# PincerPay

> On-chain payment gateway for the agentic economy.

PincerPay lets AI agents pay for HTTP resources (APIs, data, compute) using USDC stablecoins via the x402 protocol. Merchants add middleware; agents wrap fetch calls. Settlement is instant, non-custodial, and on-chain.

- Website: https://pincerpay.com
- Interactive Demo: https://demo.pincerpay.com
- GitHub: https://github.com/ds1/pincerpay

## Docs

### Overview

- [Getting Started](https://pincerpay.com/docs/getting-started): 5-minute quickstart — sign up, create paywall, install SDK, test payment

### Guides

- [Quickstart: Merchant](https://pincerpay.com/docs/quickstart-merchant): Accept your first USDC payment from an AI agent in under 10 minutes
- [Quickstart: Agent](https://pincerpay.com/docs/quickstart-agent): Give your AI agent a wallet and make its first autonomous payment

### SDKs

- [Merchant SDK](https://pincerpay.com/docs/merchant-sdk): Express, Hono, and Next.js middleware for accepting USDC payments from agents
- [Agent SDK](https://pincerpay.com/docs/agent-sdk): Drop-in fetch wrapper that handles 402 payment flows automatically
- [MCP Server](https://pincerpay.com/docs/mcp-server): Connect PincerPay to any MCP-compatible AI assistant

### Learn

- [x402: HTTP-Native Payments](https://pincerpay.com/docs/x402): How the x402 protocol turns HTTP 402 into a concrete payment flow for AI agents
- [AP2: Authorization Protocol](https://pincerpay.com/docs/ap2): How AP2 mandates control what agents can spend and when humans need to approve
- [UCP: Agent-Readable Commerce Discovery](https://pincerpay.com/docs/ucp): How UCP manifests let agents discover what a merchant sells, how to pay, and what they'll get
- [Chain Architecture](https://pincerpay.com/docs/chain-architecture): Solana-first design with optional EVM compatibility for Base and Polygon

### Reference

- [API Reference](https://pincerpay.com/docs/api-reference): Facilitator REST API — /verify, /settle, /settle-direct, /supported, /health, /metrics
- [Testing](https://pincerpay.com/docs/testing): Devnet/testnet setup, faucets, end-to-end test scripts
- [FAQ](https://pincerpay.com/docs/faq): Frequently asked questions about PincerPay integration and usage

### Examples

- [Next.js Merchant](https://pincerpay.com/docs/example-nextjs-merchant): Next.js 15 + Hono catch-all route handler with paywalled endpoints
- [Express Merchant](https://pincerpay.com/docs/example-express-merchant): Express server with free and paywalled routes at different price tiers
- [Weather Agent](https://pincerpay.com/docs/example-agent-weather): AI agent with spending policies that pays for weather data automatically

## Full Documentation

- [llms-full.txt](https://pincerpay.com/llms-full.txt): Complete documentation content for LLM ingestion

## Blog

- [Why We Built PincerPay](https://pincerpay.com/blog/why-we-built-pincerpay): Card rails weren't designed for machines — we built infrastructure that was

## Key Concepts

- **x402 Protocol**: HTTP 402 Payment Required with structured payment requirements. Agent signs USDC transfer, facilitator verifies and broadcasts, merchant delivers resource.
- **Non-custodial**: Agents hold their own keys. PincerPay verifies transactions but never controls funds.
- **Solana-first**: Sub-second finality, sub-cent fees. Kora integration for gasless transactions (agents pay gas in USDC).
- **Spending Policies**: Per-transaction limits, daily budgets, merchant allowlists — enforced client-side by the SDK, server-side by the facilitator, and optionally on-chain via Squads SPN.
- **AP2 Mandates (roadmap)**: Intent Mandates (autonomous limits), Cart Mandates (human approval), Payment Mandates (execution-level authorization). Not yet implemented; planned for a future phase.
- **UCP Discovery**: Merchants publish a /.well-known/ucp manifest for agent-readable commerce discovery. PincerPay includes a UCP manifest generator for merchants.
- **Optimistic Finality**: Sub-$1 payments release after mempool broadcast (~200ms) before block confirmation.
- **Gas Passthrough**: PincerPay never subsidizes gas. Agents pay via Kora (Solana) or meta-transactions (EVM).

## Integration

- npm: @pincerpay/merchant (Express/Hono/Next.js middleware)
- npm: @pincerpay/agent (fetch wrapper with auto-payment)
- npm: @pincerpay/mcp (MCP server — 20 tools, 3 resources, 6 prompts, 5 doc topics)
- npm: @pincerpay/core (shared types, chain configs, constants)
- npm: @pincerpay/solana (Solana integration — Kora gasless txns, Squads smart accounts)
- Facilitator API: https://facilitator.pincerpay.com
- OpenAPI spec: https://facilitator.pincerpay.com/openapi.json
- Supported chains: Solana (primary), Base, Polygon
- Token: USDC (all chains)
- Interactive demo: https://demo.pincerpay.com