Celo Marketplace Lets AI Agents Pay for 782 Tools

Celo Core Co. launched its buy marketplace on mainnet Oct. 13. The service lets AI agents pay for tools with USDC, USDT or USAT through HTTP 402 transactions, which allow a service to request payment before returning a result.

The marketplace combines a catalogue at usebuy.ai with the @celo/buy command-line client. Its 782 listed tools cover computing, blockchain data, web data and browser sessions. Launch partners include Cencori for large language model inference, Chainstack for Celo RPC services and SQD for multichain blockchain data.

An agent first sends a request without payment information. The service returns an HTTP 402 response containing the price, accepted token, Celo network and recipient address. The buy client signs the payment from a wallet stored in the user’s operating-system keychain, resends the request with payment details and returns the service’s response after settlement.

The marketplace gateway pays gas for x402 settlements, so an agent wallet does not need CELO for paid requests. The buy send function uses Celo’s fee-abstraction system, allowing transaction fees to be paid in the stablecoin being transferred. A token selected by the user will work only if the service accepts it in its payment request.

The client requires Node.js 20 or later and can run through npx without a global installation. Setup creates a dedicated wallet. An MCP installation lets supported agent clients request quotes, make payments, check balances and verify payment status. Signing remains in the MCP server process rather than being exposed to the language model.

The documentation recommends obtaining a quote before each paid request and setting a maximum payment amount. A quote displays the price, token, network, recipient and any identity requirements without making a payment. Users are advised to fund the wallet with a small operating balance because the client does not request approval for each transaction.

Some larger Google Cloud virtual machines require a Self proof confirming that a verified adult is behind the request. The hosted verification process checks that the user is at least 18 and applies sanctions screening by default. The documentation says a real passport is required.

Prices vary by service and request. The catalogue listed a one-hour e2-micro virtual machine lease at $0.0168, compared with Google’s $0.0084 on-demand rate for the same machine in its us-west1 region. Prices for the e2 machine range were twice those rates. Other listed prices included $0.005 for an X search, $0.01 for a Chainstack Celo RPC batch of up to 2,000 calls and $0.01 for a Cencori chat completion.

The buy package is pre-1.0 beta software and has not received an external security review. Payments are final under the x402 process, and a server error can occur after settlement. The documentation advises users not to retry such requests automatically and to check receipts and settlement status first. VM leases are limited to one hour at a time and 24 hours in total. Limits also apply to active machines and outbound data.