01 / STANDBY
AI AGENTS
Autonomous agents can request and pay for digital resources.
> initializing HTTP402...
> loading payment layer...
> checking payment rail... ARC / USDC
> status: READY_
[ HTTP STATUS: 402 ]▋
HTTP402
THE PAYMENT LAYER
FOR THE AUTONOMOUS INTERNET
HTTP 402 was designed to say one thing: PAYMENT REQUIRED.
HTTP402 turns that signal into a vision for machine-native commerce—where APIs, agents, applications and digital services can request payment before access.
PROTOCOL / 001
WHAT DOES 402 MEAN?
HTTP 402 means: Payment Required.
For decades, the web has been optimized for information exchange. Request. Response.
HTTP402 imagines a web where value can move just as naturally as information.
REQUEST. PAYMENT. ACCESS.
PAYMENT_HANDSHAKE.LOG● LIVE
$ GET /resource
_PAYMENT FLOW / 002
REQUEST. PAY. ACCESS.
402 → PAYMENT → 200 OK
AUTONOMOUS ECONOMY / 003
THE INTERNET WAS BUILT FOR REQUESTS.
THE NEXT INTERNET CAN HANDLE PAYMENTS.
AI agents and software services increasingly operate without humans clicking every button. They need data, APIs, computation, storage, intelligence and services.
Let machines request.
Let machines pay.
Let machines access.
HTTP402 explores this primitive as a vision for request-level commerce—without requiring a subscription, invoice or manual approval for every interaction.
AGENT_ROUTE.EXE● LIVE
AI AGENT
API
402 PAYMENT REQUIRED
USDC
ARC
200 OK
RESOURCE
APPLICATIONS / 004
BUILT FOR THE MACHINE ECONOMY
02 / STANDBY
APIs & DATA
Pay-per-request access to APIs, datasets and information services.
03 / STANDBY
COMPUTE
Machine-readable payment flows for computation and digital resources.
04 / STANDBY
DIGITAL SERVICES
Services can require payment before delivering access.
05 / STANDBY
MICROPAYMENTS
Explore payment models where value moves at the level of individual requests.
DEVELOPER INTERFACE / 005
MAKE YOUR API PAYABLE.
Add a payment boundary between your resource and the request. This developing concept illustrates the intended interaction—not a production-ready implementation.
BUILD WITH HTTP402HTTP402_API_DEMO● LIVE
GET /api/data HTTP/1.1
HTTP/1.1 402 Payment Required
{
"amount": "0.01",
"currency": "USDC",
"network": "ARC"
}
✓ PAYMENT VERIFIED
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
"status": "access_granted"
}SETTLEMENT LAYER / 006
VALUE MOVES DIFFERENTLY WHEN MONEY BECOMES PROGRAMMABLE.
HTTP402 is designed around stablecoin-native payment flows. USDC represents the payment asset. Arc represents the settlement environment. HTTP402 represents the payment-request concept.
DESIGNED FOR USDC PAYMENTS ON ARC.
RESOURCE
HTTP402
USDC
ARC
SETTLEMENT
NETWORK = ARC
ASSET = USDC
PAYMENT = REQUIRED
STATUS = READY
SYSTEM MAP / 007
FROM HTTP REQUEST
TO ONCHAIN SETTLEMENT
NODE_INSPECTOR / 01
CLIENT / AI AGENT
Initiates a request for a digital resource.
VISION / 008
A MORE OPEN INTERNET
INFORMATION MOVES.
VALUE SHOULD MOVE TOO.
The internet made information programmable. HTTP402 explores what happens when payments become part of the same interaction model—a future where APIs can charge per request, agents can pay for services, software can transact autonomously and digital resources can become economically addressable.
REQUEST. PAY. ACCESS.
MACHINES PAY. THE INTERNET EVOLVES.
ACCESS / 009
HTTP402 IS LIVE.
THE PAYMENT LAYER FOR THE AUTONOMOUS INTERNET.
CONTRACT ADDRESS
CA_STATUS=COMING_SOON
NETWORK=ARC
PAYMENT_ASSET=USDC
PROTOCOL_STATUS=BUILDING