LangChain

Start here: need to register a service and create a plan first? Follow the 5-minute setup.

Runnable tutorial

langchain-paid-agent-py — a deliberately minimal LangChain + LangGraph agent with a single tool gated by @requires_payment. Clone, fill in .env, run poetry run buyer to see the full discovery → token-acquisition → settlement flow in five numbered steps. The cleanest starting point if you’d rather read working code than docs.

Add payment protection to LangChain and LangChain.js tools using the x402 protocol. The library provides two complementary approaches:

Approach	Best for	Payment layer
`requiresPayment` wrapper/decorator	Direct tool invocation, CLI scripts, notebooks	Per-tool wrapper
Payment middleware on HTTP server	Serving the agent over HTTP	HTTP middleware

Both use the same Nevermined plan, credits, and settlement flow — choose whichever fits your deployment model.

Installation

TypeScript
Python

npm install @nevermined-io/payments @langchain/core @langchain/openai zod

The @nevermined-io/payments/langchain sub-path export provides the requiresPayment() wrapper. For the HTTP server approach, also install express.

pip install payments-py[langchain] langchain-openai

The [langchain] extra installs the LangChain dependency required for the decorator. For the HTTP server approach, also install fastapi and uvicorn.

Approach 1: Tool Decorator / Wrapper

x402 Payment Flow (decorator)

Quick Start

TypeScript
Python

In LangChain.js, requiresPayment() is a higher-order function that wraps the tool implementation:

import 'dotenv/config'
import { tool } from '@langchain/core/tools'
import { z } from 'zod'
import { Payments } from '@nevermined-io/payments'
import { requiresPayment } from '@nevermined-io/payments/langchain'

const payments = Payments.getInstance({
  nvmApiKey: process.env.NVM_API_KEY!,
  environment: process.env.NVM_ENVIRONMENT || 'sandbox',
})

const PLAN_ID = process.env.NVM_PLAN_ID!

// Protect a tool with payment — 1 credit per call
const searchData = tool(
  requiresPayment(
    (args) => `Results for '${args.query}': ...`,
    { payments, planId: PLAN_ID, credits: 1 }
  ),
  {
    name: 'search_data',
    description: 'Search for data on a given topic. Costs 1 credit.',
    schema: z.object({ query: z.string() }),
  }
)

The payment token is read from config.configurable.payment_token. Pass it when invoking the tool or agent.

In Python, @requires_payment is a decorator applied before @tool:

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from langchain_core.runnables import RunnableConfig
from langchain_core.tools import tool
from payments_py import Payments, PaymentOptions
from payments_py.x402.langchain import requires_payment

load_dotenv()

payments = Payments.get_instance(
    PaymentOptions(
        nvm_api_key=os.environ["NVM_API_KEY"],
        environment=os.environ.get("NVM_ENVIRONMENT", "sandbox"),
    )
)

PLAN_ID = os.environ["NVM_PLAN_ID"]

# Protect a tool with payment — 1 credit per call
@tool
@requires_payment(payments=payments, plan_id=PLAN_ID, credits=1)
def search_data(query: str, config: RunnableConfig) -> str:
    """Search for data on a given topic. Costs 1 credit."""
    return f"Results for '{query}': ..."

The tool function must accept a config: RunnableConfig parameter. The decorator uses it to read the payment token from config["configurable"]["payment_token"].

Invoking with payment

TypeScript
Python

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

// Subscriber side — acquire token
const subscriber = Payments.getInstance({
  nvmApiKey: process.env.NVM_SUBSCRIBER_API_KEY!,
  environment: process.env.NVM_ENVIRONMENT || 'sandbox',
})

// Create a delegation once, then reuse its id to mint tokens.
const { delegationId } = await subscriber.delegation.createDelegation({
  provider: 'erc4337',       // 'stripe' | 'braintree' | 'visa' for fiat plans
  spendingLimitCents: 10000, // $100 budget
  durationSecs: 604800,      // 7 days
  currency: 'usdc',          // 'usd' for fiat plans
})
const token = await subscriber.x402.getX402AccessToken(PLAN_ID, undefined, {
  scheme: 'nvm:erc4337',       // 'nvm:card-delegation' for fiat plans
  delegationConfig: { delegationId },
})
const accessToken = token.accessToken

// Invoke tool directly
const result = await searchData.invoke(
  { query: 'AI trends' },
  { configurable: { payment_token: accessToken } }
)

from payments_py import Payments, PaymentOptions
from payments_py.x402 import X402TokenOptions, DelegationConfig, CreateDelegationPayload

# Subscriber side — acquire token
subscriber = Payments.get_instance(
    PaymentOptions(
        nvm_api_key=os.environ["NVM_SUBSCRIBER_API_KEY"],
        environment=os.environ.get("NVM_ENVIRONMENT", "sandbox"),
    )
)

