P402 Router is a cutting-edge autonomous orchestration layer designed specifically for the AI ecosystem. It acts as a decentralized control plane between AI agents and multiple AI providers, enabling seamless routing, verification, and settlement of API payments using the x402 standard. Built for AI agents equipped with their own wallets, P402 addresses the challenges of fragmented payment flows, uncontrolled spend, and single points of failure common in AI API integrations. Through real-time routing, cryptographically enforced policies, and trustless settlement on the Base L2 chain, it optimizes spend while guaranteeing privacy, transparency, and reliability.
The protocol supports USDC and USDT tokens on Base and leverages a pay-per-call model rather than traditional subscriptions. This ensures that autonomous AI workflows pay only for what they consume, unlocking new paradigms for paid AI endpoints. P402 also includes a Bazaar discovery layer for payable endpoints and an Auditor tool that analyzes AI SDK usage to identify cost-saving opportunities.
Key Features
Autonomous Routing and Spend Controls: Dynamically route each request based on cost, quality, and latency. Enforce global and per-agent spend caps to prevent runaway billing.
Real-Time Settlement & Verification: The P402 protocol uses standard HTTP 402 Payment Required responses to request payments, and then verifies on-chain settlement via USDC transactions under 100ms latency.
x402 Payment Standard: Implements headers PAYMENT-REQUIRED, PAYMENT-SIGNATURE, and PAYMENT-RESPONSE for secure, replay-safe, idempotent payment flows.
Cost Intelligence & Optimization: The Auditor scans your codebase for AI SDK usage, detects inefficiencies, simulates real-world costs, and recommends routing adjustments to providers like Claude 3 Haiku.
Bazaar Payable Endpoint Discovery: Automatically list payable AI API endpoints with fresh metadata including runtime health, policy outcomes, and approval rates, aiding discovery and vendor selection.
Policy Enforcement & Decision Tracing: Cryptographically enforce budgets and access rules at the edge with full audit trails of every payment decision, traceable through the entire request lifecycle.
High Availability & Redundancy: 99.99% uptime backed by multiple facilitators and failover mechanisms to keep AI agents operational even if a primary provider is down.
Developer-Friendly Experience: Comprehensive SDKs, interactive protocol guides, and a Playground environment to get started quickly.
Use Cases
AI Agent Payment Automation: Enable autonomous agents with wallets to pay for API calls exactly as needed, eliminating manual subscription management or invoices.
Cost Optimization for AI Apps: Detect wasted spend from redundant or inefficient calls and route workloads to cheaper, high-quality models with real-time auctions.
Pay-Per-Call API Monetization: Wrap existing AI APIs with the x402 standard to monetize usage instantly without lengthy integrations or custom billing logic.
Internal Chargeback & Spend Governance: Gate API spend between teams or services, define strict policy limits, and ensure transparent chargeback with traceable payments.
Resilient AI Workflows: Self-healing pipelines that automatically settle premium access on rate limit hits, ensuring uptime and premium service when needed.
Decentralized AI Marketplace: Leverage the Bazaar for discovering and choosing endpoints based on real-time service health and pricing metadata.
FAQ
Q: Why do I still get 402 after sending the PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header?
A: Possible reasons include invalid signature, insufficient USDC balance, signature format errors, or payment amounts below the required threshold. Always use PAYMENT-SIGNATURE (not legacy headers) and ensure KYT compliance.
Q: What is the Bazaar?
A: The Bazaar is a marketplace layer listing payable AI endpoints with machine-readable metadata, enabling buyers and agents to discover routing options based on cost, latency, and policy criteria.
Q: Can I use multiple facilitators?
A: Yes, the protocol supports multiple facilitators differing by network, token, and feature sets to provide redundancy and flexibility.
Q: How does P402 differ from traditional API billing?
A: Rather than monthly subscriptions with credit cards, P402 supports agent wallets paying USDC per call, enabling precise, autonomous spend control and immediate settlement.
Q: How do I get started?
A: Request access via the website, receive API keys, and use the SDK and interactive guide to integrate the x402 payment flow into your AI infrastructure rapidly.
Q: What guarantees do I have on uptime and latency?
A: P402 offers 99.99% uptime SLA with sub-100ms payment verification latency to ensure smooth and stable operation for production workloads.
P402 Router revolutionizes how AI applications manage payments, spend governance, and endpoint discovery by providing a secure, scalable, and decentralized payment infrastructure tailored for autonomous AI economies.
