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  • An integration partner might want to track the volume they bring to the protocol
  • A user might want to include a referral address in their order
  • A user might want to specify additional order options, such as CoW Hooks
CoW Protocol facilitates the inclusion of this additional information to any order through a special data field known as appData. This field is a bytes32 that points to an IPFS document that is a JSON file containing this information. Utilizing only on-chain data and IPFS, the content of this document can be retrieved and parsed.

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AppData Document​

The AppData document is a JSON file that follows a specific JSON schema. It is versioned and the version is specified in the document itself. Versioning follows Semantic Versioning. An example of an AppData document is: 
{  "version": "1.6.0",  "appCode": "MyAwesomeUi",  "metadata": {    "referral": "0x1234567890123456789012345678901234567890"  }}
Avoid all the pain of creating and parsing appData by using either the:
If not using the CoW Explorer appData utility or the app-data SDK, make sure to follow the appData schema and upload your file to IPFS before placing orders using the resulting digest.

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Schema​

The schema for the AppData document is defined in JSON schema. The schema is available in the app-data SDK. The schema is shown below:
Last modified on March 4, 2026