Introduction to Agentic Access
x402 Studio enables AI agents to discover, evaluate, and pay for API access automatically, without human intervention.
What is Agentic Access?
Agentic access means your API can be called by autonomous systems (AI agents, automated scripts, bots) that:
- Discover – Find your API and understand its pricing
- Evaluate – Decide if the price is worth paying
- Pay – Submit payment cryptographically
- Access – Receive the response after payment verification
All of this happens in a single request-response cycle.
The 402 Protocol
HTTP status code 402 Payment Required was reserved for exactly this use case.
Client → Server: GET /api/data
Server → Client: 402 Payment Required + payment details
Client → Server: GET /api/data + X-Payment header
Server → Client: 200 OK + actual response
Why Use x402 for Agents?
Automatic Discovery
Agents don't need documentation. They call your endpoint and receive machine-readable payment instructions.
Instant Payment
No invoices, no approval workflows. The agent signs a transaction and includes it with the request.
Multi-Chain
Agents can pay on whichever chain has their funds: Base or Solana.
Credit Efficiency
For high-volume agents, credit-based pricing reduces per-call overhead.