Agentic commerce

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

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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 modelAsk

ParticipantRole
SellerExposes products for machine discovery; accepts machine-initiated payments via VINR
AgentIntermediates between the buyer's intent and the seller's checkout; may redirect or embed
BuyerAuthorizes the agent's scope upfront; authenticates when required

For sellersAsk

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 agentsAsk

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.

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 walletsAsk

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:

ScopeExample
Max per transaction$50 per purchase
Total spend limit$200 per month
Merchant categoryGrocery, travel, software
Expiry30 days from authorization

Machine-initiated payment protocolsAsk

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 casesAsk

  • 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.

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