agent_id="<agent_id>")  # derives + caches CLOB creds

Both calls are required (approvals first) and idempotent. Don't use set_approvals() here — that's the user-primary EOA path and a no-op for per-agent deposit wallets. Get <agent_id> from client.get_agent_wallets().

Existing OWS per-agent wallets: new OWS per-agent registrations are closed (register_agent_wallet() is deprecated and the server rejects it), but wallets already registered on that path keep working unchanged — client.update_agent_wallet_creds(ows_wallet_name="<wallet>") remains supported for them. OWS as a key store for the standard path (everything above) is unaffected.

Polymarket token note

Polymarket trades against whatever collateral token Polymarket currently uses for its CLOB (currently pUSD, the V2 collateral). The dashboard at simmer.markets/dashboard shows what the wallet needs and walks through setup. Watch for the V2 era banner at the top — it's the entry point.

First-time activation (new users with no prior Polymarket activity): the dashboard prompts a USDC → pUSD wrap plus a one-time approval sequence (~8 signatures total). Total ~30 seconds of clicks and ~$0.20 in gas.

Existing Polymarket users with USDC.e from before V2: the dashboard prompts a one-click migration (~30s) — no need to re-deposit.

Either way, after setup client.set_approvals() should report all_set=True. If it doesn't, see docs.simmer.markets/v2-migration.

Connect existing agent

You already created an agent in the dashboard, registered its dedicated wallet, and have its API key. Now wire it to your locally-running agent runtime.

Prerequisites

• API key (from dashboard → agent settings → API key, or wizard success modal)
• The wallet's EOA private key (the one you imported during dashboard activation)
• Python 3.10+ runtime where your agent runs

Steps

1. Install packages

   pip install simmer-sdk          # add [ows] extra if using the OWS key store
   

2. Set env vars in your agent runtime Use read -s to avoid clipboard contamination (per SIM-2118):

   read -s -p 'SIMMER_API_KEY: ' KEY && export SIMMER_API_KEY=$KEY
   read -s -p 'WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY: ' K && export WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY=$K
   

   (Optionally import the key into OWS instead — see key safety above — and set OWS_WALLET.)

3. Activate trading: on-chain approvals + CLOB credentials (one-time)

   python -c "from simmer_sdk import SimmerClient; \
     c = SimmerClient.from_env(venue='polymarket'); \
     c.activate_polymarket_dw(agent_id='<agent_id>'); \
     c.update_agent_wallet_creds(agent_id='<agent_id>')"
   

   First sets the deposit wallet's on-chain CLOB approvals (locally-signed EIP-712 batch, relayed gasless), then derives + caches CLOB creds server-side. Both are required before any Polymarket trades — approvals alone or creds alone is not enough. Get <agent_id> from client.get_agent_wallets(). (Existing OWS-registered wallets replace the final call with c.update_agent_wallet_creds(ows_wallet_name='<name>').)

4. Verify

   python -c "from simmer_sdk import SimmerClient; \
     c = SimmerClient.from_env(); \
     print(c.get_briefing())"
   

Anti-patterns

• Don't paste your private key from clipboard into a pipe — use read -s (per SIM-2118).
• Don't skip activate_polymarket_dw(agent_id=...) — update_agent_wallet_creds alone caches creds without setting on-chain approvals, so trades fail at the relayer. Run both, approvals first.

Risk monitor

The auto risk monitor (stop-loss, take-profit) is configured at simmer.markets/dashboard → Settings → Auto Risk Monitor. The SDK auto-executes pending exits each get_briefing() cycle. The agent must be running.

Troubleshooting

• "External wallet requires a pre-signed order" → key not configured. Confirm WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY is set — or, for an OWS key store, ows wallet list to verify the wallet exists and OWS_WALLET is set.
• "insufficient allowance" → set approvals once per wallet: client.activate_polymarket_dw(agent_id=...) for a per-agent deposit wallet, client.activate_polymarket_dw() for a user-primary deposit wallet, or client.set_approvals() for a legacy raw-key EOA wallet.
• Balance shows $0 but funds visible elsewhere → check chain (Polygon vs Solana) and token (pUSD vs USDC.e). See dashboard migration tool for V2 conversion.
• API key format wrong / 401 with a key that "looks set" → inspect the raw value: printenv SIMMER_API_KEY | cut -c1-20. Must start with sk_live_. A common silent failure: install commands that use pbpaste or similar clipboard-read primitives write the install command text itself as the key value when the user copies the command after copying the key. Fix: get a fresh key from simmer.markets/dashboard, then export SIMMER_API_KEY="sk_live_..." (type/paste the key directly, never pipe from clipboard into the variable assignment).

Links

• Polymarket wallet import: docs.simmer.markets/polymarket-import
• OWS docs: openwallet.sh
• Simmer wallet docs: docs.simmer.markets/wallets
• V2 migration guide: docs.simmer.markets/v2-migration