Building AI agents is hard enough. Adding payment infrastructure shouldn't make it harder.

If you've ever tried to monetize an AI agent or API, you know the pain: cobbling together Stripe webhooks, building custom metering systems, managing access control, and somehow making it all work across both fiat and crypto payments. It's the kind of infrastructure work that pulls you away from what you're actually trying to build. That's exactly why we built the Nevermined x402 Facilitator — a payment coordination layer purpose-built for AI agents that handles authorization, metering, and settlement across fiat, crypto, credits, and smart accounts.

What Makes x402 Different?

The x402 protocol standardizes payments at the HTTP layer. Think of it as a native payment handshake for APIs:

1. Your agent makes a request
2. The server responds with HTTP 402 Payment Required
3. Your agent generates a signed payment authorization
4. The request goes through with the payment token
5. The Facilitator verifies and settles in the background
6. Your agent gets a receipt and the response it needs

No complex integrations. No payment page redirects. No breaking your API flow. Just HTTP-native payments that work the way modern agents need them to.

One Integration, Every Payment Method

Here's where it gets interesting: the Facilitator supports everything. Credit cards. Crypto wallets. Stablecoins. Prepaid credits. All through a single integration. Your agents can accept payments however your users want to pay, and you get settled in fiat or stablecoins immediately.

typescript
import { Payments } from '@nevermined-io/payments'

// One client, all payment methods
const payments = Payments.getInstance({
  nvmApiKey: process.env.NVM_API_KEY,
  environment: 'live'
})

// Verify and settle any payment type
const result = await payments.facilitator.verifyPermissions({
  x402AccessToken,
  maxAmount: BigInt(credits)
})

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This isn't just convenient for developers — it's transformative for agent-to-agent (A2A) payments. When AI agents need to pay each other, they're not dealing with payment forms or checkout flows. They need instant, programmable settlement. The x402 Facilitator makes that possible.

Pricing Models That Match Reality

Not every AI service works the same way, so why should pricing? The Facilitator supports pricing models that actually make sense for AI workloads:

Usage-Based Pricing
Charge per token, per API call, per compute cycle — whatever unit makes sense for your service. The metering is automatic, and billing happens in real-time.

Outcome-Based Pricing
Only charge when your agent delivers results. If the task fails or the quality isn't there, your users don't pay. The Facilitator tracks outcomes and settles accordingly.

Credit Plans
Let users prepay for credits that work like internal currency. This caps spending, simplifies billing, and gives users predictable costs. Credits can be purchased with any payment method and redeemed automatically.

Time-Limited Access
Offer daily, weekly, or monthly passes. Perfect for agents that provide ongoing value rather than discrete tasks.

Dynamic Pricing
Need cost-plus margins? Real-time pricing based on compute costs? The Facilitator's programmable settlement handles dynamic pricing logic without hardcoding anything.

Smart Accounts: Payments Without Friction

Traditional payment flows assume a human is clicking buttons and entering card details. But what about agent-to-agent payments? What about autonomous workflows where agents need to pay for services without human intervention?

This is where ERC-4337 smart accounts and session keys become critical.

With smart accounts, your AI agents can:

• Hold funds securely without custodial risk
• Delegate spending permissions through scoped session keys
• Execute programmable settlement (not just transfers, but credit burns, subscriptions, conditional payments)
• Operate autonomously within defined spend caps and merchant allowlists

The Facilitator extends standard x402 to support these programmable payments while keeping the same HTTP handshake. Your agent makes the same request — but under the hood, settlement can be as sophisticated as you need.

Enterprise-Grade from Day One

We built this for production use, not just hackathons. The Facilitator comes with:

• SOC-2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI SAQ-A, GDPR compliance out of the box
• Complete audit trails for every transaction
• Transparent pricing enforcement across multi-agent workflows
• Real-time metering that logs every interaction
• Immediate settlement in your preferred currency

Compliance isn't an afterthought — it's built into the architecture.

Integration That Takes Minutes, Not Months

Here's the best part: you can add payment protection to your API in three steps.

Step 1: Install the SDK

bash
npm install @nevermined-io/payments

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Step 2: Initialize the client

typescript
import { Payments } from '@nevermined-io/payments'

const payments = Payments.getInstance({
  nvmApiKey: process.env.NVM_API_KEY,
  environment: 'live'
})

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Step 3: Protect your routes
For Express.js, it's literally one line:

typescript
import { paymentMiddleware } from '@nevermined-io/payments/express'

app.post('/api/query',
  paymentMiddleware(payments, { credits: 10 }),
  async (req, res) => {
    // Your agent logic here
  }
)

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That's it. Your API now accepts x402 payments across all supported methods, with automatic verification, metering, and settlement.For other frameworks (FastAPI, Strands, or generic HTTP), the integration is just as straightforward — you verify permissions before processing and settle after:

typescript
// Verify before processing
const verification = await payments.facilitator.verifyPermissions({
  x402AccessToken: req.headers['payment-signature'],
  maxAmount: BigInt(10) // credits
})

if (!verification.isValid) {
  return res.status(402).json({ error: 'Payment required' })
}

// Process the request
const result = await processAgentQuery(req.body)

// Settle after completion
const settlement = await payments.facilitator.settlePermissions({
  x402AccessToken: req.headers['payment-signature'],
  amountUsed: BigInt(10)
})

res.json({ result, receipt: settlement.txHash })

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Built for the Agent Economy

The shift from human-to-service payments to agent-to-agent commerce is happening **right now**. AI agents need to:

• Pay for data from other agents
• Compensate compute services
• Access proprietary models
• Purchase API calls in real-time

All of this needs to happen programmatically, instantly, and securely — without payment forms, without manual approvals, and without breaking the agent's workflow.

The x402 Facilitator makes this possible by providing:

• HTTP-native payments that fit naturally into API calls
• Multi-currency support so agents can pay however makes sense
• Smart account integration for autonomous operation
• Real-time settlement with cryptographic receipts
• Programmable logic for complex pricing and access policies

Transparent Pricing, No Lock-In

1–2% per transaction. No minimums. No monthly fees. No lock-in commitments.You only pay when your agents get paid. And because the Facilitator supports both fiat and crypto settlement, you choose how you want to receive funds.

Two Environments, One Experience

We provide separate environments for development and production:

Sandbox
https://facilitator.sandbox.nevermined.app
Testing with testnets

Production
https://facilitator.live.nevermined.app
Live mainnet transactions

The API is identical across both — test in sandbox, deploy to production with a one-line config change.

Core Endpoints‍

• `POST /api/v1/x402/verify` — Validate payment authorization and simulate settlement
• `POST /api/v1/x402/settle` — Execute on-chain settlement and return receipt

Start Building Today

The infrastructure for AI agent payments is here. You don't need to build it yourself.Whether you're monetizing a single API endpoint or orchestrating payments across a fleet of autonomous agents, the x402 Facilitator gives you the rails you need to focus on what you're building — not how to charge for it.

Get started in minutes:

• Read the docs
• View integration guides
• Join our Discord
• Explore the Facilitator

The future of AI commerce is programmable, autonomous, and instant. The x402 Facilitator is how you build it.