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Mechanics

A mechanic is a rule that runs inside a launch's trades. Not a promise in a document — code that executes on the curve, in the pool, or on every transfer of the token.

Three things are true of all of them.

Chosen before anyone buys. The creator picks mechanics when the token is created. A launch cannot gain or lose one later, and neither can we.

Stated on the token's page. Whatever a launch runs is disclosed where people trade it, read from the chain rather than from a database. If a page says a launch taxes sells for an hour after the pool opens, that is because the contract says so.

Optional. A launch with no mechanics at all is a perfectly ordinary launch.

What exists today

MechanicWhat it doesWhere it runs
FeesA share of every trade goes to a wallet the creator chose.Curve and pool
Anti-snipingBuys are taxed heavily at the opening and the tax fades to nothing. Selling is untouched, and the creator pays it too.Curve
Graduation protectionSells are taxed when the pool opens and the tax fades to nothing. Buying is untouched.Pool
Maximum trade sizeTrades above a ceiling are refused outright rather than trimmed.Curve and pool
Maximum walletNo address may hold more than a set amount — including the creator, and including transfers between wallets.Every transfer

Five, and a launch may carry several at once.

note

These descriptions are copied word for word from app/src/chain/mechanics.ts, which is the one place the interface reads them from. If this page and a token's page ever disagree, the token's page is right.

Why "where it runs" matters

A mechanic that only works on the curve stops mattering the moment a token graduates. One that runs on every transfer keeps applying even when somebody moves tokens between their own wallets, without trading at all.

Anti-sniping and graduation protection are mirror images of each other, and both exist because the two moments when a launch is most easily abused are its first minute and the minute its pool opens.

What is coming

The list is short on purpose. Mechanics are the part of this we most want to grow — the intention is a place where we publish ones we have written, and eventually where other developers can publish their own.

Anything you see described as coming soon in the interface is exactly that: designed, not deployed. A mechanic that cannot be attached to a launch is never offered as though it can be.