Ontario Protocol.
x402 pre-payment decision playbook

Verify an x402 endpoint before payment for OpenAPI tool registries

The agent needs evidence before signing a payment payload. This playbook maps the decision to observable Ontario evidence so an agent can fail closed before payment.

Verify x402 endpoint tool registries No-payment first
Decision question: Can OpenAPI tool registries rely on this x402 endpoint without schemas that describe an API but omit payment behavior?

Only after OpenAPI tool registries can inspect fresh report_id, HTTP 402 behavior, manifest fields, OpenAPI hints, robots access, and remediation warnings. 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 registries that need parseable API and payment contracts.
  • Require fresh report_id, HTTP 402 behavior, manifest fields, OpenAPI hints, robots access, and remediation warnings.
  • Reject when there is no 402 challenge, stale report, missing manifest, or contradictory price/network metadata.
  • 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 no 402 challenge, stale report, missing manifest, or contradictory price/network metadata.

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 -X POST https://ontarioprotocol.com/api/verify/x402-readiness \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"target_url":"https://example.com/api/paid-endpoint"}'

Primary Ontario surface: /api/verify/x402-readiness

Sourceability note

Search Console showed early impressions for /verify and the homepage.

KPI: more OpenAPI-backed x402 service profiles.

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.

Run the readiness verifier Run verifier Browse discovery Read trust boundary