# Approve Spending

Grant a spender an allowance to transfer your tokens, then read or spend against it.

These recipes assume you have [set up a Client](/tokens) extended with `publicActions` and
`walletActions`.

## Recipes

### Approve a Spender

Use [`approve`](/tokens/actions/approve) (via the `approveSync` variant) to grant a spender an
allowance and wait for confirmation. Plain `amount` values are base units. Use
`amount: { decimals: 6, formatted: '10.5' }` to parse a human-readable decimal string.
When `decimals` is omitted, it is inferred from the token.

:::code-group

```ts twoslash [example.ts]
import { client } from './viem.config'

const { value, formatted, receipt } = await client.token.approveSync({
  amount: 10500000n, // 10.5 USDC
  spender: '0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEbb',
  token: 'usdc',
})
// @log: {
// @log:   value: 10500000n,
// @log:   formatted: '10.5',
// @log:   receipt: { status: 'success', … },
// @log: }
```

```ts twoslash [viem.config.ts] filename="viem.config.ts"
// [!include ~/snippets/token/viem.config.ts:setup]
```

:::

### Read an Allowance

Use [`getAllowance`](/tokens/actions/getAllowance) to read how much a spender may still spend on behalf of
an owner.

:::code-group

```ts twoslash [example.ts]
import { client } from './viem.config'

const allowance = await client.token.getAllowance({
  account: '0x55FE002aefF02F77364de339a1292923A15844B8',
  spender: '0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEbb',
  token: 'usdc',
})
// @log: { amount: 10500000n, decimals: 6, formatted: '10.5' }
```

```ts twoslash [viem.config.ts] filename="viem.config.ts"
// [!include ~/snippets/token/viem.config.ts:setup]
```

:::

### Spend an Allowance

Once approved, the spender can move tokens on behalf of the owner with
[`transfer`](/tokens/actions/transfer) by passing `from`.

:::code-group

```ts twoslash [example.ts]
import { client } from './viem.config'

const { receipt } = await client.token.transferSync({
  amount: { decimals: 6, formatted: '10.5' },
  from: '0x55FE002aefF02F77364de339a1292923A15844B8',
  to: '0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEbb',
  token: 'usdc',
})
// @log: {
// @log:   receipt: { status: 'success', … },
// @log: }
```

```ts twoslash [viem.config.ts] filename="viem.config.ts"
// [!include ~/snippets/token/viem.config.ts:setup]
```

:::

## See More

<Cards>
  <Card icon="lucide:check-check" title="approve" description="Action reference for approving a spender to transfer tokens." to="/tokens/actions/approve" />

  <Card icon="lucide:scale" title="getAllowance" description="Action reference for reading a spender's remaining allowance." to="/tokens/actions/getAllowance" />
</Cards>