{"generated_at":"2026-06-13T07:01:43.418390Z","name":"Ontario Protocol glossary","terms":[{"definition":"Open standard that revives HTTP status code 402 for AI agent commerce. A server returns 402 with a structured payment requirement; the client signs an EIP-3009 transfer authorization and resubmits. The server verifies and settles via a facilitator (Coinbase CDP by default) and returns 200.","see":["http-402","facilitator","eip-3009"],"slug":"x402","term":"x402"},{"definition":"Reserved HTTP status code unused for two decades. x402 and L402 both reuse it: the server signals 'payment required' before returning the resource. Clients pay and retry.","see":["x402","l402"],"slug":"http-402","term":"HTTP 402 Payment Required"},{"definition":"Ontario Protocol's public readiness standard for deciding whether an AI agent should pay an x402 endpoint. It combines HTTP 402 challenge behavior, /.well-known/x402.json, OpenAPI, catalog metadata, HTTPS, and public report IDs into a 100-point score and ready/close/needs-work grade.","see":["x402","http-402","coinbase-bazaar"],"slug":"ontario-x402-trust-standard","term":"Ontario x402 Trust Standard"},{"definition":"Public Ontario verification artifact for a paid endpoint. A report contains target URL, readiness score, grade, signals, evidence, recommendations, and a stable report_id that listings and badges can reference.","see":["ontario-x402-trust-standard","x402"],"slug":"x402-readiness-report","term":"x402 readiness report"},{"definition":"Service that verifies a signed x402 payment payload against the chain and settles it on the server's behalf. Coinbase CDP is the reference hosted facilitator; Ontario operates a take-rate proxy on top of it for third-party listings.","see":["x402","coinbase-cdp","take-rate-proxy"],"slug":"facilitator","term":"Facilitator"},{"definition":"Hosted x402 facilitator at api.cdp.coinbase.com/platform/v2/x402. Supports 22 networks. Authenticates via per-request Ed25519 JWT. Free at low volume; the default verify+settle backend for most x402 deployments.","see":["facilitator","x402"],"slug":"coinbase-cdp","term":"Coinbase CDP Facilitator"},{"definition":"Thin HTTP proxy in front of a facilitator that splits each settlement into a marketplace take and a provider remainder, writing the split to an append-only ledger. Ontario's proxy takes 1.5% on third-party listings; the ledger is public at /treasury.","see":["facilitator","marketplace-fee"],"slug":"take-rate-proxy","term":"Take-rate proxy"},{"definition":"Ethereum standard for gasless ERC-20 transfers signed via EIP-712 typed data. USDC supports it natively. x402 uses an EIP-3009 authorization as the payment payload, which means the client signs but the facilitator pays gas.","see":["x402","usdc","eip-712"],"slug":"eip-3009","term":"EIP-3009 (transferWithAuthorization)"},{"definition":"Standard for human-readable typed-data signatures on EVM chains. The signing domain for USDC uses name='USD Coin' and version='2'; mis-setting this is the most common cause of x402 signature failures.","see":["eip-3009","usdc"],"slug":"eip-712","term":"EIP-712 typed data"},{"definition":"Native USDC on Base mainnet at 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913. Six decimals. EIP-3009-capable. The default settlement asset for x402 in this implementation.","see":["base","eip-3009"],"slug":"usdc","term":"USDC on Base"},{"definition":"Coinbase's EVM Layer 2 (CAIP-2 eip155:8453). Default network for x402 because of native USDC, Coinbase wallet ubiquity and CDP facilitator support out of the box.","see":["usdc","facilitator"],"slug":"base","term":"Base mainnet"},{"definition":"Self-describing JSON document hosted by an autonomous agent (typically at /agent.json or /.well-known/agents.json). Declares identity, capabilities, supported A2A methods and auth. Scanned by Ontario's agent-trust-scan.","see":["a2a","agents-json"],"slug":"agent-card","term":"Agent card"},{"definition":"Well-known descriptor at /.well-known/agents.json. Lists the agent's name, version, capabilities, supported protocols (including x402), and auth model. The agent-side analog of openapi.json.","see":["agent-card","a2a"],"slug":"agents-json","term":"agents.json"},{"definition":"Open protocol from Anthropic that lets AI hosts connect to external tool servers. Tools are described as JSON schemas. Ontario exposes its paid endpoints as MCP tools at /.well-known/mcp.json with x402 price metadata attached.","see":["x402-gated-mcp","agents-json"],"slug":"mcp","term":"Model Context Protocol (MCP)"},{"definition":"MCP server where each tool call is gated behind an x402 payment. The MCP tool descriptor carries a price field so the AI host can budget before invoking.","see":["mcp","x402"],"slug":"x402-gated-mcp","term":"x402-gated MCP"},{"definition":"Google-led protocol family for direct agent-to-agent communication, capability discovery and delegation. Complementary to x402: A2A handles 'who can act'; x402 handles 'how the payment moves'.","see":["ap2","x402"],"slug":"a2a","term":"A2A (Agent-to-Agent)"},{"definition":"Layer for delegated payment authority and consent receipts between agents and their principals. Pairs with x402 on the wire; AP2 says 'this agent is allowed to spend X for Y', x402 actually moves the funds.","see":["a2a","x402"],"slug":"ap2","term":"AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol)"},{"definition":"Lightning Labs' HTTP 402 standard. Settles in BTC over the Lightning Network using macaroons as the auth token. Same problem space as x402, different settlement substrate.","see":["http-402","x402"],"slug":"l402","term":"L402"},{"definition":"Ethereum Attestation Service. On-chain or signed off-chain claim conforming to a registered schema. Ontario uses EAS schemas to record agent reputation entries with selective on-chain promotion.","see":["reputation","agent-trust"],"slug":"eas","term":"EAS attestation"},{"definition":"Accumulated record of an agent's behaviour, sourced from scan history and EAS attestations. Queryable via GET /api/x402/reputation/<agent_id> at 0.001 USDC per call.","see":["eas","agent-trust"],"slug":"reputation","term":"Agent reputation"},{"definition":"Mechanical enumeration of trust signals on an agent surface: agent card presence, x402 manifest, OpenAPI schema, schema.org markup, robots policy, HTTPS posture. Returns a structured JSON report.","see":["agent-card","reputation"],"slug":"agent-trust","term":"Agent trust scan"},{"definition":"Coinbase's first-party x402 service catalog. Ontario auto-generates Bazaar-compatible manifests for verified listings so dual-listing is automatic without exposing operator controls.","see":["x402","discovery"],"slug":"coinbase-bazaar","term":"Coinbase Bazaar"},{"definition":"How agents find services they can pay. Ontario exposes /.well-known/x402.json (manifest), /discover (machine catalog), /listings (human directory) and /llms.txt (LLM-ingestion summary).","see":["x402","coinbase-bazaar"],"slug":"discovery","term":"Discovery"},{"definition":"1.5% take rate on third-party listings settled through Ontario's /facilitator/settle proxy. First-party services (trust scan, reputation, listing fees) have no separate take. Every collected USDC is in the public ledger.","see":["take-rate-proxy","facilitator"],"slug":"marketplace-fee","term":"Marketplace fee"},{"definition":"HTTP 402 with body { error, accepts: [PaymentRequirements] } and header WWW-Authenticate: x402. The PaymentRequirements carry network, asset, payTo, maxAmountRequired, nonce and validUntil.","see":["http-402","x402"],"slug":"402-response","term":"402 response"}],"url":"https://ontarioprotocol.com/glossary"}