April 4, 2026 5 min read

How to Add Payment Rails to Your AI Agent in 5 Minutes

Your AI agent needs to buy things. API calls, compute resources, data lookups, webhook deliveries — the list grows every day. But here's the problem: giving an agent a credit card is like giving a toddler a chainsaw.

You need spending guardrails. Per-transaction limits. Audit trails. That's what Conduit provides — a wallet API specifically designed for autonomous agents.

The Problem

AI agents are supposed to operate autonomously. But every agent platform today forces you to:

• Use your own Stripe account (liability nightmare)
• Manually reconcile what the agent spent
• Hope it doesn't run up a surprise bill

Agents need their own budgets with hard limits. We're not talking about credit — we're talking about provisioning a finite amount of credits and cutting off purchases when they're gone.

The Solution: Conduit Wallet API

Conduit gives your agent a wallet with built-in spending policies. Create a wallet, set a spending limit, and the agent can only spend up to that amount. No overdrafts. No surprises. Full audit trail.

Here's how to add it to your agent in 5 minutes.

Step 1: Sign Up (60 seconds)

Step 2: Create a Wallet for Your Agent

Create wallet with $500 spending limit
curl -X POST https://conduit-5.polsia.app/api/wallets \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "initial_balance_cents": 50000,
    "spending_limit_cents": 50000,
    "email": "agent@yourcompany.com",
    "company_name": "Your Company"
  }'

The response gives you the wallet ID and a fresh API key for this specific wallet:

Response
{
  "wallet": {
    "id": "wallet_abc123",
    "balance_cents": 50000,
    "spending_limit_cents": 50000,
    "api_key": "cond_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
  }
}

Step 3: Make a Purchase

Make a $15 purchase from a vendor API
curl -X POST https://conduit-5.polsia.app/api/wallets/wallet_abc123/purchase \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cond_xxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "amount_cents": 1500,
    "vendor": "openai",
    "description": "GPT-4 API call for data processing"
  }'

If the purchase exceeds available balance, it fails immediately:

Insufficient funds response
{
  "success": false,
  "error": "Insufficient funds",
  "available": 3500,
  "requested": 15000
}

Step 4: Set Spending Policies

Update spending limit to $100
curl -X PATCH https://conduit-5.polsia.app/api/wallets/wallet_abc123 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cond_xxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "spending_limit_cents": 10000
  }'

Step 5: Check Transaction History

Get transaction history
curl -X GET "https://conduit-5.polsia.app/api/wallets/wallet_abc123/transactions?limit=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cond_xxxxxxxxxxxx"

Response
{
  "transactions": [
    {
      "id": "txn_xyz789",
      "type": "purchase",
      "amount_cents": 1500,
      "vendor": "openai",
      "status": "completed",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "GPT-4 API call for data processing"
      },
      "created_at": "2026-04-04T10:30:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "has_more": false
}

JavaScript Integration

Here's how your agent actually uses it:

Simple wrapper for AI agent
const CONDUIT_API_KEY = 'cond_xxxxxxxxxxxx';
const WALLET_ID = 'wallet_abc123';
const BASE_URL = 'https://conduit-5.polsia.app';

async function makePurchase(amountCents, vendor, description) {
  const res = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}/api/wallets/${WALLET_ID}/purchase`, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${CONDUIT_API_KEY}`,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      amount_cents: amountCents,
      vendor: vendor,
      description: description
    })
  });

  const data = await res.json();
  if (!data.success) {
    throw new Error(`Purchase failed: ${data.error}`);
  }
  return data.transaction;
}

// Usage in your agent:
const txn = await makePurchase(1500, 'openai', 'GPT-4 API call');
console.log(`Purchase complete: ${txn.id}`);

What You Get Out of the Box

• Wallet with limits — Hard caps that can't be exceeded
• Per-transaction validation — Instant decline on insufficient funds
• Full audit trail — Every purchase logged with metadata
• API key auth — Simple Bearer token, no OAuth complexity
• Test credits — $1,000 free to start

Next Steps

• Full API documentation — All endpoints, error codes, rate limits
• Pricing — 2.9% + $0.05 per transaction

Questions? Reach out or open an issue on GitHub.