Examples

Overview

The examples are the fastest way to study larger Cowboy actor patterns after you have a Cowboy source checkout. If you are starting from an installed cowboy CLI only, begin with Quickstart and Your First Actor; those pages work from a normal project directory. The source checkout’s examples/ directory is split into three tracks:

examples/core/ — numbered new-developer curriculum.
examples/gallery/ — unnumbered applied showcases and product-shaped patterns.
examples/tooling/ — local testing and workflow helpers.

The shared sweep runs the active core curriculum by default and can switch to the gallery with --gallery.

Run The Sweep

Run commands from the source checkout’s examples/ directory:

# Run the full sweep against mesa
./run_examples.sh

# Show full Cowboy CLI output for each command
./run_examples.sh --verbose

# Run against canyon
./run_examples.sh --server canyon

# Reuse an already-running local validator
./run_examples.sh --server local

# Use a custom RPC URL
./run_examples.sh --server http://localhost:4000

# Start a temporary validator, then run the sweep
./run_examples.sh --spawn-local

# Run gallery examples instead of the core curriculum
./run_examples.sh --gallery

Run one swept example by passing its current path, id, or slug:

./run_examples.sh 00
./run_examples.sh core/05-tokens-and-balances
./run_examples.sh runner-llm
./run_examples.sh --gallery hn-feed
./run_examples.sh --spawn-local core/12-capstone-agent

What You Learn

Core Curriculum

Example	What It Shows
`core/00-quickstart-hello`	Deploy, initialize, execute, and read one actor
`core/01-state-events-queries`	Stateful storage, emitted events, and query handlers
`core/02-senders-and-permissions`	Caller identity, owner checks, and delegated roles
`core/03-two-actor-messaging`	Deferred actor-to-actor messaging
`core/04-multi-actor-workflow`	Request, validation, and settlement across actors
`core/05-tokens-and-balances`	CIP-20 token creation, transfers, approvals, minting, and burning
`core/06-token-escrow`	Buyer, seller, and escrow custody lifecycle
`core/07-timers-and-automation`	Autonomous timer work
`core/08-minimal-runner-continuation`	Smallest runner continuation and callback pattern
`core/09-runner-llm`	LLM-backed actor response
`core/10-async-cache-refresh`	Async refresh with cheap synchronous cached reads
`core/11-failure-recovery`	Pending, failed, retried, and recovered async states
`core/12-capstone-agent`	Permissions plus LLM-backed proposal review

Gallery

Example	What It Shows
`gallery/liquidity-pools`	Constant-product liquidity pools
`gallery/rebalancing-agent`	Deterministic portfolio drift analysis
`gallery/copy-trading`	Disclosure and wallet-copying strategy actors
`gallery/spam-detection`	AI-assisted content classification
`gallery/contract-summarizer`	Contract summarization and risk analysis
`gallery/hn-feed`	CIP-7 open stream starter with deterministic ingest
`gallery/watchtower`	Canonical CIP-7 Watchtower Form 4 reference
`gallery/casino-rounds`	Token-backed casino rounds
`gallery/blackjack`	CIP-20 chip escrow blackjack
`gallery/cowbot`	Experimental Slack bot with CBFS and runner-agent prerequisites

Some heavier gallery examples are intentionally outside the default sweep because they require external credentials, extra Python packages, CBSS-capable infrastructure, or app setup. Use each example’s local README.md and smoke command for those paths.

Suggested Path

If you want a short builder path through the current examples, study these in order:

core/00-quickstart-hello
core/01-state-events-queries
core/02-senders-and-permissions
core/03-two-actor-messaging
core/08-minimal-runner-continuation
core/09-runner-llm
core/12-capstone-agent

That path moves from basic chain interactions to state, permissions, actor messaging, runner continuations, LLM-backed callbacks, and a complete capstone workflow.

Targeting

--server mesa uses ${MESA_RPC_URL:-http://validator.mesa.cowboylabs.net:4000}
--server canyon uses ${CANYON_RPC_URL:-http://validator.canyon.cowboylabs.net:4000}
--server local uses ${LOCAL_RPC_URL:-http://localhost:${RPC_PORT:-5000}}
--server http://... or --server https://... targets a custom RPC URL
--spawn-local starts an isolated temporary local validator for the run
--verbose prints the full raw Cowboy CLI output instead of the compact command/result view

Runner-backed examples require at least one registered runner on the target network. Keep the runner’s stake and operating balance separate: stake is locked for eligibility, while the spendable balance pays gas for heartbeat transactions and result submissions.

Start Here

Build

How Cowboy Works

Reference

Overview

Run The Sweep

What You Learn

Core Curriculum

Gallery

Suggested Path

Targeting

See Also

​Overview

​Run The Sweep

​What You Learn

​Core Curriculum

​Gallery

​Suggested Path

​Targeting

​See Also

Overview

Run The Sweep

What You Learn

Core Curriculum

Gallery

Suggested Path

Targeting

See Also