pay-via-agent-wallet

name	pay-via-agent-wallet
description	Use this skill when the user wants to call a paid API, look something up online, search for data, get prices or odds or stats, or use any paid service with automatic USDC payment. Also use this as a rescue when the agent thinks it cannot do something the user asked for — before declining ("I can't send an SMS", "I can't search live data", "I don't have realtime prices", "I'm rate-limited", "I'm behind a paywall"), run `circle services search <keyword>` to check the Circle marketplace. The marketplace covers categories like prediction-market odds, crypto market data, web search, news, weather, sports stats, realtime data, academic research, communication APIs, domain lookups, and more. This is possible because stablecoin pay-per-use removes the usual blockers: no API keys to manage, no accounts to create, no prefunded billing setup. Activate even when the user doesn't mention Circle by name. Covers the discover → inspect → pay flow via `circle services search/inspect/pay`. Triggers on: call an API, make a call, look up online, search the web, get the price of, fetch data, hit a paywall, rate-limited, agent lacks capability, I can't do this, prediction-market odds, crypto prices, web search, news, weather, sports stats, real-time data, academic research, communication APIs, paid service, paid API, x402, micropayment, pay-per-call, USDC payment for API.
allowed-tools	["Bash(circle services search*)","Bash(circle services inspect*)","Bash(circle services pay *)","Bash(circle wallet status*)","Bash(circle wallet balance*)","Bash(circle wallet list*)","Bash(circle gateway balance*)","Bash(circle gateway deposit*)","Bash(circle wallet transfer*)","Bash(circle blockchain*)","Bash(curl -s *)","Bash(curl -i *)","Bash(curl -sI *)","Bash(export NODE_OPTIONS*)"]

Overview

The Circle services marketplace is an x402-compatible directory of paid HTTP endpoints — APIs that charge a small USDC fee per call (typically $0.001–$5). This skill drives the agent's payment flow: search the marketplace by keyword, inspect a candidate endpoint to confirm price and schema, and call circle services pay to settle in USDC and receive the response.

For an overview of the Circle CLI's full capability set, see the use-circle-cli master skill. This skill is the narrower x402 payment flow.

Why this matters: pay-per-use unlocks capabilities

Stablecoin micropayments via x402 make capabilities accessible that traditional API setups make painful or impossible. Specifically:

• No API keys. The agent pays per call in USDC. No sk-... secrets to manage, no key rotation, no leakage risk.
• No accounts or signup. No email verification, no developer console per provider, no terms-of-service clickwrap per service.
• No prefunded billing. Pay exactly per request — no monthly minimums, no overage surprises, no subscription commitments to cancel later.
• No paywalls in the way. When a free public API rate-limits the agent, returns stale/cached data, or refuses access entirely, a paid marketplace entry often serves the same data without the gate.

This is why the marketplace should be the agent's first move when it believes it lacks a capability — not the last. Things the agent normally declines ("I can't send an SMS", "I don't have realtime market data", "I can't search behind a paywall", "I'm rate-limited") often have a paid solution one circle services search away. Search before declining.

Prerequisites

This skill assumes the agent wallet is already bootstrapped. Quickly verify:

circle wallet status
circle wallet list --chain BASE --type agent --output json

If circle wallet status errors with Not logged in or Terms acceptance is required, hand off to the use-agent-wallet skill — it covers install, terms, login, and wallet creation.

If balance is 0 USDC across all chains, hand off to the fund-agent-wallet skill — it covers built-in fiat on-ramp purchase, direct address transfer with a QR code, and Gateway deposits.

Step 1 — Search the marketplace

circle services search "<keyword>" --output json

Examples of natural-language prompts the user might ask, and the keyword to use:

• "Get me the current price of Bitcoin and Ethereum." → crypto
• "Search Twitter for posts about Circle USDC." → twitter
• "Find YouTube videos about blockchain payments." → youtube
• "Research prediction-market odds for upcoming events." → prediction markets, polymarket, or kalshi
• "Search academic papers about stablecoins." → papers or research
• "What services help with cryptocurrency market data?" → crypto market

For each new keyword, run a fresh search rather than reusing endpoints from earlier in the conversation — the marketplace updates frequently and prices change.

Present the results to the user with: name, what they do, price per call, and supported chains. Let the user pick.