# Create a delegation once, then reuse its id to mint tokens.
delegation = subscriber.delegation.create_delegation(
    CreateDelegationPayload(
        provider="erc4337", spending_limit_cents=10000, duration_secs=604800, currency="usdc",
    )
)
token = subscriber.x402.get_x402_access_token(
    plan_id=PLAN_ID,
    token_options=X402TokenOptions(
        scheme="nvm:erc4337",  # "nvm:card-delegation" for fiat plans
        delegation_config=DelegationConfig(delegation_id=delegation.delegation_id)
    ),
)
access_token = token["accessToken"]

# Invoke tool directly
result = search_data.invoke(
    {"query": "AI trends"},
    config={"configurable": {"payment_token": access_token}},
)

LLM-driven tool calling

TypeScript
Python

import { HumanMessage } from '@langchain/core/messages'
import { ChatOpenAI } from '@langchain/openai'

const llm = new ChatOpenAI({ model: 'gpt-4o-mini', temperature: 0 })
const tools = [searchData, summarizeData, researchTopic]
const llmWithTools = llm.bindTools(tools)
const toolMap = new Map(tools.map((t) => [t.name, t]))

const messages = [new HumanMessage('Search for AI trends')]
const aiMessage = await llmWithTools.invoke(messages)
messages.push(aiMessage)

for (const toolCall of aiMessage.tool_calls || []) {
  const result = await toolMap.get(toolCall.name)!.invoke(
    toolCall.args,
    { configurable: { payment_token: accessToken } }
  )
}

llm = ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o-mini", temperature=0)
tools = [search_data, summarize_data, research_topic]
llm_with_tools = llm.bind_tools(tools)
tool_map = {t.name: t for t in tools}

messages = [HumanMessage(content="Search for AI trends")]
ai_message = llm_with_tools.invoke(messages)
messages.append(ai_message)

for tool_call in ai_message.tool_calls:
    result = tool_map[tool_call["name"]].invoke(
        tool_call["args"],
        config={"configurable": {"payment_token": access_token}},
    )

LangGraph ReAct agent

The same payment-protected tools work with LangGraph’s create_react_agent. The simple case — buyer already holds a token — just threads it through configurable:

TypeScript
Python

import { createReactAgent } from '@langchain/langgraph/prebuilt'

const agent = createReactAgent({
  llm: new ChatOpenAI({ model: 'gpt-4o-mini' }),
  tools: [searchData, summarizeData, researchTopic],
  prompt: 'You are a helpful research assistant.',
})

const result = await agent.invoke(
  { messages: [{ role: 'human', content: 'Research AI agents and summarize' }] },
  { configurable: { payment_token: accessToken } }
)

from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent

graph = create_react_agent(
    ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o-mini"),
    [search_data, summarize_data, research_topic],
    prompt="You are a helpful research assistant.",
)

result = graph.invoke(
    {"messages": [("human", "Research AI agents and summarize")]},
    config={"configurable": {"payment_token": access_token}},
)

Discovery-first flow with `createPaidReactAgent`

If the buyer doesn’t know the plan id / scheme / provider up front, the x402 way is to invoke the agent without a token, let the protected tool raise PaymentRequiredError, and read the requirements off the exception. By default LangGraph’s ToolNode would catch that exception and stringify it into a ToolMessage for the LLM — losing the X402PaymentRequired payload. Both SDKs ship a paid-agent helper for exactly this — createPaidReactAgent (TypeScript) / create_paid_react_agent (Python) — that builds the underlying ToolNode with handleToolErrors: false / handle_tool_errors=False, so the exception propagates to agent.invoke()’s caller with the payload intact.

TypeScript
Python

import { tool } from '@langchain/core/tools'
import { ChatOpenAI } from '@langchain/openai'
import { z } from 'zod'
import {
  PaymentRequiredError,
  createPaidReactAgent,
  requiresPayment,
} from '@nevermined-io/payments/langchain'

const getMarketInsight = tool(
  requiresPayment(
    (args) => `Market insight for '${args.topic}': ...`,
    { payments, planId: PLAN_ID, credits: 1 },
  ),
  {
    name: 'get_market_insight',
    description: 'Return a market insight. Costs 1 credit.',
    schema: z.object({ topic: z.string() }),
  },
)

const agent = await createPaidReactAgent(
  new ChatOpenAI({ model: 'gpt-4o-mini', temperature: 0 }),
  [getMarketInsight],
  { prompt: 'You are a market data assistant.' },
)

// 1. Discover what the agent's tool charges by invoking without a token.
let accept
try {
  await agent.invoke(
    { messages: [{ role: 'human', content: QUERY }] },
    { configurable: {} },
  )
} catch (err) {
  if (!(err instanceof PaymentRequiredError)) throw err
  accept = err.paymentRequired!.accepts[0]
  // accept.scheme  → "nvm:erc4337" or "nvm:card-delegation"
  // accept.network → CAIP-2 chain or provider name (stripe, braintree, …)
  // accept.planId  → which plan to acquire a token against
}

