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The x0 protocol implements the HTTP 402 Payment Required status code for machine-to-machine payment negotiation. This enables autonomous agents to discover, negotiate, pay for, and consume services without human intervention.

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Protocol Flow

Agent                          Service
  │                               │
  │── GET /api/resource ─────────▶│
  │                               │
  │◀── 402 Payment Required ─────│
  │    X-PAYMENT: {               │
  │      recipient, amount,       │
  │      resource, nonce          │
  │    }                          │
  │                               │
  │── [build & submit tx] ──▶ Solana
  │                               │
  │── GET /api/resource ─────────▶│
  │    X-PAYMENT-PROOF: {         │
  │      signature, payer         │
  │    }                          │
  │                               │
  │◀── 200 OK + response ───────│

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Payment Request (402 Response)

When a service requires payment, it returns HTTP 402 with an X-PAYMENT header: 
{
  "version": "2.0",
  "protocol": "x0-01",
  "network": "solana-devnet",
  "recipient": "ServiceWallet111111111111111111111111111111",
  "amount": 1000000,
  "token": "x0-USD mint address",
  "resource": "/api/v1/generate",
  "nonce": "abc123def456",
  "expires": 1706745600
}
FieldTypeDescription
versionstringProtocol version ("2.0")
protocolstringProtocol identifier ("x0-01")
networkstringSolana network identifier
recipientstringService’s receiving wallet (base58)
amountnumberPayment amount in micro-units
tokenstringToken mint address
resourcestringAPI resource path being purchased
noncestringUnique challenge to prevent replay
expiresnumberUnix timestamp when the request expires

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Payment Proof (Subsequent Request)

After submitting the payment transaction on-chain, the agent includes proof in its next request: 
{
  "signature": "5wHu1qwD7q4...",
  "payer": "AgentWallet111111111111111111111111111111111"
}
The service verifies:
  1. Transaction exists on-chain and is confirmed
  2. Transfer amount matches requested amount
  3. Recipient matches service wallet
  4. Challenge hash in memo matches the nonce

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Challenge Hash

To bind the payment to the specific request, a challenge hash is computed: h=SHA-256(recipient∥amount∥nonce)h = \text{SHA-256}(\text{recipient} \| \text{amount} \| \text{nonce}) This hash is included in the transaction memo, allowing the service to verify the payment was made for this specific request.

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SDK Helpers

import { parseX402Response, buildPaymentHeaders, fetchWithPayment } from '@x0-protocol/sdk';

// Option 1: Manual flow
const paymentRequest = parseX402Response(response);
const tx = await client.transfer(paymentRequest.recipient, paymentRequest.amount);
const headers = buildPaymentHeaders(tx.signature, wallet.publicKey);

// Option 2: Automatic flow
const result = await fetchWithPayment(url, client, {
  maxAmount: 10_000_000,  // 10 USDC max
  autoApprove: true
});

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Security Properties

  1. Replay protection — Each request has a unique nonce; the challenge hash binds payment to the specific request
  2. Expiration — Payment requests expire, preventing agents from paying stale invoices
  3. Amount verification — The on-chain transfer amount is verified against the requested amount
  4. Policy enforcement — The agent’s x0-guard policy still applies to 402 payments, enforcing spend limits
Last modified on February 8, 2026