# Ibkr Verify > Answer a question about IBKR behaviour with evidence instead of a guess. TRIGGER WHEN: the user asks whether IBKR supports something, why an order was refused, what a code means, or wants a claim about venue behaviour verified against a real gateway. DO NOT TRIGGER WHEN: auditing a whole codebase (use /trading-broker-integration:ibkr-audit), or designing a system from scratch (use the ibkr-architect agent). - Skill: `acaprino/ibkr-verify` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add acaprino/ibkr-verify` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/acaprino/ibkr-verify/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: acaprino (https://skillmd.com/u/acaprino) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/acaprino/ibkr-verify --- > `` names the directory that holds this plugin's `.codex-plugin/plugin.json`. Resolve it once from where this file was loaded, then substitute it into every path below that starts with it. > Arguments: `[question, code, or contract]`. Wherever `` appears below, substitute the text the user typed after the skill name. # IBKR Behaviour Verification Resolve a question about how Interactive Brokers behaves, and report the answer with its provenance. Load the `ibkr` skill, then follow the ladder below **in order**, stopping at the first rung that produces a real answer. Say which rung you stopped at. Never skip a cheaper rung to reach for a more impressive one. ## Rung 0: is it a code? If the question is about a message code, answer immediately, with no gateway: ```bash python /skills/ibkr/scripts/ibkr_probe.py codes [ ...] ``` Report the grade `ib_async` assigns it, and the consequence. The tool grades by ib_async's rule, not by table membership: a code absent from the published table is still warning-grade if it sits in the blanket range `[2100, 2200)` (2127 is the canonical example) or in `warningCodes` (492, 10167). For a genuinely undocumented fatal code, say so explicitly: `ib_async` will mark a working order `Cancelled` locally without telling the venue, so the order may still be live. Then read `error-codes-and-verdicts.md` for which of the three layers refused: venue, terminal, or client library. ## Rung 1: read the capability list Most "does IBKR support X" questions are answered by `ContractDetails.orderTypes` for the contract in question. This is free and definitive in the negative direction. ```bash python /skills/ibkr/scripts/ibkr_probe.py capabilities --stock AAPL ``` Requires a running paper Gateway (see Rung 3 setup). Report: - whether the token is present in `orderTypes` - the market rule bands, if the question touches prices - the size semantics, if the question touches quantities **If an order-type token is absent, stop.** The answer is no for that contract on that exchange, and no probe will change it. An absent TIF token proves nothing: the list under-reports TIFs (EUR.USD CFD declares no `IOC` yet accepts it at what-if, measured 2026-08-13) and `FOK` never appears in it at all, so a TIF question continues down the ladder. A refusal is the venue declining an unsupported attribute, not a precaution to bypass. ## Rung 2: read the documentation, and quote it Fetch the page and **quote the sentence** that answers the question, with its URL. IBKR's documentation serves clean Markdown: append `.md` to any page URL. The index is `https://ibkrcampus.com/docs/llms.txt`, with per-section indexes such as `https://ibkrcampus.com/docs/tws-api/llms.txt`. The rendered HTML site returns 403 to naive fetchers, which is bot detection and not evidence of absence; use the `.md` form, or drive a browser. Three rules: - **A claim you cannot locate as a sentence on the page does not exist.** If a search result asserts something the page does not contain, the search result is wrong and the question is still open. - **Silence is a result.** Report "the page says nothing about this, checked today at this URL" rather than filling the gap with a plausible answer. - **Never cite a forum post or an AI summary as the basis for a design decision.** They are hypotheses. ## Rung 3: probe it When the documentation is silent or the token is present but the order is still refused, measure it. Set up a disposable paper Gateway if one is not running: ```bash S=/skills/ibkr/scripts python $S/ibkr_gateway.py doctor python $S/ibkr_gateway.py install python $S/ibkr_gateway.py configure --user # export IB_PASSWORD first python $S/ibkr_gateway.py start ``` Then pick the probe that matches the question: | Question is about | Probe | |---|---| | Whether a shape is accepted | `ibkr_probe.py shape --stock AAPL --type STP --tif GTC --attr allOrNone` | | Which combinations work | `ibkr_probe.py matrix --stock AAPL --types LMT,STP --tifs DAY,GTC,IOC` | | Lifecycle, states, attachment, TIF rewriting | `ibkr_probe.py bracket --stock AAPL --parent-tif DAY --child-tif GTC` | | Prices, increments, size rules | `ibkr_probe.py capabilities --stock AAPL` | (Substitute the contract selector for the instrument in question: `--stock`, `--forex`, `--cfd`, `--future`, `--option`, `--crypto`, `--index`.) Constraints to respect and to state in the report: - **The what-if budget is IBKR's, not ours**: at most one per minute, roughly one per ten real submissions. The scripts enforce the spacing; do not pass `--no-budget` without saying why. - **Paper only.** Live ports are refused and the account prefix is re-checked after connecting. If the user asks to probe a live account, decline and explain that a read-only capability dump against their production terminal is the closest safe equivalent. - **A `REFUSED` verdict is trustworthy for that shape. An `ACCEPTED` verdict is a credit check passing**, not a promise: presets and book state can still refuse the real order. ## Rung 4: report as unresolved If none of the above settles it, say so. A clear "unresolved, and here is the measurement that would settle it" is a better deliverable than a confident guess. ## Output Report in this shape: 1. **Answer**, in one sentence. 2. **Provenance**: `MEASURED` (probe transcript), `DOCUMENTED` (quoted sentence and URL), or `UNRESOLVED`. 3. **Scope**: which contract, which order type, which account entity the answer covers. An answer measured on a `STP` parent says nothing about a `LMT` parent, and this must be stated, not implied. 4. **Evidence**: the quote, or the probe output, or both. 5. **What follows**: which decisions in the user's system depend on this, and whether any of them now rest on a premise that just changed. 6. **Residual unknowns**, if the answer is partial, each with its cheapest settling experiment. If the verification contradicts something the user already shipped, say that plainly and first. A decision built on a premise that has now been measured false is the most valuable output this command can produce.