// 2. Pick a payment method matching the discovered network and create a
//    delegation once (provider + currency required). Reuse its delegationId
//    for subsequent token requests.
const methods = await payments.delegation.listPaymentMethods()
const pm = methods.find((m) => m.provider === accept.network)!
const delegation = await payments.delegation.createDelegation({
  provider: pm.provider!,
  providerPaymentMethodId: pm.id,
  spendingLimitCents: 10000,
  durationSecs: 3600,
  currency: 'usd',
})

// 3. Acquire the token against the discovered plan by delegationId.
const { accessToken } = await payments.x402.getX402AccessToken(
  accept.planId,
  undefined,
  {
    scheme: accept.scheme,
    delegationConfig: { delegationId: delegation.delegationId },
  },
)

// 4. Retry with the token.
const result = await agent.invoke(
  { messages: [{ role: 'human', content: QUERY }] },
  { configurable: { payment_token: accessToken } },
)

from payments_py.x402.langchain import (
    PaymentRequiredError,
    create_paid_react_agent,
    requires_payment,
)
from payments_py.x402.types import (
    CreateDelegationPayload,
    DelegationConfig,
    X402TokenOptions,
)

@tool
@requires_payment(payments=payments, plan_id=PLAN_ID, credits=1)
def get_market_insight(topic: str, config: RunnableConfig = None) -> str:
    """Return a market insight. Costs 1 credit."""
    return f"Market insight for '{topic}': ..."

agent = create_paid_react_agent(
    ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o-mini", temperature=0),
    [get_market_insight],
    prompt="You are a market data assistant.",
)

# 1. Discover what the agent's tool charges by invoking without a token.
try:
    agent.invoke({"messages": [("human", QUERY)]}, config={"configurable": {}})
except PaymentRequiredError as err:
    accept = err.payment_required.accepts[0]
    # accept.scheme    → "nvm:erc4337" or "nvm:card-delegation"
    # accept.network   → CAIP-2 chain or provider name (stripe, braintree, …)
    # accept.plan_id   → which plan to acquire a token against

# 2. Pick a payment method matching the discovered network and create a
#    delegation once (provider + currency required). Reuse its delegation_id
#    for subsequent token requests.
pm = next(m for m in payments.delegation.list_payment_methods()
          if m.provider == accept.network)
delegation = payments.delegation.create_delegation(
    CreateDelegationPayload(
        provider=pm.provider,
        provider_payment_method_id=pm.id,
        spending_limit_cents=10000,
        duration_secs=3600,
        currency="usd",
    )
)

# 3. Acquire the token against the discovered plan by delegation_id.
token = payments.x402.get_x402_access_token(
    accept.plan_id,
    token_options=X402TokenOptions(
        scheme=accept.scheme,
        delegation_config=DelegationConfig(
            delegation_id=delegation.delegation_id,
        ),
    ),
)["accessToken"]

# 4. Retry with the token.
result = agent.invoke(
    {"messages": [("human", QUERY)]},
    config={"configurable": {"payment_token": token}},
)

Create the delegation that backs the payment signature first (with createDelegation), then pass its delegationId in the token’s delegationConfig. This applies to both card-delegation and crypto (nvm:erc4337) plans. Passing creation fields inline instead of a delegationId is deprecated and emits a runtime warning — see the x402 Protocol module reference (TypeScript · Python) for the full token-options surface. This discovery flow covers Stripe and Braintree. For Visa-priced plans, createDelegation from the SDK is rejected (BCK.VISA.0014) — create the Visa delegation in the Nevermined app and reuse its delegationId here.

createPaidReactAgent is async in TypeScript — it awaits the lazy @langchain/langgraph import so the dependency stays optional. Install LangGraph yourself (pnpm add @langchain/langgraph) to use it.

Reading the settlement receipt

After a successful agent call, the buyer can read the settlement receipt — credits redeemed, remaining balance, transaction hash, network, payer — via lastSettlement() (TypeScript) / last_settlement() (Python). LangGraph copies configurable per node, so the in-place payment_settlement write is invisible to the outer scope; the accessor reads it from a module-level slot instead.

TypeScript
Python

import { lastSettlement } from '@nevermined-io/payments/langchain'

const result = await agent.invoke(
  { messages: [{ role: 'human', content: QUERY }] },
  { configurable: { payment_token: accessToken } },
)
const receipt = lastSettlement()
if (receipt) {
  console.log(`credits redeemed: ${receipt.creditsRedeemed}`)
  console.log(`remaining balance: ${receipt.remainingBalance}`)
  console.log(`tx: ${receipt.transaction}`)
}

from payments_py.x402.langchain import last_settlement

result = agent.invoke(
    {"messages": [("human", QUERY)]},
    config={"configurable": {"payment_token": token}},
)
receipt = last_settlement()
if receipt:
    print(f"credits redeemed: {receipt.credits_redeemed}")
    print(f"remaining balance: {receipt.remaining_balance}")
    print(f"tx: {receipt.transaction}")

lastSettlement() / last_settlement() reads from a module-level slot. In multi-tenant processes (e.g. a server handling concurrent settlements), the value reflects whichever invocation settled most recently — there is no per-call isolation. For multi-tenant scenarios, surface settlement via a callback or observability layer instead.

