How Agents Discover, Use, and Pay
AgentHermes is the commerce layer for the agent economy. One gateway handles discovery, authentication, billing, and settlement so businesses and agents can transact without friction.
How Payments Work
From wallet to per-call billing to settlement. Every transaction is tracked, budgeted, and auditable.
Fund Wallet
Agent or principal deposits funds into an AgentHermes wallet. Set per-transaction, daily, and per-service budget limits.
Call Service
Agent calls any gateway service with a single API key. The gateway handles auth, routing, and rate limiting.
Per-Call Billing
Each call is metered and deducted from the wallet in real time. Cost = service price + transparent margin.
Settlement
Service providers are paid automatically. Full usage logs, invoices, and audit trail for every transaction.
Supported Protocols
We support the protocols agents and businesses are actually using. Multi-rail payments from day one.
ACP
Agentic Commerce Protocol
OpenAI + Stripe
End-to-end agent commerce. Agents browse catalogs, compare options, and pay via Stripe Shared Payment Tokens (SPT). Powers ChatGPT Instant Checkout.
UCP
Universal Commerce Protocol
Google + Shopify
Machine-readable merchant profiles at /.well-known/ucp. Agents discover capabilities, pricing, and checkout flows. Dynamic discovery without custom integrations.
x402
HTTP-Native Micropayments
Coinbase + Cloudflare
HTTP 402 Payment Required with USDC payment headers. 161M+ transactions, ~$600M volume. True machine-to-machine payments. No pre-funding needed.
AP2
Agent Payments Protocol
Google + 60 partners
Payment authorization and settlement layer. Solves authorization, authenticity, and accountability for agent transactions. Payment-agnostic.
Visa TAP
Trusted Agent Protocol
Visa + 100+ partners
Merchant-agent trust framework. Verifiable agent credentials via Cloudflare verification. Distinguishes legitimate agents from bots.
Mastercard Agent Pay
Agentic Tokens
Mastercard
Dynamic credentials tied to consumer identity. Each transaction gets a unique, scoped token with spending limits baked in.
Agent Identity (KYA)
Before an agent can transact, we need to know who it is, who authorized it, and what it's allowed to do. KYA is the authentication layer for the agent economy.
Compatible with Skyfire KYA tokens, NIST AI Agent Standards (OAuth + SCIM), ERC-8004 on-chain agent registry, and Visa Trusted Agent Protocol credentials.
Unique Agent ID
Every agent gets a UUID tied to its owner (human or org). Traceable, revocable, auditable.
Scoped Permissions
Capabilities, budget limits, and allowed service categories defined at registration.
Trust Scoring
5 trust levels from unverified to enterprise. Higher trust unlocks higher spending limits.
JWT Tokens
Identity-only, payment-only, or combined tokens. Short-lived, merchant-scoped, non-replayable.
Trust Levels
Trust scores are computed from transaction history, dispute rate, verification level, and account age.
Gateway Integration
Connect once, access every service. The gateway handles authentication, billing, and routing.
Single API Key
One AgentHermes API key replaces dozens of service credentials. AES-256-GCM encrypted vault handles the rest.
MCP + A2A + REST
Every gateway service is auto-published as MCP tools, A2A skills, and REST endpoints. Agents use their native protocol.
Per-Call Metering
Real-time usage tracking per agent, per service, per action. Cost = service price + transparent margin.
Budget Controls
Per-transaction, daily, and per-service limits. Approval thresholds for high-value calls. Automatic overspend prevention.
Credential Vault
Service API keys encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM. Zero-knowledge architecture. Agents never see provider credentials.
Smart Routing
Automatic retries, rate limit awareness, and failover. The gateway optimizes for reliability and cost.
// 1. Agent calls a paid endpoint
GET /api/v1/gateway/call
// No wallet balance
// 2. Server returns 402 with payment details
402 Payment Required
x-payment: {"amount":"0.001","currency":"USDC",
"recipient":"0x...","networks":["base"]}
// 3. Agent pays in USDC on Base
TRANSFER 0.001 USDC -> 0x...
// 4. Agent retries with proof
GET /api/v1/gateway/call
x-payment-proof: {"tx_hash":"0xabc...","network":"base"}
// 5. Server verifies and grants access
200 OK { "data": { ... } }
x402 Micropayments
The fastest-growing agent payment rail. 161M+ transactions, ~$600M annualized volume, zero protocol fees.
x402 turns every API endpoint into a paywall. Agents pay per-request in USDC on Base, Solana, Ethereum, Arbitrum, or Polygon. No pre-funding, no subscriptions, no accounts. Just HTTP.
No wallet pre-funding required
Sub-cent micropayments per API call
Settlement in seconds (L2 networks)
Zero protocol fees (x402 Foundation)
AgentHermes scanner detects x402 support (+10 score points)
Start Transacting
Whether you provide services or consume them, the AgentHermes commerce layer handles everything from discovery to settlement.
Free tier available. No credit card required.