Infrastructure

Governed machine payments for AI-mediated research workflows.

Machine Payment Protocol gives True Primary a machine-readable transaction layer for agent-filed briefs, paid transcript access, metered library queries, and other machine-side actions where permissions, limits, receipts, and auditability matter as much as the payment itself.

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Machine-readable · Policy-bound · Receipt-backed · Audit-ready

Why this matters now

As more work moves through AI interfaces and software agents.

The hard problem is no longer only retrieval or orchestration. It is how a machine-side action is allowed, constrained, paid for, and recorded without turning the workflow back into manual billing pages and account setup.

MPP is the open protocol model for that. True Primary uses it for the machine-side traffic underneath the human research workflow.

Brief intake · POST /briefsMPP exchange · 402 → 200

> POST /briefs HTTP/1.1
> Host: api.trueprimary.com
> Content-Type: application/json
>
> {
>   "question": "chargeback pricing in LATAM"
> }

< HTTP/1.1 402 Payment Required
< WWW-Authenticate: Payment
<     scheme="USDC"
<     amount="2500"
<     currency="USDC.e"
<     network="base"
<     recipient="trueprimary.eth"

  ··· principal authorises payment within policy ···

> POST /briefs HTTP/1.1
> Authorization: Payment proof="0x4b9e0e2c…d31a"
> Content-Type: application/json
>
> {
>   "question": "chargeback pricing in LATAM"
> }

< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< Payment-Receipt: tx="0x4b9e0e2c…d31a"
<
< {
<   "brief_id": "BR-Q4N",
<   "status":   "in scope"
< }

Architecture

Four layers. Each carries one responsibility.

Principal and policy at the top. Agent or application underneath. MPP carries the challenge, settlement, and receipt. The True Primary resource sits at the bottom, with audit trails attached to every paid action.

Architecture · governed machine paymentReceipt-backed

01Layer 1 of 4
Principal · policy
Who may spend, on what, under which budget. The policy travels with every request.
02Layer 2 of 4
Agent · application
An autonomous workflow, an internal service, or a human-in-the-loop request issued under the policy.
03Layer 3 of 4
MPP · challenge, settlement, receipt
402 Payment Required → authorisation → receipt-bearing response. Verifiable end to end.
04Layer 4 of 4
True Primary resource · audit
Brief intake, transcript summary access, library query. Each paid action linked back to a receipt.

Machine-readablePolicy-boundReceipt-backedAudit-ready

The exchange

Four steps, one round trip.

Client requests a paid resource

An agent, application, or human asks for something the API offers. A transcript summary, a synthesis, a metered library query.

Server returns a payment challenge

402 Payment Required. The challenge describes accepted methods, the price, and the receipt format.

Client fulfils the challenge

Inside the policy and limits delegated to the principal. The protocol does not care which payment rail; it cares the proof is verifiable.

Server verifies and returns the resource

Plus a Payment-Receipt header. The whole transaction concludes inside a single round trip, machine-readable end to end.

Where MPP fits at True Primary

The human side stays human. MPP runs underneath it.

Briefs, source routing, expert interactions, and transcript-backed evidence remain a human workflow. MPP fits in the layer underneath: the machine-side traffic that files a brief on behalf of an authorised agent, retrieves a paid transcript summary, or runs a metered library query.

Agent-filed briefs

An authorised system submits a brief and settles the routing charge without creating a manual billing relationship first.

Per-transcript access

A downstream system requests a single transcript summary or piece of synthesis and receives a receipt-backed response.

Metered library queries

Short, machine-side synthesis queries can be priced at the request level instead of via surrounding account complexity.

Compliance by receipt

Every machine-side paid action ties back to a receipt-bearing event and an auditable workflow.

Governance and delegated authority

Not autonomous spending. Delegated authority with limits.

Principal and policy
Who may spend, on what, under which budget. The principal sets the policy; the agent operates within it.
Receipt-backed
Every machine-side paid action carries a receipt linked to a brief, a source, and a caveat.
Audit-ready
The audit trail is the protocol, not a screenshot. Every receipt is independently verifiable.
Open standard
MPP is being proposed as an internet standard. We are committing to an open base, not a proprietary billing layer locked to one vendor.

Building agents on top of True Primary?

Selected MPP-backed endpoints are available in controlled preview. Talk to us if you are running AI-mediated or machine-side workflows that require controlled payment execution.

Request MPP access