---
title: Test mode & tour
description: How to practice crypto swaps with zero risk: OpenSwap test mode simulates the whole exchange, with magic amounts to script any outcome.
order: 3
version: 0.1.0
---

# Test mode & tour

You can try everything OpenSwap does without risking a cent. There are two
ways in: a guided tour, and a full sandbox.

## The two-minute tour

```bash
openswap tour
```

The tour walks you through a complete swap with **real live prices** and a
clearly simulated payment. No deposit address is created, nothing is saved,
and no funds can move. If it's your first run, the menu puts the tour right
at the top.

## The sandbox: test mode

```bash
openswap test on     # everything now runs simulated — you'll see a TEST badge
openswap swap        # do a full swap; the deposit "pays itself" after a few seconds
openswap test off    # back to the real world
```

Test mode runs the entire CLI against a simulated exchange: streaming
quotes, deposit addresses, receipts, tracking — all of it, with pretend
wallets and balances. It exists so you can learn the tool risk-free, and so
bots and CI pipelines can rehearse thousands of swaps before touching real
money.

## How realistic is it?

Very — that's the point. The production code paths run unmodified; only the
outside world is simulated. Quotes stream the same way, amounts use the same
precision, and addresses go through the same validation. Prices are a
snapshot with a little noise, not live.

Three things keep it safely separate from your real swaps:

- Simulated receipts are prefixed `ost_` and marked `simulated`, and all
  test data lives in its own folder — your real receipts can't be touched.
- Every screen shows a **TEST** badge, and the payment screen deliberately
  shows no QR code (a scannable code for a fake address is the one thing
  someone might actually pay).
- Test mode never contacts the real API at all.

## Choosing how a practice swap ends

Deposits auto-pay after about 8 seconds, or trigger payment yourself:

```bash
openswap test pay
```

Want a specific outcome? End the amount with a magic value:

| Amount ends in | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| `.13` | The swap fails after payment |
| `.19` | The swap refunds back to the sender |
| `.07` | The deposit window is only 15 seconds |
| `.23` | Confirmations come in slowly |

Or set a default story for every practice swap:
`openswap test scenario refund` (choices: `happy`, `refund`, `fail`,
`expire`, `slow`).

## The rest of the toolbox

```bash
openswap test status               # current scenario, seed, balances, cheatsheet
openswap test fund BASE:USDC 500   # give yourself a pretend balance
openswap test reset                # brand-new simulated world
```

For CI: `OPENSWAP_TEST_TIMESCALE=50` runs the simulation 50× faster (a full
swap story finishes in under a second), and `OPENSWAP_TEST_SEED` makes
outcomes reproducible run after run.

## For AI agents

Everything works identically in machine mode (`--json --yes`), every JSON
response is marked `simulated`, and magic amounts make outcomes
deterministic — which means an agent can prove a change works end to end
before claiming it's done:

```bash
OPENSWAP_TEST_MODE=1 OPENSWAP_TEST_TIMESCALE=100 openswap swap \
  --from eth:usdc --to base:usdc --amount 25 \
  --to-address 0x1111111111111111111111111111111111111111 \
  --refund-address 0x2222222222222222222222222222222222222222 --yes --json
```