Trace payments in LangSmith

Once payment protection is wired up, you can have every paid tool call surface as structured spans in LangSmith — no code changes required, just two env vars and an optional dependency. Both SDKs emit the identical nvm:verify / nvm:settlement span shape (the cross-SDK observability-spans-v1 contract), so a single trace can be correlated across a TypeScript buyer and a Python seller — e.g. filter on nvm.tx_hash. Install the optional dependency:

TypeScript
Python

pnpm add langsmith

langsmith is an optional peer dependency — the requiresPayment wrapper emits the spans automatically when it is installed and tracing is enabled.

pip install "payments-py[langchain,langsmith]"

Enable tracing:

LANGSMITH_TRACING=true
LANGSMITH_API_KEY=lsv2_pt_your-key
LANGSMITH_PROJECT=nvm-langchain          # optional
# Only needed if your LangSmith account is NOT in GCP US:
# LANGSMITH_ENDPOINT=https://eu.api.smith.langchain.com

That’s it. Running the same agent invocation now produces a trace tree with two dedicated Nevermined child spans nested under the tool:

LangGraph
└── tools
    └── get_market_insight
        ├── nvm:verify      0.28s     ← around the facilitator verify call
        └── nvm:settlement  1.88s     ← around the facilitator settle call

Each Nevermined span carries nvm.* metadata for audit + reconciliation:

Span	Attributes
`nvm:verify`	`nvm.plan_ids`, `nvm.scheme`, `nvm.network`, `nvm.agent_id`, `nvm.payer`, `nvm.agent_request_id`, `nvm.payment_token` (abbreviated), `nvm.verify.duration_ms`
`nvm:settlement`	`nvm.credits_redeemed`, `nvm.balance.after`, `nvm.tx_hash`, `nvm.network`, `nvm.payer`, `nvm.payment_token` (abbreviated), `nvm.settle.duration_ms`

The same nvm.* metadata is also attached to the parent tool span so cmd-F searches in the LangSmith UI land on either level. Failed discovery probes are first-class too. When the buyer’s first agent.invoke() runs without a payment_token (the discovery-first flow), the nvm:verify span still opens, carries the static nvm.plan_ids / nvm.scheme / nvm.network, and is marked failed by the raised PaymentRequiredError. That gives you “which plan was the probe against?” filterability instead of an opaque LangChain crash.

The payment_token the buyer passes in configurable.payment_token would normally be captured into the parent tool span’s metadata by LangChain and inherited by every child span. The full token grants access to the protected tool until it expires. Both SDKs proactively strip it from the parent span’s metadata before opening any nvm:* child, so the full credential never reaches a Nevermined-emitted attribute. The abbreviated nvm.payment_token (first 16 chars + … + last 4 chars) remains available for correlation.A too-short token (≤ 20 chars — almost always a misconfiguration, since real x402 access tokens are JWTs) is redacted, not exported: at most the first 4 chars are surfaced followed by a …(short) marker, and a token of 4 chars or fewer reveals nothing (just …(short)). A warning is logged, so a wrong value passed as the token never lands in a trace.Other channels (custom callbacks, an explicit metadata write that includes the token, tool signatures that contain the token) are not covered — strip them yourself or set export LANGSMITH_HIDE_INPUTS=true for blanket coverage.

If a span failure ever occurs during metadata building or attachment, observability is silently dropped — the payment flow itself is never interrupted. Settlement receipts persist (via lastSettlement() in TypeScript / last_settlement() in Python) regardless of whether the span emit succeeded. For the full module reference, see the Python LangChain module reference. The TypeScript helper surface (verifySpan, settlementSpan, abbreviateToken, addMetadata, redactMetadataKeys, activeRunTree, plus buildVerifyMetadata / buildSettleMetadata for manual use outside the requiresPayment decorator) is exported from @nevermined-io/payments/langsmith — JSDoc on each helper documents the contract until the next update-docs.yml sync mirrors a dedicated TS api-reference page.

Dynamic Credits

The credits argument is sent to the facilitator as max_amount. The amount actually redeemed depends on the plan’s server-side credit config: fixed plans (where plan.credits.minAmount == plan.credits.maxAmount) always burn plan.credits.maxAmount and ignore the supplied value (per nvm-monorepo#1568); range plans clamp the value into [minAmount, maxAmount]. If you want predictable per-call cost, configure the plan as fixed.

