Use Case

Payments for
autonomous agents.

AI agents are starting to transact on behalf of users — purchasing resources, paying for API calls, and settling inter-agent obligations. The payment rails they need don't look like a checkout button. They look like AP2, ACP, spend caps, and circuit breakers.

The problem with today's payment rails

Current payment processors were designed for humans clicking "Pay Now." When an AI agent needs to autonomously authorize, execute, and settle a payment, the existing infrastructure breaks down:

AP2 & ACP Ready

Native support for emerging agent payment protocols. Proper MIT flagging, agent identity, and delegation chains built in.

Real-Time Spend Caps

Hard limits per session, per agent, per customer, per day. A looping agent trips the breaker — not your budget.

Circuit Breakers

Automatic pause when anomalies are detected. Per-session velocity limits, amount thresholds, and cooldown periods.

How it works for agent payments

AI Payware is designed to be the payment layer between your agent and the outside world. Here's how an agent-initiated transaction flows:

agent-payment.js
import { Payware } from 'aipayware';
const pw = new Payware('pk_live_...');

// Agent requests a payment with spend cap context const charge = await pw.agents.charge({
  amount: 1200,
  currency: 'usd',
  agent_id: 'agent_purchase_bot_v3',
  session_id: 'sess_abc123',
  delegation: 'user_jane_doe',
  spend_cap: 5000,
  meta: { action: 'api_purchase', vendor: 'data_provider' }
});

// ✓ 200 OK — charge settled, $38 remaining in session cap

Every agent charge includes: the agent's identity, the human who delegated authority, the session context, and the spend cap. If the cap is exceeded, the charge is rejected automatically — no webhook polling, no custom middleware.

Built-in safeguards for autonomous commerce

When agents transact without human oversight, safety isn't optional. AI Payware includes these safeguards by default:

Velocity Limits

Max transactions per minute, per hour, per session. Configurable per agent or globally.

Idempotent Settlement

Every charge carries an idempotency key. Retries never create duplicate transactions.

Audit Trail

Full transaction log with agent ID, session, delegation chain, and spend cap state at time of charge.

FAQ

What are AP2 and ACP?

AP2 (Agent Payment Protocol) and ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) are emerging standards for how AI agents discover, negotiate, and execute payments autonomously. They define how agents identify themselves, request payment authorization, and settle transactions without human intervention at each step.

Can I set different spend caps for different agents?

Yes. Spend caps are configurable per agent, per session, per customer, per time window, or any combination. You can also set global account-level caps as a safety net.

How do circuit breakers work?

Circuit breakers monitor transaction velocity and amounts in real time. If an agent exceeds configured thresholds — for example, 50 transactions in one minute or $500 in a single session — the circuit opens and all subsequent charges from that agent/session are paused until a cooldown period expires or a human reviews.

Do I need to handle 3DS for agent payments?

No. Agent-initiated transactions use MIT (Merchant Initiated Transaction) flagging, which bypasses 3DS challenges. AI Payware handles the correct flagging automatically based on the delegation context you provide.

Related: Usage-Based Billing · SaaS Payment Infrastructure · AI Payware vs Stripe

Ready to enable
agent payments?

Get your Merchant ID and start integrating agent payment flows. No minimums, no enterprise sales process.

Get Your Merchant ID → Talk to sales: (470) 523-7702