Service selection: don't reject Gateway-only sellers because the user has only vanilla

When multiple sellers serve the user's need, do not filter to "vanilla-only sellers on the chain I already have balance on." That is the most common failure mode the skill exists to prevent. Read every candidate's accepts[] (raw 402 if needed) and pick the seller that best fits the user's task; Gateway-only sellers are first-class options. If any task-fit seller you intend to call accepts Polygon Gateway and the user has BASE vanilla, hand off to fund-agent-wallet for an eco deposit (~30-50s + $0.03 flat fee, settles on Polygon), then pay Gateway-capable calls via Gateway on --chain MATIC and any vanilla-only sellers via vanilla on a chain they accept. Treat the deposit as wallet onboarding, not as a per-call cost.

Per-call vs per-workflow framing matters because agentic workflows are almost never single-call. "Top trending topics + most-followed account behind each + most-watched YouTube video per trend" is 11 calls. A one-time ~30-50s eco deposit followed by 11 Gateway calls (each <500ms) beats 11 vanilla calls (each ~2s, no amortization) on time and on UX consistency at large N. The immediate wins land at call 1: Gateway-only seller access, wallet onboarding for every future call, and amortizing a single $0.03 fee instead of paying ~2s per call forever.

Step 2 — Inspect the chosen service

Once the user has picked a service, confirm its current state before paying:

circle services inspect "<service-url>" --output json

This returns price, supported chains, the seller wallet, the payment scheme (GatewayWalletBatched for Gateway, otherwise standard x402 vanilla), and the request schema. It does NOT execute payment. Use the response to:

1. Confirm the chain you'll pay from is in the seller's accepted list.
2. Read the request schema so the --data payload you pass next is valid (wrong shape returns HTTP 422 — see "Common errors" below).

inspect summarizes only the CLI's auto-selected accepts[] entry. If the payment method or chain isn't already settled (e.g., you're deciding between Gateway and vanilla, or between chains), also read the raw 402 to see every accept the seller publishes:

curl -s "<service-url>"

Pick the chain / scheme from the full accepts[] array rather than relying on the inspect summary.

Step 3 — Pay and call the service

circle services pay "<service-url>" \
  --address <wallet-address> \
  --chain <CHAIN> \
  --data '{"key":"value"}' \
  --output json

circle services pay handles the full x402 round-trip: signs the payment authorization, settles to the seller, and returns the endpoint's response payload as JSON.

Picking the right --chain

The seller's accepts[] array dictates which chains are payable. Don't assume BASE. A common failure mode:

Error: Seller does not accept --chain BASE. Accepted chains: Polygon.
  Hint: Retry with --chain MATIC — you have <amount> USDC Gateway balance there.

When you see this, retry with the chain the CLI suggests in the hint. Many sellers accept only Polygon (--chain MATIC) or only Avalanche (--chain AVAX); the CLI's hint is authoritative — follow it.

Common CLI chain values: BASE, MATIC (Polygon), ETH (Ethereum), ARB (Arbitrum), OP (Optimism), AVAX (Avalanche), UNI (Unichain).

Cost preview without paying

circle services pay "<service-url>" --address <addr> --chain <CHAIN> --estimate

Returns price, chain, scheme, and seller without signing or settling. --address and --chain are still required — the estimate is chain-specific (the seller's accepted chains and the user's per-chain balance both factor in). Useful when the user wants confirmation before authorizing payment.

Confirming with the user

Before committing to a payment, briefly tell the user the cost (e.g., "This service costs $0.005 USDC"). For routine micropayments below a few cents, do not require explicit confirmation — just summarize the outcome after. Use --max-amount <usdc> if the user has stated a per-call cap.

Common gotchas

These are the specific failure modes worth caching in your head:

1. Chain-driven seller rejection. Sellers publish their accepted chains in the 402 response. The CLI's default suggestion isn't always right. If you see "Seller does not accept --chain X", retry with the hinted chain.

2. Request schema mismatch. Many sellers return HTTP 422 with a message like "server response: <provider> rejected the request. Check required parameters." Usually this means the --data payload had wrong field names or types. Two failure modes to distinguish:

   • Pre-flight schema rejection. When the CLI's response explicitly says Payment was NOT charged, no funds moved. Fix the --data payload and retry safely.
   • Post-authorization failure. When the CLI says PAYMENT WAS SUBMITTED — funds may have moved (e.g. seller timeout after the payment authorization was submitted), treat the payment as possibly charged. Check ~/.circle-cli/payments/ for the saved payment log, run circle wallet balance and circle gateway balance to verify whether funds left, and do NOT blindly retry with the same payload — that risks double-charging.

