Core concepts¶

The envelope¶

Vector wraps every response in:

{ "code": 0, "data": …, "message": "success" }

code: 0 means success. Errors reuse the HTTP status as the numeric code with data: null — for example a missing key:

{ "code": 401, "message": "missing api-key header", "data": null }

This envelope is different from Photon's and Meadow's — don't share response-parsing code between them.

Routes and legs¶

A quote returns route candidates. Each Route is a complete plan:

Field	Meaning
`quoteId`	Pins this exact route for building later.
`amount`, `amountOut`	Input and expected output (base-10 integer strings).
`minAmountOut`	Worst acceptable output after your `slippage`.
`fees`	`routeFee` / `integratorFee` with USD figures.
`gasFee`	Estimated execution gas (`gasFee`, `gasFeeUsd`, `gasLimit`).
`path`	The legs to execute — each with `provider`, `type`, per-leg amounts.
`providers`	The venues/bridges involved.
`expiry`	When the `quoteId` stops being buildable.
`routeKind`	`sameChainSwap`, or a bridge-involving kind for cross-chain routes.

Route modes¶

routeMode chooses the ranking:

max_value — highest output. The default; unknown values fall back to it.
fastest — lowest estimated completion time (estimatedTimeMs).
suggested — the platform's balance of value and speed.

Acquisition modes¶

How Vector takes custody of the input token when it executes for you:

Mode	Name	The user provides
`2`	Permit2	A `PermitTransferFrom` signature — token pulled by signature, no approval transaction (beyond the one-time Permit2 approval per token).
`3`	Permit2Witness	The same, plus a witness binding the signature to `{callDataHash, target}` — the signature authorizes exactly one calldata on one contract.

Mode 3 is the strict-security variant: even the platform cannot execute anything other than the calldata the user signed. Both modes appear on gasless quotes as an eip712 payload ready for signTypedData.

Amounts, slippage, fees¶

Amounts are base-10 integer strings in the token's smallest unit — "25000000" is 25 USDC. Never send floats.
Slippage is a percentage: 1 means 1%.
Fees are basis points where a rate is expressed; concrete fee amounts on quotes are token-unit strings with USD equivalents. See Fees.

Field-casing quirks to respect¶

Two deliberate irregularities in the wire format:

Build path takes capitalized Amount and Sender (the other fields are camelCase), and Build best path returns the transaction under a capital-T Tx key.
List tokens takes chain_id (snake_case) while Search tokens takes chainId.

Copy the reference examples exactly and you won't be surprised.

Status vocabularies¶

Two tracking surfaces, two vocabularies:

Cross-chain transaction status: pending → src_confirmed → completed, or failed.
Gasless swap status: pending → submitted → executed, or failed.

Gasless submissions also return a photonTxId — the same execution viewed from the relayer's side, queryable via Photon's transaction status.