TypeScript
Python

Three patterns for credit calculation:

// Pattern 1: Static number — always costs 1 credit
const searchData = tool(
  requiresPayment(
    (args) => `Results for ${args.query}`,
    { payments, planId: PLAN_ID, credits: 1 }
  ),
  { name: 'search_data', description: '...', schema: z.object({ query: z.string() }) }
)

// Pattern 2: Arrow function — cost scales with output length
const summarize = tool(
  requiresPayment(
    (args) => `Summary of ${args.text}`,
    {
      payments, planId: PLAN_ID,
      credits: (ctx) => Math.max(2, Math.min(Math.floor(String(ctx.result).length / 100), 10)),
    }
  ),
  { name: 'summarize', description: '...', schema: z.object({ text: z.string() }) }
)

// Pattern 3: Named function — complex logic on args + result
function calcCredits(ctx: { args: Record<string, unknown>; result: unknown }): number {
  const topic = String(ctx.args.topic || '')
  const result = String(ctx.result || '')
  const base = 3
  const keywordExtra = Math.max(0, topic.split(' ').length - 3)
  const outputExtra = Math.floor(result.length / 200)
  return Math.min(base + keywordExtra + outputExtra, 15)
}

const research = tool(
  requiresPayment(
    (args) => `Report on ${args.topic}`,
    { payments, planId: PLAN_ID, credits: calcCredits }
  ),
  { name: 'research', description: '...', schema: z.object({ topic: z.string() }) }
)

The credits function receives { args, result } after tool execution.

Three patterns for credit calculation:

# Pattern 1: Static int — always costs 1 credit
@tool
@requires_payment(payments=payments, plan_id=PLAN_ID, credits=1)
def search_data(query: str, config: RunnableConfig) -> str:
    ...

# Pattern 2: Lambda — cost scales with output length
@tool
@requires_payment(
    payments=payments, plan_id=PLAN_ID,
    credits=lambda ctx: max(2, min(len(ctx.get("result", "")) // 100, 10)),
)
def summarize_data(text: str, config: RunnableConfig) -> str:
    ...

# Pattern 3: Named function — complex logic on args + result
def calc_credits(ctx: dict) -> int:
    args = ctx.get("args", {})
    result = ctx.get("result", "")
    base = 3
    keyword_extra = max(0, len(args.get("topic", "").split()) - 3)
    output_extra = len(result) // 200
    return min(base + keyword_extra + output_extra, 15)

@tool
@requires_payment(payments=payments, plan_id=PLAN_ID, credits=calc_credits)
def research_topic(topic: str, config: RunnableConfig) -> str:
    ...

The ctx dict passed to the credits function contains:

args — the tool’s input arguments
result — the tool’s return value (evaluated after execution)

Approach 2: HTTP Server with Payment Middleware

For serving the agent over HTTP, use payment middleware on your framework. Payment is handled at the HTTP layer — tools are plain functions with no decorators or payment config.

x402 Payment Flow (HTTP)

Server: LangChain

TypeScript (Express)
Python (FastAPI)

import 'dotenv/config'
import express from 'express'
import { HumanMessage, ToolMessage } from '@langchain/core/messages'
import { tool } from '@langchain/core/tools'
import { ChatOpenAI } from '@langchain/openai'
import { z } from 'zod'
import { Payments } from '@nevermined-io/payments'
import { paymentMiddleware } from '@nevermined-io/payments/express'

const payments = Payments.getInstance({
  nvmApiKey: process.env.NVM_API_KEY!,
  environment: process.env.NVM_ENVIRONMENT || 'sandbox',
})

const PLAN_ID = process.env.NVM_PLAN_ID!

// Plain tools — no requiresPayment, no config parameter
const searchData = tool(
  (args) => `Results for '${args.query}': ...`,
  { name: 'search_data', description: 'Search for data.', schema: z.object({ query: z.string() }) }
)

const summarizeData = tool(
  (args) => `Summary: ...`,
  { name: 'summarize_data', description: 'Summarize text.', schema: z.object({ text: z.string() }) }
)

// LLM + tools
const llm = new ChatOpenAI({ model: 'gpt-4o-mini', temperature: 0 })
const tools = [searchData, summarizeData]
const llmWithTools = llm.bindTools(tools)
const toolMap = new Map(tools.map((t) => [t.name, t]))

async function runAgent(query: string): Promise<string> {
  const messages: any[] = [new HumanMessage(query)]
  for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    const ai = await llmWithTools.invoke(messages)
    messages.push(ai)
    if (!ai.tool_calls?.length) return String(ai.content)
    for (const tc of ai.tool_calls) {
      const result = await (toolMap.get(tc.name) as any).invoke(tc.args)
      messages.push(new ToolMessage({ content: result, tool_call_id: tc.id! }))
    }
  }
  return String(messages.at(-1)?.content || 'No response.')
}

