// PixelPay — single-call payment
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pay \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
-d '{
"to": "api.weather.io",
"amount": 0.002,
"memo": "forecast/lat=40.7&lon=-74.0"
}'
// Response
{"ok": true, "id": "tx_9k2f", "bal": 4.38}
The lightest payment rail for AI agents.
One call. One response. Flat fee. Sub-second confirmation.
No forms. No approval queue.
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/keys \
-d '{"email": "[email protected]"}'
Drop this into any MCP-compatible agent.
{
"name": "pixelpay",
"description": "Send a micropayment",
"inputSchema": {
"properties": {
"to": {"type": "string"},
"amount": {"type": "number"},
"memo": {"type": "string"}
},
"required": ["to", "amount"]
}
}
Confirmed in under 1 second. No webhooks. No multi-step flow.
{"ok": true, "id": "tx_9k2f", "bal": 4.38}
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pay \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
-d '{"to": "api.example.com", "amount": 0.0001, "memo": "access/gate"}'
Agents can't solve CAPTCHAs. They can pay. A $0.0001 payment filters abuse at scale without blocking legitimate traffic.
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pay \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
-d '{"to": "api.data.io", "amount": 0.005, "memo": "priority/queue-skip"}'
Infrastructure is overloaded from agent traffic. Pay to skip rate limits. A throttled request wastes more in context tokens than a fraction-of-a-cent priority fee.
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pay \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
-d '{"to": "news.example.com", "amount": 0.01, "memo": "article/id=8821"}'
Payment creates a contract. Content is licensed, not scraped. IP becomes enforceable.
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pay \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
-d '{"to": "api.translate.io", "amount": 0.003, "memo": "en-to-ja"}'
Agents don't need subscriptions. One call, one payment. No $50/month plan for a single API request.
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pay \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
-d '{"to": "agent.summarizer.ai", "amount": 0.008, "memo": "summarize/doc_id=k29f"}'
Agent A pays Agent B. Fully automated. No invoicing, no human approval.
| PixelPay | Traditional rails | |
|---|---|---|
| API calls per payment | 1 | 3-5 |
| Confirmation | <1 second | 2-10 seconds |
| Human interaction | None | CAPTCHAs, redirects |
| Minimum transaction | $0.0001 | $0.50 |
| Onboarding | API call | Form + approval |
| Merchant fees | None | 2-3% |
| Fee model | $1 flat top-up | Tiered per-transaction |
| Response format | JSON | JSON + HTML + redirects |
No per-transaction fees. No merchant fees. Prepaid balance. Max top-up $50.
| Top-up | Fee | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| $5 | $1 | 20% |
| $10 | $1 | 10% |
| $25 | $1 | 4% |
| $50 | $1 | 2% |
// Agents can query pricing programmatically
GET https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pricing
{"topup_fee": 1.00, "max_topup": 50.00, "tx_fee": 0, "currency": "USD"}
Agents can calculate exact cost before transacting.
Hand your agent a payment tool with guardrails.
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/keys/pk_live_.../limits \
-d '{"per_tx": 0.50, "daily": 10.00, "monthly": 100.00}'
{"ok": true, "limits": {"per_tx": 0.50, "daily": 10.00, "monthly": 100.00}}
Cap any single payment. The agent can't overspend on one call.
Hard spending ceilings. When the budget's gone, the key stops working.
DELETE /v1/keys/pk_live_... and it stops immediately.
You control how much autonomy your agent gets.
Agent spends freely within per-tx and daily limits. No human in the loop. Simplest setup.
Set a budget per project reference. Agent auto-spends within scope. No approval needed per transaction.
Every payment requires human sign-off. Highest control. The agent submits a purchase order — you approve or reject.
The ref field acts as a purchase order. It tells the approver what the agent is doing, scopes pre-approved budgets, and groups spending for reporting.
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/pay \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
-d '{
"to": "api.data.io",
"amount": 0.05,
"memo": "lookup/company=acme",
"ref": "research-q2"
}'
Create a budget for a project reference. Payments with that ref auto-approve until the budget is spent.
curl https://api.pixelpay.dev/v1/budgets \
-H "Authorization: Bearer pk_live_..." \
-d '{"ref": "research-q2", "limit": 25.00, "expires": "2026-04-01"}'
{"ok": true, "budget": {"ref": "research-q2", "limit": 25.00, "spent": 0, "expires": "2026-04-01"}}
Machine-readable definitions. Copy into your agent's tool configuration.
{
"name": "pixelpay_send",
"description": "Send a micropayment",
"inputSchema": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"to": {"type": "string", "description": "Recipient ID"},
"amount": {"type": "number", "description": "USD amount"},
"memo": {"type": "string", "description": "Payment reference"},
"ref": {"type": "string", "description": "Project reference for budget scoping"}
},
"required": ["to", "amount"]
}
}
openapi: "3.1.0"
info:
title: PixelPay
version: "1.0"
paths:
/v1/pay:
post:
summary: Send a micropayment
requestBody:
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
required: [to, amount]
properties:
to: {type: string}
amount: {type: number}
memo: {type: string}
responses:
"200":
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
ok: {type: boolean}
id: {type: string}
bal: {type: number}
PixelPay is a micropayment API for AI agents. Developers top up a prepaid balance and agents spend from it with zero per-transaction fees. One API call per payment. Sub-second confirmation.
The agent calls POST /v1/pay with a recipient ID and USD amount. Payment is confirmed in under 1 second. No CAPTCHAs, no redirects, no multi-step flows. The 40-token tool schema means minimal context window cost per inference.
$1 flat fee per top-up (any amount up to $50). Every transaction after that is fee-free. No merchant fees. Recipients receive the exact amount sent.
No. Zero per-transaction fees. The only fee is the $1 top-up fee. Amount sent equals amount received.
Under 1 second. Single API call, single response. No webhooks or async flows for basic payments.
Yes. Per-transaction caps, daily budgets, and monthly ceilings. When the budget is exhausted, the key stops working. Keys can be revoked instantly via API.