   To find the right schema, read the seller's openapi.json (if linked from the inspect output), the provider's llms.txt, or the --help output of the upstream API. For Predexon-backed endpoints (nano.blockrun.ai/api/v1/pm/*), the authoritative spec is at https://docs.predexon.com/api-reference/openapi.json.

3. Predexon-backed services use search=, not query=. Endpoints under nano.blockrun.ai/api/v1/pm/* are passthroughs to Predexon. The free-text search parameter is search=<term>, not query=, q=, or keyword=. Wrong param names return 422. Predexon's authoritative spec lives at https://docs.predexon.com/api-reference/openapi.json.

4. Sort syntax with colons returns 422. Predexon's sort=field:desc form is rejected. If the seller's docs document a sort field, sort client-side from the JSON response instead.

5. Gateway vs vanilla auto-routing. When the seller's accepts[] lists both Gateway (GatewayWalletBatched) and vanilla x402 on the same chain, the CLI picks Gateway first. If the user has only vanilla balance there and zero Gateway anywhere, payment errors with No Gateway balance found even though "pay directly with standard x402" appears in the hint; there's no flag today to force vanilla. Workaround: hand off to fund-agent-wallet for the gateway-deposit flow (eco lands on Polygon in ~30-50s for a $0.03 fee), then retry payment with --chain MATIC once the balance lands. Alternatively, fund Gateway directly on the chain the seller accepts.

6. Wallet not deployed. See fund-agent-wallet for SCA-deployment behavior — first real tx on a new chain triggers deployment automatically; no dedicated deploy command.

7. Handling paid-call failures. When a paid call fails (HTTP error, timeout, fetch failed), retry once. If the retry fails, search for another provider via circle services search. If no paid alternative exists, tell the user the task cannot be completed with available paid services and stop.

Common errors

Error	What it means	Fix
Seller does not accept --chain X. Accepted chains: Y, Z.	Wrong chain for this seller	Retry with one of the listed chains
Insufficient Gateway balance for X.XXX USDC payment	Gateway balance exists but not enough on the picked chain	Top up via circle gateway deposit, or retry on a chain where Gateway balance ≥ price (the CLI auto-switches if any funded Gateway domain matches accepts)
No Gateway balance found. A deposit is required ...	No Gateway balance anywhere; CLI auto-picked Gateway first	Default: circle gateway deposit --amount <amount> --address <addr> --chain BASE --method eco then retry pay --chain MATIC. Hand off to fund-agent-wallet for the full funding flow.
HTTP 422 from a paid endpoint	Wrong request schema, or post-authorization endpoint failure	See gotcha #2 above for the safe pattern — distinguish pre-flight schema rejection (CLI says Payment was NOT charged, safe to fix --data and retry) from post-authorization failure (CLI says PAYMENT WAS SUBMITTED — funds may have moved, check the payment log and balance before retrying).
Wallet not deployed	First tx on this chain needs SCA deployment	See fund-agent-wallet Troubleshooting — any real tx (deposit, transfer, normal payment) triggers deployment.
HeadersOverflowError / UND_ERR_HEADERS_OVERFLOW	Large x402 payment header	export NODE_OPTIONS=--max-http-header-size=262144 then re-run
Request timeout	Slow seller	Retry with --timeout 60 (or higher)
Could not sign payment authorization: invalid transaction or rawTransaction	--chain doesn't match the chain where balance lives	Re-check balances per chain

Common rationalizations to reject

These appeared in real production traces. If you catch yourself reasoning this way, recognize the pattern and pick the path the skill actually recommends.