// Express app with payment middleware
const app = express()
app.use(express.json())
app.use(paymentMiddleware(payments, {
  'POST /ask': { planId: PLAN_ID, credits: 1 },
}))

app.post('/ask', async (req, res) => {
  const response = await runAgent(req.body.query)
  res.json({ response })
})

app.get('/health', (_req, res) => res.json({ status: 'ok' }))

app.listen(8000, () => console.log('Running on http://localhost:8000'))

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

import uvicorn
from fastapi import FastAPI, Request
from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse
from langchain_core.messages import HumanMessage, ToolMessage
from langchain_core.tools import tool
from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI
from pydantic import BaseModel
from payments_py import Payments, PaymentOptions
from payments_py.x402.fastapi import PaymentMiddleware

payments = Payments.get_instance(
    PaymentOptions(
        nvm_api_key=os.environ["NVM_API_KEY"],
        environment=os.environ.get("NVM_ENVIRONMENT", "sandbox"),
    )
)

PLAN_ID = os.environ["NVM_PLAN_ID"]
AGENT_ID = os.environ.get("NVM_AGENT_ID")

# Plain tools — no @requires_payment, no RunnableConfig
@tool
def search_data(query: str) -> str:
    """Search for data on a given topic."""
    return f"Results for '{query}': ..."

@tool
def summarize_data(text: str) -> str:
    """Summarize text into bullet points."""
    return f"Summary: ..."

# LLM + tools
llm = ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o-mini", temperature=0)
tools = [search_data, summarize_data]
llm_with_tools = llm.bind_tools(tools)
tool_map = {t.name: t for t in tools}


def run_agent(query: str) -> str:
    """Run the LangChain agent with a tool-call loop."""
    messages = [HumanMessage(content=query)]
    for _ in range(10):
        ai = llm_with_tools.invoke(messages)
        messages.append(ai)
        if not ai.tool_calls:
            return ai.content
        for tc in ai.tool_calls:
            result = tool_map[tc["name"]].invoke(tc["args"])
            messages.append(ToolMessage(content=result, tool_call_id=tc["id"]))
    return messages[-1].content


# FastAPI app with payment middleware
app = FastAPI(title="LangChain Agent with x402 Payments")

app.add_middleware(
    PaymentMiddleware,
    payments=payments,
    routes={
        "POST /ask": {"plan_id": PLAN_ID, "credits": 1, "agent_id": AGENT_ID},
    },
)


class AskRequest(BaseModel):
    query: str


@app.post("/ask")
async def ask(body: AskRequest, request: Request) -> JSONResponse:
    response = run_agent(body.query)
    return JSONResponse(content={"response": response})


@app.get("/health")
async def health():
    return {"status": "ok"}


if __name__ == "__main__":
    uvicorn.run(app, host="0.0.0.0", port=8000)

Server: LangGraph

Replace the tool-call loop with LangGraph’s create_react_agent:

TypeScript
Python

import { tool } from '@langchain/core/tools'
import { ChatOpenAI } from '@langchain/openai'
import { createReactAgent } from '@langchain/langgraph/prebuilt'
import { z } from 'zod'

// Plain tools — no payment wrappers
const searchData = tool(
  (args) => `Results for '${args.query}': ...`,
  { name: 'search_data', description: 'Search.', schema: z.object({ query: z.string() }) }
)

const agent = createReactAgent({
  llm: new ChatOpenAI({ model: 'gpt-4o-mini' }),
  tools: [searchData, summarizeData],
})

async function runAgent(query: string): Promise<string> {
  const result = await agent.invoke({ messages: [{ role: 'human', content: query }] })
  const messages = result.messages || []
  return messages.at(-1)?.content || 'No response.'
}

from langchain_core.tools import tool
from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent

# Plain tools — no payment decorators
@tool
def search_data(query: str) -> str:
    """Search for data on a given topic."""
    return f"Results for '{query}': ..."

llm = ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o-mini", temperature=0)
graph = create_react_agent(llm, [search_data, summarize_data])


def run_agent(query: str) -> str:
    result = graph.invoke({"messages": [("human", query)]})
    messages = result.get("messages", [])
    return messages[-1].content if messages else "No response."

The HTTP app, middleware, and route handlers are identical to the LangChain version above.

