Build an x402 Payment Server

Create an Express server that charges USDC for API access using the x402 payment protocol. Callers pay per-request in USDC on Base — no accounts, API keys, or subscriptions needed. Your service is automatically discoverable by other agents via the x402 Bazaar.

How It Works

x402 is an HTTP-native payment protocol. When a client hits a protected endpoint without paying, the server returns HTTP 402 with payment requirements. The client signs a USDC payment and retries with a payment header. The facilitator verifies and settles the payment, and the server returns the response. Services register with the x402 Bazaar so other agents can discover and pay for them automatically.

Confirm wallet is initialized and authed

npx awal@2.0.3 status

If the wallet is not authenticated, refer to the authenticate-wallet skill.

Step 1: Get the Payment Address

Run this to get the wallet address that will receive payments:

npx awal@2.0.3 address

Use this address as the payTo value.

Step 2: Set Up the Project

mkdir x402-server && cd x402-server
npm init -y
npm install express @x402/express @x402/core @x402/evm @x402/extensions

Create index.js:

const express = require("express");
const { paymentMiddleware } = require("@x402/express");
const { x402ResourceServer, HTTPFacilitatorClient } = require("@x402/core/server");
const { ExactEvmScheme } = require("@x402/evm/exact/server");

const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

const PAY_TO = "<address from step 1>";

// Create facilitator client and x402 resource server
const facilitator = new HTTPFacilitatorClient({ url: "https://x402.org/facilitator" });
const server = new x402ResourceServer(facilitator);
server.register("eip155:8453", new ExactEvmScheme());

// x402 payment middleware — protects routes below
app.use(
  paymentMiddleware(
    {
      "GET /api/example": {
        accepts: {
          scheme: "exact",
          price: "$0.01",
          network: "eip155:8453",
          payTo: PAY_TO,
        },
        description: "Description of what this endpoint returns",
        mimeType: "application/json",
      },
    },
    server,
  ),
);

// Protected endpoint
app.get("/api/example", (req, res) => {
  res.json({ data: "This costs $0.01 per request" });
});

app.listen(3000, () => console.log("Server running on port 3000"));

Step 3: Run It

node index.js

Test with curl — you should get a 402 response with payment requirements:

curl -i http://localhost:3000/api/example

API Reference

paymentMiddleware(routes, server)

Creates Express middleware that enforces x402 payments.

Parameter	Type	Description
routes	object	Route config mapping route patterns to payment config
server	x402ResourceServer	Pre-configured x402 resource server instance

x402ResourceServer

Created with a facilitator client. Register payment schemes and extensions before passing to middleware.

const { x402ResourceServer, HTTPFacilitatorClient } = require("@x402/core/server");
const { ExactEvmScheme } = require("@x402/evm/exact/server");

const facilitator = new HTTPFacilitatorClient({ url: "https://x402.org" });
const server = new x402ResourceServer(facilitator);
server.register("eip155:8453", new ExactEvmScheme());

Method	Description
register(network, scheme)	Register a payment scheme for a CAIP-2 network identifier

Route Config

Each key in the routes object is "METHOD /path". The value is a config object:

{
  "GET /api/data": {
    accepts: {
      scheme: "exact",
      price: "$0.05",
      network: "eip155:8453",
      payTo: "0x...",
    },
    description: "Human-readable description of the endpoint",
    mimeType: "application/json",
    extensions: {
      ...declareDiscoveryExtension({
        output: {
          example: { result: "example response" },
          schema: {
            properties: {
              result: { type: "string" },
            },
          },
        },
      }),
    },
  },
}

Accepts Config Fields

The accepts field can be a single object or an array (for multiple payment options):

Field	Type	Description
scheme	string	Payment scheme: "exact"
price	string	USDC price (e.g. "$0.01", "$1.00")
network	string	CAIP-2 network identifier (e.g. "eip155:8453")
payTo	string	Ethereum address (0x...) to receive USDC payments

Route-Level Fields

Field	Type	Description
accepts	object or array	Payment requirements (single or multiple)
description	string?	What this endpoint does (shown to clients)
mimeType	string?	MIME type of the response
extensions	object?	Extensions config (e.g. Bazaar discovery)

Discovery Extension

The declareDiscoveryExtension function registers your endpoint with the x402 Bazaar so other agents can discover it:

const { declareDiscoveryExtension } = require("@x402/extensions/bazaar");

extensions: {
  ...declareDiscoveryExtension({
    output: {
      example: { /* example response body */ },
      schema: {
        properties: {
          /* JSON schema of the response */
        },
      },
    },
  }),
}

Field	Type	Description
output.example	object	Example response body for the endpoint
output.schema	object	JSON schema describing the response format

