Getting Started

PincerPay is an x402 payment gateway. Merchants add middleware to accept USDC; agents wrap fetch calls to pay automatically. This guide gets you from zero to a working integration in 5 minutes.

Want to see it first? The interactive demo walks through the full payment flow in your browser, no wallet or code required.

How It Works

Agent requests resource
        |
        v
Merchant returns HTTP 402 + payment requirements
        |
        v
Agent signs USDC transaction
        |
        v
PincerPay Facilitator verifies + broadcasts transaction
        |
        v
Merchant delivers resource

1. An AI agent sends a request to your API endpoint
2. The PincerPay middleware intercepts the request and returns 402 Payment Required with pricing info
3. The agent's PincerPay client automatically signs a USDC transfer
4. The PincerPay Facilitator verifies the payment and broadcasts the transaction on-chain
5. Your middleware confirms payment and allows the request through

Quick Start

1. Sign Up

Create an account at pincerpay.com/signup. You'll land in the merchant dashboard.

2. Create Your Merchant Profile

Go to Settings and fill in:

• Business name — displayed to agents
• Wallet address — your Solana (or EVM) address for receiving USDC
• Supported chains — select solana (recommended), or add base / polygon for EVM

3. Generate an API Key

In Settings, scroll to API Keys and click Generate Key. Copy it — it's shown only once. The key format is pp_live_xxxxxxxxxxxx....

4. Create a Paywall

Go to Paywalls and click New Paywall:

• Endpoint — the route pattern, e.g. GET /api/weather
• Price — amount in USDC, e.g. 0.01
• Description — what the agent gets (shown in the 402 response)

5. Install the Merchant SDK

npm install @pincerpay/merchant

6. Add Middleware

Three lines of Express middleware:

import express from "express";
import { pincerpay } from "@pincerpay/merchant";

const app = express();

app.use(
  pincerpay({
    apiKey: process.env.PINCERPAY_API_KEY!,
    merchantAddress: "YOUR_SOLANA_WALLET_ADDRESS",
    routes: {
      "GET /api/weather": {
        price: "0.01",
        chain: "solana",
        description: "Current weather data",
      },
    },
  })
);

app.get("/api/weather", (req, res) => {
  res.json({ temp: 72, condition: "sunny" });
});

app.listen(3000);

7. Test It

Install the agent SDK and run a test payment:

npm install @pincerpay/agent

import { PincerPayAgent } from "@pincerpay/agent";

const agent = await PincerPayAgent.create({
  chains: ["solana-devnet"],
  solanaPrivateKey: process.env.AGENT_SOLANA_KEY!,
});

const res = await agent.fetch("http://localhost:3000/api/weather");
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data); // { temp: 72, condition: "sunny" }

Check the Transactions page in your dashboard to see the payment.

Examples

Working examples you can clone and run locally:

• Next.js Merchant — Hono catch-all route handler with paywalled endpoints in a Next.js 15 app
• Express Merchant — Express server with free and paywalled routes at different price tiers
• Weather Agent — AI agent with spending policies that pays for weather data automatically