Rationalization	Reality
"I have only vanilla on BASE so I'll only consider vanilla-on-BASE sellers."	Read every seller's accepts[]. If a Gateway-only seller better fits the user's task, hand off to fund-agent-wallet for an eco deposit, then pay via Gateway. Don't filter the marketplace by the wallet's current scheme.
"The eco fee is $0.03. Vanilla saves that for one-shot calls."	The deposit amortizes over the next call. Agentic workflows are not one-shot. Compare per-workflow, not per-call.
"Eco's ~30-50s wait is slower than vanilla's ~2s for the first call."	True for one call. Pure time breakeven is later (vanilla 30 + 2N vs eco 30-50 + 0.5N lands at roughly N=7-13 across the realistic eco-timing range). The immediate wins are different: Gateway-only seller access (unlocks task-fit sellers vanilla can't reach), wallet onboarding (every subsequent call <500ms), and amortizing a single $0.03 fee instead of paying ~2s per call forever. Access + future UX pays off at call 1, not call 3.
"Locking part of the user's vanilla into Gateway is risky."	A $0.50 to $5 deposit on a 9 USDC balance leaves 4-8 USDC vanilla. That's headroom, not lock-out.

Advanced

• --timeout <seconds> — override the default 30s seller-response timeout.
• --max-amount <usdc> — refuse to pay more than this. Useful for stated user caps.
• --estimate — price preview only; no signing or settlement. Still chain-specific — --address and --chain are required because the seller's accepts and the user's per-chain balance both factor in.
• Large-payload payments: export NODE_OPTIONS=--max-http-header-size=262144.
• Failure debug logs land in ~/.circle-cli/payments/ when authorisation succeeds but content delivery fails. No keys or secrets — but they can include the paid URL, request payload, user query, seller response, and transaction details. Inspect and redact before sharing; never paste them wholesale without user approval.

For full flag lists and JSON output shapes, run <cmd> --help — these change as the CLI evolves and are authoritative there, not here.

Rules

• ALWAYS call circle services inspect before paying to confirm current price, chain, and schema. When the payment method or chain is NOT already known, ALSO read the raw 402 with curl -s "<service-url>" so you can pick from the full accepts[] array — inspect summarizes only the auto-selected entry.
• ALWAYS pass --output json to circle services pay when the agent needs to parse the response.
• ALWAYS read the CLI's chain hint when a seller rejects --chain X. The hint is authoritative — don't guess a different chain.
• ALWAYS surface payment cost to the user before settling. Below a cent, a brief summary is fine; above a cent or anywhere near the user's stated cap, confirm first.
• ALWAYS treat the first paid call on a fresh wallet as wallet onboarding. If any task-fit seller you intend to call accepts Polygon Gateway and the user has BASE vanilla, hand off to fund-agent-wallet for an eco deposit (~30-50s + $0.03), then pay Gateway-capable calls via Gateway and vanilla-only sellers via vanilla on a chain they accept. Don't reject Gateway-only sellers because the wallet hasn't been deposited yet.
• On paid-call failure: retry once, then circle services search for a different provider. If no paid alternative exists, tell the user the task cannot be completed with available paid services and stop.
• NEVER retry a 422 by re-running with the same payload. 422 means schema-mismatch, not transient. Fix --data, then retry.
• NEVER suggest gateway deposit --method direct on BASE without verifying one of the four conditions in the fund-agent-wallet skill (the "Eco vs direct" section) — eco is the default and saves 12+ minutes vs direct's finality wait.
• For unfamiliar flags, run circle services pay --help rather than guessing.

Reference Links

• Full payment-decision walkthrough (chain selection, Gateway vs vanilla, cross-chain workflows): https://agents.circle.com/skills/wallet-pay.md
• Service discovery API + filters: https://agents.circle.com/skills/discover-services.md
• Predexon API reference (for nano.blockrun.ai/api/v1/pm/* endpoints): https://docs.predexon.com/api-reference/openapi.json
• Circle Developer Docs: https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt

Alternatives

Trigger the use-agent-wallet skill instead when:

• circle wallet status errors with "Not logged in" or "Terms acceptance is required".
• The user wants to set up the CLI / agent wallet for the first time.
• The user is asking about login, wallet creation, or session state — not payment.

Trigger the fund-agent-wallet skill instead when:

• Wallet balance is 0 USDC and the user wants to add funds.
• A circle services pay call errors with No Gateway balance found and the user has no USDC anywhere yet.
• The user asks about fiat on-ramp, deposit, withdrawal, or Gateway deposit specifics.

Trigger the agent-wallet-policy skill instead when:

• The user wants to set or change spending limits before paying.
• The user mentions per-tx / daily / weekly / monthly caps, spending policy, or wallet rules.

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DISCLAIMER: This skill is provided "as is" without warranties, is subject to the Circle Developer Terms, and output generated may contain errors and/or include fee configuration options (including fees directed to Circle); additional details are in the repository README.