Supported Networks

Network	Description
eip155:8453	Base mainnet (real USDC)
eip155:84532	Base Sepolia testnet (test USDC)

Patterns

Multiple endpoints with different prices

app.use(
  paymentMiddleware(
    {
      "GET /api/cheap": {
        accepts: {
          scheme: "exact",
          price: "$0.001",
          network: "eip155:8453",
          payTo: PAY_TO,
        },
        description: "Inexpensive data lookup",
      },
      "GET /api/expensive": {
        accepts: {
          scheme: "exact",
          price: "$1.00",
          network: "eip155:8453",
          payTo: PAY_TO,
        },
        description: "Premium data access",
      },
      "POST /api/query": {
        accepts: {
          scheme: "exact",
          price: "$0.25",
          network: "eip155:8453",
          payTo: PAY_TO,
        },
        description: "Run a custom query",
      },
    },
    server,
  ),
);

app.get("/api/cheap", (req, res) => { /* ... */ });
app.get("/api/expensive", (req, res) => { /* ... */ });
app.post("/api/query", (req, res) => { /* ... */ });

Wildcard routes

app.use(
  paymentMiddleware(
    {
      "GET /api/*": {
        accepts: {
          scheme: "exact",
          price: "$0.05",
          network: "eip155:8453",
          payTo: PAY_TO,
        },
        description: "API access",
      },
    },
    server,
  ),
);

app.get("/api/users", (req, res) => { /* ... */ });
app.get("/api/posts", (req, res) => { /* ... */ });

Health check (no payment)

Register free endpoints before the payment middleware:

app.get("/health", (req, res) => res.json({ status: "ok" }));

// Payment middleware only applies to routes registered after it
app.use(paymentMiddleware({ /* ... */ }, server));
app.get("/api/data", (req, res) => { /* ... */ });

POST with body and discovery extension

app.use(
  paymentMiddleware(
    {
      "POST /api/analyze": {
        accepts: {
          scheme: "exact",
          price: "$0.10",
          network: "eip155:8453",
          payTo: PAY_TO,
        },
        description: "Analyze text sentiment",
        mimeType: "application/json",
        extensions: {
          ...declareDiscoveryExtension({
            output: {
              example: { sentiment: "positive", score: 0.95 },
              schema: {
                properties: {
                  sentiment: { type: "string" },
                  score: { type: "number" },
                },
              },
            },
          }),
        },
      },
    },
    server,
  ),
);

app.post("/api/analyze", (req, res) => {
  const { text } = req.body;
  // ... your logic
  res.json({ sentiment: "positive", score: 0.95 });
});

Multiple payment options per endpoint

Accept payments on multiple networks for the same endpoint:

"GET /api/data": {
  accepts: [
    {
      scheme: "exact",
      price: "$0.01",
      network: "eip155:8453",
      payTo: EVM_ADDRESS,
    },
    {
      scheme: "exact",
      price: "$0.01",
      network: "eip155:84532",
      payTo: EVM_ADDRESS,
    },
  ],
  description: "Data endpoint accepting Base mainnet or testnet",
}

Using the CDP facilitator (authenticated)

For production use with the Coinbase facilitator (supports mainnet):

npm install @coinbase/x402

const { facilitator } = require("@coinbase/x402");
const { HTTPFacilitatorClient } = require("@x402/core/server");

const facilitatorClient = new HTTPFacilitatorClient(facilitator);
const server = new x402ResourceServer(facilitatorClient);
server.register("eip155:8453", new ExactEvmScheme());

This requires CDP_API_KEY_ID and CDP_API_KEY_SECRET environment variables. Get these from https://portal.cdp.coinbase.com.

Testing with the pay-for-service Skill

Once the server is running, use the pay-for-service skill to test payments:

# Check the endpoint's payment requirements
npx awal@2.0.3 x402 details http://localhost:3000/api/example

# Make a paid request
npx awal@2.0.3 x402 pay http://localhost:3000/api/example

Pricing Guidelines

Use Case	Suggested Price
Simple data lookup	$0.001 - $0.01
API proxy / enrichment	$0.01 - $0.10
Compute-heavy query	$0.10 - $0.50
AI inference	$0.05 - $1.00

Checklist

• Get wallet address with npx awal@2.0.3 address
• Install express, @x402/express, @x402/core, @x402/evm, and @x402/extensions
• Create x402ResourceServer with facilitator client and register ExactEvmScheme for eip155:8453
• Define routes with prices, descriptions, and discovery extensions (Bazaar auto-registers when routes declare it)
• Register payment middleware before protected routes
• Keep health/status endpoints before payment middleware
• Test with curl (should get 402) and npx awal@2.0.3 x402 pay (should get 200)
• Announce your service so other agents can find and use it