1. Ask
An agent requests a paid API or tool.
Agent payments
Software can now pay for software.
AI agents can read documents, call tools and make decisions. The missing piece was a way to pay for a single useful request without a card, account or human checkout.
2. Pay
The service responds with HTTP 402 and its exact payment requirements.
3. Receive
The agent signs a USDC payment, the payment settles, and the response returns.
Why we built it
A real payment is more useful than a slide deck.
Tunelo's live example lets an agent pay USDC on Polygon for a South African crypto-tax estimate. It is deliberately small: a real paid request that makes the mechanics visible, rather than a claim about a distant future.
View the live demoPractical use cases
Pay only when the task needs it.
- One data lookup, rather than an account and subscription.
- A paid document, report or API response inside an existing workflow.
- A microservice that an agent calls only when it needs that capability.
- An API that can charge per request instead of managing keys and billing accounts.
References