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1. Authentication & API keys

Waxpeer accounts are linked directly to Steam — there is no separate developer portal or sandbox registration. Sign in on waxpeer.com with your Steam account, then copy your API key from the Security tab in your user profile.

All authenticated requests require the api query parameter (?api=YOUR_KEY). Waxpeer does not accept Authorization: Bearer headers on REST calls.

GET https://api.waxpeer.com/v1/user?api={{API_KEY}}

2. Platform currency & price format

All item prices in the Waxpeer API are represented as integer units: 1000 = $1.00 USD.

For example, an item priced at $25.50 is represented as 25500, and a knife priced at $350.00 is 350000. Using integer units eliminates IEEE 754 floating-point rounding errors across high-frequency financial calculations.

Public price discovery does not require an API key: public endpoints like GET /v1/prices can be queried immediately without credentials. GET /v1/prices .

3. Making your first API request

You can test Waxpeer endpoints using standard HTTP tools or the official Node.js SDK.

Fetch live market prices without credentials, or retrieve your profile and balance with your API key:

# Fetch live CS2 item listings (no API key required)
curl "https://api.waxpeer.com/v1/prices?game=csgo"

# Fetch authenticated account profile & wallet balance
curl "https://api.waxpeer.com/v1/user?api=YOUR_WAXPEER_API_KEY"

Or install and use the official Node.js SDK for typed methods:

import { Waxpeer } from 'waxpeer'

// Initialize client with your Waxpeer API key
const wp = new Waxpeer(process.env.WAXPEER_API!)

// Fetch account profile & balance
const user = await wp.getUser()
console.log(`Wallet balance: $${user.wallet / 1000} USD`)

// Fetch minimum prices for CS2
const prices = await wp.getPrices('csgo')
console.log(`Loaded ${prices.items?.length || 0} listings`)

4. Understanding the P2P trade lifecycle

Unlike centralized trading bots that hold inventory, Waxpeer facilitates peer-to-peer transfers directly between Steam users. When a buyer initiates a purchase, funds are held in escrow while the trade moves through the following lifecycle stages:

Once an order is created, the seller receives a send-trade event and has 11–15 minutes to send the offer and confirm it on Steam Guard mobile authenticator. If the item is subject to Steam's 7-day trade protection hold, status 4 will include release_date and is_released: false.

View complete trade statuses & hold rules →

5. Real-time events vs. polling

To achieve the lowest latency and avoid rate limits, production systems should avoid polling REST endpoints in tight loops.

• For sellers: Connect to the Trade WebSocket (wss://wssex.waxpeer.com) to receive instant send-trade notifications when buyers purchase your listings. Trade WebSocket setup guide →
• For buyers & market trackers: Connect to Socket.IO (wss://waxpeer.com/socket.io/) to stream real-time new, update, and removed market events across CS2, Rust, Dota 2, and TF2. Socket.IO stream guide →