Ontario Protocol.
x402 pre-payment decision playbook

Inspect a public readiness report for agent marketplace operators

A report should explain score, freshness, evidence, and limits before payment. This playbook maps the decision to observable Ontario evidence so an agent can fail closed before payment.

Inspect report marketplaces No-payment first
Decision question: Can agent marketplace operators rely on this x402 endpoint without directories that rank services without fresh evidence?

Only after agent marketplace operators can inspect report_id, grade, score, timestamp, issues, integrity endpoint, and historical observations. If the evidence is missing, stale, or contradictory, the agent should fail closed.

Required evidence

  • Confirm the endpoint maps to a real payment resource for marketplaces curating paid services for autonomous agents.
  • Require report_id, grade, score, timestamp, issues, integrity endpoint, and historical observations.
  • Reject when there is unsigned report, missing timestamp, stale grade, or no explanation of failed checks.
  • Link the final decision to a public report, manifest, benchmark row, or policy outcome.

Reject conditions

Reject or send to human review when there is unsigned report, missing timestamp, stale grade, or no explanation of failed checks.

Do not let a positive-looking badge or directory row override a stale or contradictory live check.

Agent workflow

  1. Start with the no-payment evidence path.
  2. Run the Ontario verifier or policy endpoint shown below.
  3. Compare live endpoint behavior against manifest and discovery metadata.
  4. Store the report_id or policy decision with the agent's payment log.
  5. Send the payment only when the agent's own policy allows it.

Command or probe

curl https://ontarioprotocol.com/api/verify/reports
# Agents should inspect the specific report_id before trusting a badge or listing.

Primary Ontario surface: /api/verify/reports

Sourceability note

Report and service profile pages already receive early Search Console impressions.

KPI: more discovery feed calls and report inspections.

Trust boundary

Ontario Protocol provides readiness and trust signals based on observable endpoint behavior, manifest metadata, payment challenge behavior, report history, and public evidence. It does not guarantee endpoint safety, service quality, financial outcome, or future behavior.

Browse public reports Run verifier Browse discovery Read trust boundary