[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":161},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog:\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-is-x402":3},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"date":147,"description":148,"extension":149,"keywords":150,"meta":151,"navigation":152,"path":153,"readingMinutes":154,"seo":155,"stem":156,"tags":157,"__hash__":160},"blog\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-is-x402.md","What is x402? The HTTP 402 standard powering agent payments",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":138},"minimark",[9,22,27,30,37,41,44,72,75,79,82,86,89,109,123,127,130],[10,11,12,13,17,18,21],"p",{},"For decades, one HTTP status code sat reserved and unused: ",[14,15,16],"strong",{},"402 Payment Required",". The\nauthors of the HTTP spec set it aside for a future where paying for a resource would be as\nnative to the web as returning a 404 for a missing one — then left it blank. ",[14,19,20],{},"x402"," is the\nopen protocol that finally fills that gap, and it arrives exactly when the web needs it: as\nautonomous AI agents start transacting on their own.",[23,24,26],"h2",{"id":25},"the-problem-x402-solves","The problem x402 solves",[10,28,29],{},"The web's payment layer was built for humans. You land on a page, reach for a card, type a\nnumber, solve a checkout flow, maybe create an account. None of that works for an autonomous\nagent making thousands of small requests across dozens of services. Agents don't have credit\ncards, they don't want annual subscriptions to APIs they'll hit twice, and they can't pause to\nsign up for every paywalled resource they encounter.",[10,31,32,33,36],{},"What agents need is ",[14,34,35],{},"pay-per-request",": hit a URL, get told the price, pay it, get the\nresource — in one machine-readable loop, with no human in the middle.",[23,38,40],{"id":39},"how-the-x402-flow-works","How the x402 flow works",[10,42,43],{},"x402 layers a payment handshake directly onto ordinary HTTP. The flow looks like this:",[45,46,47,51,58,65],"ol",{},[48,49,50],"li",{},"A client (say, an AI agent) makes a normal request to a protected resource.",[48,52,53,54,57],{},"The server responds with ",[14,55,56],{},"HTTP 402 Payment Required"," and a machine-readable challenge: the\nprice, the accepted asset (commonly a stablecoin like USDC), the network, and where to send\npayment.",[48,59,60,61,64],{},"The client pays on-chain from its own wallet and ",[14,62,63],{},"retries the request"," with proof of\npayment attached.",[48,66,67,68,71],{},"The server verifies the payment and returns ",[14,69,70],{},"200 OK"," with the resource.",[10,73,74],{},"Because the whole exchange rides on standard HTTP status codes and headers, any client that can\nspeak HTTP can speak x402 — no SDK lock-in, no proprietary checkout, no account.",[23,76,78],{"id":77},"why-stablecoins-and-on-chain-settlement","Why stablecoins and on-chain settlement",[10,80,81],{},"x402 leans on stablecoins (USDC is the common default today) settling on fast, low-fee networks.\nThat combination is what makes micro-priced, per-request payments viable: settlement is near\ninstant, fees are tiny fractions of a cent, and value moves without a card network, an invoice,\nor a monthly bill. For an agent paying a tenth of a cent to read one page, nothing else clears\nfast or cheap enough.",[23,83,85],{"id":84},"the-two-sides-of-x402","The two sides of x402",[10,87,88],{},"It helps to see x402 as having two sides:",[90,91,92,98],"ul",{},[48,93,94,97],{},[14,95,96],{},"The sell side"," — websites, APIs, and content owners that want to charge agents per request.\nGateways from infrastructure providers increasingly make it a few lines of config to return\n402 challenges and collect payment. This is where most of the early tooling landed.",[48,99,100,103,104,108],{},[14,101,102],{},"The buy side"," — the agents (and the teams running them) that are ",[105,106,107],"em",{},"paying",". This side has\nbeen comparatively neglected, yet it's where the money leaves your wallet. Someone has to see\nwhat agents pay, debug failed payments, and keep spend under control.",[10,110,111,112,117,118,122],{},"402.report is built for that buy side — the independent, non-custodial control plane for the\nteams whose agents are doing the paying. (Related reading:\n",[113,114,116],"a",{"href":115},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-ai-agents-pay","how autonomous AI agents pay for things"," and\n",[113,119,121],{"href":120},"\u002Fblog\u002Fagent-spend-observability","non-custodial spend tracking for AI agents",".)",[23,124,126],{"id":125},"why-this-matters-now","Why this matters now",[10,128,129],{},"As agentic workflows move from demos to production, they stop being free. Every retrieval, every\ntool call, every premium API hit can carry a price. x402 is the standard making that priced web\nmachine-navigable — and the reason \"agent payments,\" \"agentic payments,\" and \"x402\" are moving\nfrom niche to mainstream vocabulary fast.",[10,131,132,133,137],{},"If you're running agents that pay with x402, you'll want visibility into it before the bill\nsurprises you. ",[113,134,136],{"href":135},"\u002F#waitlist","Join the 402.report waitlist"," to get early access.",{"title":139,"searchDepth":140,"depth":140,"links":141},"",2,[142,143,144,145,146],{"id":25,"depth":140,"text":26},{"id":39,"depth":140,"text":40},{"id":77,"depth":140,"text":78},{"id":84,"depth":140,"text":85},{"id":125,"depth":140,"text":126},"2026-07-03","x402 revives the long-dormant HTTP 402 'Payment Required' status code into an open protocol for machine-native payments. Here's how the x402 flow works and why it matters for autonomous AI agents.","md","x402, HTTP 402, x402 protocol, agent payments, agentic payments, machine payments, 402 payment required, pay per request",{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-is-x402",5,{"title":5,"description":148},"blog\u002Fwhat-is-x402",[20,158,159],"protocol","fundamentals","mtC-4F6v13XMv-kM4nCjuzhnKhOhcQekPFS7ky7osmI",1784841653209]