Autonomous API Procurement

A buyer-agent purchases an API response from a provider-agent under policy.

This is the simplest transaction that breaks companies when something goes wrong—unless evidence is first-class.

Intent → Negotiation → Policy → Settlement → Evidence → Blame

Why this exists

Autonomous agents can now:

  • negotiate contracts
  • trigger payments
  • commit capital
  • act across organizational boundaries

But today:

  • logs are mutable
  • payments prove nothing about intent
  • failures are ambiguous
  • responsibility cannot be proven

Pact exists because autonomous systems cannot scale without evidence.

Actors

  • Buyer agent: Autonomous agent seeking to purchase API access
  • Provider agent: Autonomous agent offering API services
  • Settlement provider: Rail-agnostic payment or escrow system
  • Verifier: Third party that can independently verify evidence bundles

Flow

  1. Buyer sends intent to purchase API response with specified parameters
  2. Provider asks price and terms (rate limits, SLA, payment method)
  3. Buyer accepts terms, both agents sign the negotiation transcript
  4. Settlement executes through the chosen payment rail (Stripe, escrow, crypto)
  5. Evidence bundle is generated containing signed transcript, verification report, settlement records, and judgment (if failure occurred)

Scenarios

Success

When this works, no one asks for proof—until something doesn't.

Transaction completes successfully. Provider delivers API response, buyer receives it, settlement confirms payment.

Artifacts: Signed transcript, verification report (PASS), settlement confirmation, evidence bundle.

DBL: NO_FAULT — no failure event occurred.

Policy abort PACT-101

This is the type of transaction that breaks companies when something goes wrong.

Provider attempts to charge above agreed price or violates rate limit policy. Negotiation aborts before settlement.

Artifacts: Signed transcript up to abort point, verification report (FAIL), evidence bundle.

DBL: RESPONSIBLE_ACTOR: provider — policy violation detected in signed transcript.

Timeout PACT-404

When the provider goes silent, the only proof of what was agreed is the transcript.

Buyer accepts terms, settlement initiates, but provider fails to deliver API response within policy-defined timeout window.

Artifacts: Signed transcript, verification report (PASS), settlement attempt record, failure event, evidence bundle.

DBL: RESPONSIBLE_ACTOR: provider — missed delivery deadline per signed agreement.

Why this matters

  • Procurement becomes auditable: Every transaction produces verifiable evidence that can be reviewed by auditors, legal teams, or insurers
  • Disputes become evidence-first: Instead of he-said-she-said, disputes are resolved using cryptographically signed transcripts and deterministic blame logic
  • Insurers can underwrite behavior: Evidence bundles enable risk assessment and insurance products for autonomous agent transactions

Outputs you can verify

  • Transcript hash
  • Policy hash
  • Verifier PASS/FAIL
  • Judgment output