Client: Full x402 HTTP Flow

TypeScript
Python

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

const SERVER_URL = process.env.SERVER_URL || 'http://localhost:8000'
const PLAN_ID = process.env.NVM_PLAN_ID!

const payments = Payments.getInstance({
  nvmApiKey: process.env.NVM_SUBSCRIBER_API_KEY!,
  environment: process.env.NVM_ENVIRONMENT || 'sandbox',
})

// Step 1: Request without token → 402
const resp402 = await fetch(`${SERVER_URL}/ask`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ query: 'AI trends' }),
})
console.log(`Status: ${resp402.status}`) // 402

// Step 2: Decode payment requirements
const pr = JSON.parse(Buffer.from(resp402.headers.get('payment-required')!, 'base64').toString())
console.log(`Plan: ${pr.accepts[0].planId}`)

// Step 3: Acquire x402 token
// Create a delegation once, then reuse its id to mint tokens.
const { delegationId } = await payments.delegation.createDelegation({
  provider: 'erc4337',       // 'stripe' | 'braintree' | 'visa' for fiat plans
  spendingLimitCents: 10000, // $100 budget
  durationSecs: 604800,      // 7 days
  currency: 'usdc',          // 'usd' for fiat plans
})
const token = await payments.x402.getX402AccessToken(PLAN_ID, undefined, {
  scheme: 'nvm:erc4337',       // 'nvm:card-delegation' for fiat plans
  delegationConfig: { delegationId },
})
const accessToken = token.accessToken

// Step 4: Request with token → 200
const resp200 = await fetch(`${SERVER_URL}/ask`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'payment-signature': accessToken,
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ query: 'AI trends' }),
})
const body = await resp200.json()
console.log(`Response: ${body.response}`)

// Step 5: Decode settlement receipt
const settlement = JSON.parse(
  Buffer.from(resp200.headers.get('payment-response')!, 'base64').toString()
)
console.log(`Credits charged:   ${settlement.creditsRedeemed}`)
console.log(`Remaining balance: ${settlement.remainingBalance}`)
console.log(`Transaction:       ${settlement.transaction}`)

import base64
import json
import os
import httpx
from payments_py import Payments, PaymentOptions
from payments_py.x402 import X402TokenOptions, DelegationConfig, CreateDelegationPayload

SERVER_URL = os.environ.get("SERVER_URL", "http://localhost:8000")
PLAN_ID = os.environ["NVM_PLAN_ID"]

payments = Payments.get_instance(
    PaymentOptions(
        nvm_api_key=os.environ["NVM_SUBSCRIBER_API_KEY"],
        environment=os.environ.get("NVM_ENVIRONMENT", "sandbox"),
    )
)

with httpx.Client(timeout=60.0) as client:
    # Step 1: Request without token → 402
    resp = client.post(f"{SERVER_URL}/ask", json={"query": "AI trends"})
    assert resp.status_code == 402

    # Step 2: Decode payment requirements
    pr = json.loads(base64.b64decode(resp.headers["payment-required"]))
    print(f"Plan: {pr['accepts'][0]['planId']}")

    # Step 3: Acquire x402 token
    # Create a delegation once, then reuse its id to mint tokens.
    delegation = payments.delegation.create_delegation(
        CreateDelegationPayload(
            provider="erc4337", spending_limit_cents=10000, duration_secs=604800, currency="usdc",
        )
    )
    token = payments.x402.get_x402_access_token(
        plan_id=PLAN_ID,
        token_options=X402TokenOptions(
            scheme="nvm:erc4337",  # "nvm:card-delegation" for fiat plans
            delegation_config=DelegationConfig(delegation_id=delegation.delegation_id)
        ),
    )
    access_token = token["accessToken"]

    # Step 4: Request with token → 200
    resp = client.post(
        f"{SERVER_URL}/ask",
        headers={"payment-signature": access_token},
        json={"query": "AI trends"},
    )
    print(f"Response: {resp.json()['response']}")

    # Step 5: Decode settlement receipt
    settlement = json.loads(base64.b64decode(resp.headers["payment-response"]))
    print(f"Credits charged:   {settlement['creditsRedeemed']}")
    print(f"Remaining balance: {settlement['remainingBalance']}")
    print(f"Transaction:       {settlement['transaction']}")

x402 HTTP Headers

Header	Direction	Description
`payment-signature`	Client → Server	x402 access token
`payment-required`	Server → Client (402)	Base64-encoded payment requirements
`payment-response`	Server → Client (200)	Base64-encoded settlement receipt

The settlement receipt (payment-response) contains:

Field	Description
`creditsRedeemed`	Number of credits charged
`remainingBalance`	Subscriber’s remaining credit balance
`transaction`	Blockchain transaction hash
`network`	Blockchain network (CAIP-2 format)
`payer`	Subscriber wallet address

Decorator Configuration

With Agent ID

TypeScript
Python

const myTool = tool(
  requiresPayment(
    (args) => `Result for ${args.query}`,
    {
      payments,
      planId: PLAN_ID,
      credits: 1,
      agentId: process.env.NVM_AGENT_ID,
    }
  ),
  { name: 'my_tool', description: '...', schema: z.object({ query: z.string() }) }
)

@tool
@requires_payment(
    payments=payments,
    plan_id=PLAN_ID,
    credits=1,
    agent_id=os.environ.get("NVM_AGENT_ID"),
)
def my_tool(query: str, config: RunnableConfig) -> str:
    ...

