Merit Systems

We are an agentic commerce product house

Let agents buy anything, anywhere.

§ 01

How it works

An agent finds a service, pays a micropayment per request, gets access straight away, and composes several services into one task. No API keys. No subscriptions.

live · agent.logx402
01 Discover
00.000discover("web search")
00.041registry · 4 services found
00.063rank by price, latency
00.070match search.exa $0.001
Agent balance
5.000 USDC
micropayment
§ 03

Use cases

Agents already do useful work on their own. These are a few of the things they buy along the way, each priced per request.

01

Research agents

Answer a question by reading widely — paying for each search, page and paper instead of holding a subscription to every source.

Typically buys
  • Web search query$0.001
  • Full-text article$0.010
  • Page scrape + clean$0.003
  • PDF to text$0.005
02

Lead generation agents

Build a qualified list from scratch — finding companies, the right contacts, and checking that every address is real.

Typically buys
  • Company lookup$0.004
  • Contact discovery$0.020
  • Email verification$0.002
  • Tech stack detection$0.006
03

Data enrichment agents

Fill in the gaps across thousands of rows, one paid call per field, stopping the moment the budget is spent.

Typically buys
  • Address geocoding$0.0005
  • Phone validation$0.001
  • Firmographics$0.008
  • Domain → logo$0.0002
§ 04

The protocol

How a single request and its payment move between an agent and a service.

x402 is an open standard for paying over HTTP. When a service wants payment, it answers with 402 Payment Required and a price. The agent signs a payment, sends the same request again, and gets the result.

Open micropayments mean any service can charge for a single request, and any agent can pay for it — without contracts, accounts or a shared platform in between. A facilitator checks the payment and settles it, so the service never has to touch the payment details itself.

  1. 01
    Agent → Service API
    GET /v1/search?q=…
    plain HTTP request
  2. 02
    Service API → Agent
    402 Payment Required
    { amount: 0.001, asset: USDC, payTo }
  3. 03
    Agent → Service API
    GET /v1/search?q=…
    X-PAYMENT: <signed authorization>
  4. 04
    Service API → Facilitator
    verify + settle
    POST /settle
  5. 05
    Facilitator → Service API
    settled
    tx 0x9f…3a
  6. 06
    Service API → Agent
    200 OK
    X-PAYMENT-RESPONSE: <receipt>

Built on HTTP

Status code 402 has been reserved for payments since 1997. x402 finally gives it a standard meaning.

The payment is the credential

No API key or account is needed. A valid, signed payment is enough to authorise the request.

Settles in seconds

Payments are made in stablecoins and settle on-chain, so a single call can cost a fraction of a cent.

§ 05

Pricing

Pay only for what you use

Fund once. Agents pay per request in stablecoins. No subscriptions or monthly plans.

  • Web search$0.001 / request
  • Page scrape$0.003 / request
  • Contact lookup$0.020 / request
  • Email verification$0.002 / request
§ 06

For developers

Paying for an API takes a few lines. Wrap fetch with an x402 client and call paid endpoints like any other URL.

  1. 01

    Fund a balance

    Add funds to AgentCash once. That balance is what your agent spends.

  2. 02

    Wrap fetch

    Use any x402 client. Payment is handled when a service answers 402.

  3. 03

    Call any service

    Request paid endpoints like any other URL. Each call settles on its own.

agent.ts
1import { wrapFetchWithPayment } from "x402-fetch";
2import { privateKeyToAccount } from "viem/accounts";
3
4// The agent's wallet: funded once, used for every request.
5const account = privateKeyToAccount(process.env.AGENT_KEY);
6const pay = wrapFetchWithPayment(fetch, account);
7
8// Any x402 endpoint. No API key, no sign-up.
9const res = await pay("https://search.example/v1?q=solar");
10
11console.log(await res.json());
12// → paid 0.001 USDC, result returned
TypeScript · open x402 client0.001 USDC / call
§ 07

Why open

How buying a service differs when the rules are a shared protocol rather than one company's platform.

Access

ClosedAn account and an API key for every provider.

OpenOne balance that works with any compatible service.

Pricing

ClosedMonthly plans, seat licences and minimum commitments.

OpenA price per request, paid at the moment of use.

Onboarding

ClosedSign-up forms, billing details and sometimes a sales call.

OpenNone. The first request is the onboarding.

Discovery

ClosedA catalogue controlled by one company.

OpenOpen registries anyone can list in or read from.

Settlement

ClosedInvoices, card networks and net-30 terms.

OpenStablecoin settlement in seconds, per call.

Portability

ClosedVendor SDKs that tie an agent to one platform.

OpenPlain HTTP. Switch providers without rewriting.

§ 08

Questions

Start building with AgentCash

Fund one balance and let your agent pay for the services it needs, one request at a time.