# Agents Pay

Use when THIS agent needs to pay for x402-protected content at runtime: hitting a...

- Repository: https://github.com/aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws (3366 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-10-30
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill agents-pay -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill agents-pay -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill agents-pay -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws --skill agents-pay -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws`

## Description

Use when THIS agent needs to pay for x402-protected content at runtime: hitting a paywall mid-task, settling it via AgentCore Payments, and applying operator-defined spend limits. Covers payment setup, policy, session budgets, and troubleshooting. Triggers on: "my agent hit a 402 while calling an API", "a tool call returned 402 Payment Required", "my agent needs to pay for x402-protected content", "let the agent pay for content, capped at $5 per session", "set a spend limit for the agent", "ProcessPayment failed", or "why did my agent refuse to pay". Not for BUILDING payment capability for end users, including wallets and framework middleware; use agents-build and references/payments.md. For non-paid APIs via Gateway use agents-connect. For inbound auth use agents-harden. For project scaffolding use agents-get-started.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# pay

Let an agent pay for x402-protected content without letting the agent, or
anything it reads, decide who gets paid, how much, or how often.

## The one idea that matters

**A payment decision is made in code, from a policy file, before any signing.**
Nothing the model says, and nothing inside fetched content, can authorize a
payment or raise a limit.

An instruction to a model is not an access control: it is a request that a
confused or prompt-injected model may decline. Controls must be enforced in code
at the point where payment is authorised.

So in this skill every control is executable, and the model's entire payment
surface can only spend an already-approved, bounded session, it can pay, check
remaining budget, and obtain an opaque handle for a browser navigation, and
nothing more.

## When to use

**This skill is for an agent that needs to pay for something itself, right now**, the coding agent you are talking to, or an agent host like OpenClaw, hitting a
paywall mid-task and settling it.

- The agent you are running hits an x402 paywall (HTTP `402`) and needs the content
- You need hard spend limits on what that agent can pay, per payment and per session
- A payment was refused and you need to know which rule rejected it

### Not this skill: building a payment-capable agent

If you are **writing an agent that will take payments or pay on behalf of its own end
users**, provisioning a wallet per customer, wiring a payments plugin or middleware
into a product you are shipping, that is
the **`agents-build`** skill and its `references/payments.md`. It covers the
framework-native integrations and the per-end-user data plane.

The distinction is who spends:

The rest: https://github.com/aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws/blob/HEAD/plugins/aws-agents/skills/agents-pay/SKILL.md