# Agentic commerce

> Enable AI agents to browse, cart, and complete purchases on behalf of users.

Agentic commerce describes a model where AI agents act as purchasing intermediaries — browsing catalogs, comparing options, and completing transactions inside a conversational interface, without a human manually operating a browser.

VINR is built to support this model from both sides: sellers who want to be discoverable and purchasable by agents, and agent builders who need a reliable, scoped payment primitive.

## The three-participant model

| Participant | Role                                                                                      |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Seller      | Exposes products for machine discovery; accepts machine-initiated payments via VINR       |
| Agent       | Intermediates between the buyer's intent and the seller's checkout; may redirect or embed |
| Buyer       | Authorizes the agent's scope upfront; authenticates when required                         |

## For sellers

Expose structured product data using UCP/ACP protocols so AI systems can browse your catalog without scraping. Configure VINR to accept machine-initiated payments on your checkout. VINR Checkout links are natively agent-traversable — no storefront changes are required if you already use VINR Checkout.

## For agents

Two integration paths are available depending on the user experience you're building:

**Redirect flow** — the agent sends the buyer to a VINR Checkout page. The buyer completes payment in their browser with standard authentication. Best for high-value or first-time purchases where buyer confirmation is appropriate.

**Embedded flow** — the agent calls the VINR Payments API server-side using the buyer's pre-authorized agent wallet. No browser redirect; the purchase completes programmatically within the agent's context.

```typescript
import { Vinr } from '@vinr/sdk'

const vinr = new Vinr({ apiKey: process.env.VINR_SECRET_KEY })

const paymentIntent = await vinr.paymentIntents.create({
  amount: 2999,
  currency: 'usd',
  payment_method_types: ['agent_wallet'],
  agent_wallet: {
    token: agentWalletToken, // scoped authorization token from VINR Link
  },
  confirm: true,
})
```

## Agent wallets

A buyer pre-funds an agent with a stored payment method via VINR Link. The agent holds a scoped authorization — currency, max amount per transaction, merchant category codes — and spends within those bounds without requiring the buyer to re-authenticate each purchase.

Authorization scopes a buyer can configure:

| Scope               | Example                    |
| ------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Max per transaction | $50 per purchase           |
| Total spend limit   | $200 per month             |
| Merchant category   | Grocery, travel, software  |
| Expiry              | 30 days from authorization |

## Machine-initiated payment protocols

VINR supports two protocol extensions for agentic payment requests:

**MPP (Merchant Payment Protocol)** — a seller-side catalog and checkout protocol that exposes your products and pricing in a structured, machine-readable format AI systems can act on directly.

**x402** — an HTTP-level payment protocol for agent-to-API micropayments. Enables pay-per-call API access, metered content, and other patterns where the agent pays for a resource at the network layer rather than through a checkout flow.

## Use cases

- AI shopping assistants that compare prices and complete purchases across multiple stores
- Autonomous travel booking agents that search, select, and pay for flights and hotels
- Reorder agents triggered by inventory signals or recurring consumption patterns
- AI expense management tools that book and pay for business services on behalf of employees

> Agentic commerce features are in early access. Contact your VINR account manager to enable agent wallet issuance and machine-initiated payments for your platform.