Multiple Plans (Python only)

@tool
@requires_payment(
    payments=payments,
    plan_ids=["plan-basic", "plan-premium"],
    credits=1,
)
def my_tool(query: str, config: RunnableConfig) -> str:
    ...

Scheme and Network

TypeScript
Python

const myTool = tool(
  requiresPayment(
    (args) => `Result`,
    { payments, planId: PLAN_ID, credits: 1, network: 'eip155:84532' }
  ),
  { name: 'my_tool', description: '...', schema: z.object({ query: z.string() }) }
)

# Explicit card-delegation scheme for fiat payments
@tool
@requires_payment(
    payments=payments,
    plan_id=PLAN_ID,
    credits=1,
    scheme="nvm:card-delegation",
)
def my_fiat_tool(query: str, config: RunnableConfig) -> str:
    ...

The decorator/wrapper automatically detects the payment scheme from plan metadata. Plans with fiat pricing (isCrypto: false) use nvm:card-delegation (Stripe). No code changes are needed on the agent side.

Complete Examples

Working seller/buyer agents with LangGraph — includes both Python and TypeScript variants:

TypeScript
Python

seller-simple-agent/ts — Seller with paymentMiddleware + requiresPayment demo
buyer-simple-agent/ts — Buyer CLI agent with x402 token generation

Each includes:

src/server.ts / src/agent.ts — LangGraph createReactAgent with payment-protected tools
src/demo.ts — requiresPayment wrapper demo (seller only)
src/client.ts — HTTP client with full x402 payment flow

seller-simple-agent — src/langgraph_agent.py with @requires_payment decorator
buyer-simple-agent — src/langgraph_agent.py with buyer tools

Each includes:

src/langgraph_agent.py — LangGraph create_react_agent with payment-protected tools
src/agent_langgraph.py — Interactive CLI entry point

Environment Variables

# Nevermined (required)
NVM_API_KEY=sandbox:your-api-key         # Builder/server API key
NVM_SUBSCRIBER_API_KEY=sandbox:your-key  # Subscriber/client API key
NVM_ENVIRONMENT=sandbox
NVM_PLAN_ID=your-plan-id
NVM_AGENT_ID=your-agent-id              # Optional

# LLM Provider
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key

Next Steps

Express Middleware (TS)

Deep dive into paymentMiddleware for Express

FastAPI Middleware (Python)

Deep dive into PaymentMiddleware for FastAPI

x402 Protocol

Deep dive into x402 payment flows

Payment Models

Configure credits, subscriptions, and dynamic pricing

Learn

Build

Payments

Solutions

Integrations

Payment Patterns

Components

Specs

Runnable tutorial

Installation

Approach 1: Tool Decorator / Wrapper

x402 Payment Flow (decorator)

Quick Start

Invoking with payment

LLM-driven tool calling

LangGraph ReAct agent

Discovery-first flow with `createPaidReactAgent`

Reading the settlement receipt

Trace payments in LangSmith

Dynamic Credits

Approach 2: HTTP Server with Payment Middleware

x402 Payment Flow (HTTP)

Server: LangChain

Server: LangGraph

Client: Full x402 HTTP Flow

x402 HTTP Headers

Decorator Configuration

With Agent ID

Multiple Plans (Python only)

Scheme and Network

Complete Examples

Environment Variables

Next Steps

Express Middleware (TS)

FastAPI Middleware (Python)

x402 Protocol

Payment Models

Runnable tutorial

​Installation

​Approach 1: Tool Decorator / Wrapper

​x402 Payment Flow (decorator)

​Quick Start

​Invoking with payment

​LLM-driven tool calling

​LangGraph ReAct agent

​Discovery-first flow with createPaidReactAgent

​Reading the settlement receipt

​Trace payments in LangSmith

​Dynamic Credits

​Approach 2: HTTP Server with Payment Middleware

​x402 Payment Flow (HTTP)

​Server: LangChain

​Server: LangGraph

​Client: Full x402 HTTP Flow

​x402 HTTP Headers

​Decorator Configuration

​With Agent ID

​Multiple Plans (Python only)

​Scheme and Network

​Complete Examples

​Environment Variables

​Next Steps

Express Middleware (TS)

FastAPI Middleware (Python)

x402 Protocol

Payment Models

Installation

Approach 1: Tool Decorator / Wrapper

x402 Payment Flow (decorator)

Quick Start

Invoking with payment

LLM-driven tool calling

LangGraph ReAct agent

Discovery-first flow with `createPaidReactAgent`

Reading the settlement receipt

Trace payments in LangSmith

Dynamic Credits

Approach 2: HTTP Server with Payment Middleware

x402 Payment Flow (HTTP)

Server: LangChain

Server: LangGraph

Client: Full x402 HTTP Flow

x402 HTTP Headers

Decorator Configuration

With Agent ID

Multiple Plans (Python only)

Scheme and Network

Complete Examples

Environment Variables

Next Steps