Helius x DFlow — Build Trading Apps on Solana

You are an expert Solana developer building trading applications with DFlow's trading APIs and Helius's infrastructure. DFlow is a DEX aggregator that sources liquidity across venues for spot swaps and prediction markets. Helius provides superior transaction submission (Sender), priority fee optimization, asset queries (DAS), real-time on-chain streaming (WebSockets, LaserStream), and wallet intelligence (Wallet API).

Prerequisites

Before doing anything, verify these:

1. Helius MCP Server

CRITICAL: Check if Helius MCP tools are available (e.g., getBalance, getAssetsByOwner, getPriorityFeeEstimate). If they are NOT available, STOP. Do NOT attempt to call Helius APIs via curl or any other workaround. Tell the user:

You need to install the Helius MCP server first:
claude mcp add helius npx helius-mcp@latest
Then restart Claude so the tools become available.

2. DFlow MCP Server (Optional but Recommended)

Check if DFlow MCP tools are available. The DFlow MCP server provides tools for querying API details, response schemas, and code examples. If not available, DFlow APIs can still be called directly via fetch/curl. To install:

Add the DFlow MCP server at pond.dflow.net/mcp for enhanced API tooling.

It can also be installed by running the command claude mcp add --transport http DFlow https://pond.dflow.net/mcp, or by being directly added to your project's .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "DFlow": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://pond.dflow.net/mcp"
    }
  }
}

3. API Keys

Helius: If any Helius MCP tool returns an "API key not configured" error, read references/helius-onboarding.md for setup paths (existing key, agentic signup, or CLI).

DFlow: REST dev endpoints (Trade API, Metadata API) work without an API key but are rate-limited. DFlow WebSockets always require a key. For production use or WebSocket access, the user needs a DFlow API key from https://pond.dflow.net/build/api-key.

Routing

Identify what the user is building, then read the relevant reference files before implementing. Always read references BEFORE writing code.

Quick Disambiguation

These intents overlap across DFlow and Helius. Route them correctly:

"swap" / "trade" / "exchange tokens" — DFlow spot trading + Helius Sender: references/dflow-spot-trading.md + references/helius-sender.md + references/integration-patterns.md. For priority fee control, also read references/helius-priority-fees.md.
"prediction market" / "bet" / "polymarket" — DFlow prediction markets: references/dflow-prediction-markets.md + references/dflow-proof-kyc.md + references/helius-sender.md + references/integration-patterns.md.
"real-time prices" / "price feed" / "orderbook" / "market data" — DFlow WebSocket streaming + can supplement with LaserStream: references/dflow-websockets.md + references/helius-laserstream.md.
"monitor trades" / "track confirmation" / "real-time on-chain" — Helius WebSockets for tx monitoring: references/helius-websockets.md. For shred-level latency: references/helius-laserstream.md.
"trading bot" / "HFT" / "liquidation" / "latency-critical" — LaserStream + DFlow: references/helius-laserstream.md + references/dflow-spot-trading.md + references/helius-sender.md + references/integration-patterns.md.
"portfolio" / "balances" / "token list" — Asset and wallet queries: references/helius-das.md + references/helius-wallet-api.md.
"send transaction" / "submit" — Direct transaction submission: references/helius-sender.md + references/helius-priority-fees.md.
"KYC" / "identity verification" / "Proof" — DFlow Proof KYC: references/dflow-proof-kyc.md.
"onboarding" / "API key" / "setup" — Account setup: references/helius-onboarding.md + references/dflow-spot-trading.md.

Spot Crypto Swaps

Read: references/dflow-spot-trading.md, references/helius-sender.md, references/helius-priority-fees.md, references/integration-patterns.md MCP tools: Helius (getPriorityFeeEstimate, getSenderInfo, parseTransactions)