The Open Protocol
for Machine-to-Machine
Commerce
AgentPay enables autonomous AI agents to discover services, request work, and settle payments— entirely on-chain, without human intervention.
AI Agents Are Capable.
Payments Infrastructure Is Not.
Modern AI agents can research, orchestrate, and automate complex workflows— but when it comes to paying for services, they hit a wall. The financial infrastructure holding them back was built for humans, not machines.
API Keys & Subscriptions
Every service requires manual setup, onboarding, and human-configured credentials.
Manual Billing
Invoices, billing cycles, and payment approval flows block autonomous operation.
Centralized Gateways
Payment rails are controlled by intermediaries, creating bottlenecks and single points of failure.
Pre-configured Access
Agents cannot acquire new capabilities at runtime — access must be set up by humans in advance.
"These models are not designed for autonomous systems. Agents cannot purchase services dynamically, payments cannot occur automatically per request, and service access must be pre-configured by humans."— AgentPay Protocol Documentation
A Decentralized Economy Where Machines Transact Freely
AgentPay's long-term vision is a world where AI agents operate as first-class economic actors— discovering services autonomously, negotiating terms on-chain, and settling payments without any human in the loop.
By combining smart contracts on Stellar's Soroban platform with event-driven infrastructure and open service registries, the protocol provides the financial rails that a machine-to-machine economy needs.
See the Protocol in Action →Six Steps. Zero Manual Steps.
The AgentPay protocol follows a structured workflow where every step is executed programmatically, on-chain, without human intervention.
Agent Funding
Agents deposit tokens into the protocol smart contract, ensuring funds are available to pay for services.
Service Registration
Providers register services specifying their address, description, and price per request.
Service Discovery
Agents query the indexer API to find available services, evaluating by price, type, and reputation.
Service Request
The agent submits a request to the smart contract. The contract validates balance and parameters before recording.
Request Fulfillment
The provider node monitors events, processes the request, and submits completion to the contract.
Payment Settlement
The smart contract releases payment from the agent's balance to the provider and emits a payment event.
Four Components.
One Cohesive Protocol.
Smart Contract Layer
Rust · Soroban SDKThe trust foundation of the protocol. Stores balances, manages service registrations, records requests, and executes payment settlement. All logic is on-chain.
- Agent balance management
- Service registration
- Payment settlement
- Event emission
Backend Indexer
Python · FastAPI · PostgreSQLListens to blockchain events and stores them in a relational database for efficient querying. Exposes a REST API for agents and developers.
- Indexes registered services
- Tracks requests & payments
- REST API for querying
- Provider earnings tracking
Provider Nodes
Independent OperatorsService providers run nodes that monitor the protocol for new requests. When a request appears for a registered service, the provider executes and confirms on-chain.
- Monitor contract events
- Execute requested tasks
- Submit on-chain confirmation
- Receive automatic payment
Agent Clients
SDK · Direct Contract CallsAutonomous software agents interact via an SDK or direct contract calls to deposit funds, discover services, submit requests and receive results.
- Token deposits
- Service discovery
- Request submission
- Result reception
Authorization
Only authorized actors may perform specific actions. Only providers can register services, only request owners can cancel, only providers can claim payment.
Balance Verification
All requests require sufficient agent balances before being recorded. This prevents providers from fulfilling requests that cannot be paid.
Immutable Payment Logic
Payment settlement is executed entirely within the smart contract to prevent any off-chain manipulation.
Any Service. Any Agent.
Any Time.
AgentPay is designed to support an open marketplace of AI services. As the protocol matures, any provider can register any service, and any agent can discover and pay for it programmatically.
Text Summarization
Research agents purchase article and document summarization services on demand, per-request.
Dataset Access
Data-hungry agents pay for access to curated datasets without manual subscription setups.
Compute Resources
Agents can dynamically acquire GPU compute for inference, training runs, or heavy processing.
Financial Data Feeds
Trading and analysis agents pay for real-time market data feeds on a per-request basis.
AI Model Inference
Agents outsource specialized inference tasks to provider nodes with optimal models.
Language Translation
Multilingual agents request translation services at runtime without pre-configured credentials.
An Early Step Toward
a Larger Machine Economy
Smart Contract Core
ShippedAgent balances, service registration, request workflow, payment settlement.
Backend Indexer
ShippedEvent indexing with FastAPI + PostgreSQL. REST API for querying.
Provider Node Framework
ShippedProvider node architecture for monitoring and fulfilling requests.
Agent SDK
In ProgressDeveloper SDK for easy agent integration with the protocol.
Service Reputation System
PlannedOn-chain reputation scores for providers to help agents choose wisely.
Provider Discovery
PlannedDecentralized mechanism for agents to discover providers automatically.
Dispute Resolution
PlannedOn-chain dispute resolution for contested or incomplete requests.
Decentralized Marketplace
PlannedAn open marketplace for AI services built on top of the protocol.
Build the Machine Economy.
AgentPay is an early-stage open protocol. Whether you're building AI agents, running service providers, or just interested in the future of autonomous commerce— we want to hear from you.
# Deposit tokens into the protocol
agent.deposit(amount=100)
# Discover available services
services = protocol.discover()
# Select a service
svc = services.find(type="summarize")
# Submit a request
req = agent.request(
service=svc,
input={"text": article}
)
# Result & payment handled on-chain
result = req.await_result()
# → Payment settled automatically ✓