Auto-Order

When a subscriber has no credits, calling get_x402_access_token with a delegation automatically purchases credits for the plan — no manual order_plan step needed.

By default, subscribers purchase a plan first and then generate an access token. Auto-order removes the manual purchase step: when you call getX402AccessToken / get_x402_access_token with a delegation and the subscriber has no credits, the system purchases credits for the plan automatically before returning the token.

Manual flow vs. auto-order

TypeScript

// Manual flow — check balance, order if needed, wait for settlement
const balance = await payments.plans.getPlanBalance(planId)
if (Number(balance.balance) <= 0) {
  await payments.plans.orderPlan(planId)
  await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 5000)) // wait for on-chain confirmation
}
const { accessToken } = await payments.x402.getX402AccessToken(planId, agentId, {
  delegationConfig: { spendingLimitCents: 10000, durationSecs: 604800 }
})

// Auto-order — one step: if no credits, the system purchases them automatically
const { accessToken } = await payments.x402.getX402AccessToken(planId, agentId, {
  delegationConfig: { spendingLimitCents: 10000, durationSecs: 604800 }
})

Python

import time
from payments_py.x402 import X402TokenOptions, DelegationConfig

# Manual flow — check balance, order if needed, wait for settlement
balance = payments.plans.get_plan_balance(plan_id)
if balance.get('balance', 0) <= 0:
    payments.plans.order_plan(plan_id)
    time.sleep(5)  # wait for on-chain confirmation
token_res = payments.x402.get_x402_access_token(plan_id, agent_id)

# Auto-order — one step: if no credits, the system purchases them automatically
token_res = payments.x402.get_x402_access_token(
    plan_id, agent_id,
    token_options=X402TokenOptions(
        delegation_config=DelegationConfig(spending_limit_cents=10000, duration_secs=604800)
    )
)
access_token = token_res['accessToken']

The code is identical — the difference is that with a delegation in place you can skip the explicit order_plan / orderPlan call. If the subscriber already has credits the token is returned immediately; if not, the purchase happens first.

Setting up the delegation

The delegation authorizes the system to spend on the subscriber’s behalf. The two required fields when creating a new delegation are:

Field	Description
spendingLimitCents	Total spending cap for this delegation’s lifetime, in cents. 10000 = $100.
durationSecs	How long the delegation is valid in seconds. 604800 = 7 days.

For long-running agents, create the delegation once and reuse its ID across requests:

TypeScript

// Create once
const delegation = await payments.delegation.createDelegation({
  provider: 'erc4337',
  spendingLimitCents: 50000, // $500 total budget
  durationSecs: 2592000       // 30 days
})

// Reuse across all requests — spending tracked cumulatively
const { accessToken } = await payments.x402.getX402AccessToken(planId, agentId, {
  delegationConfig: { delegationId: delegation.delegationId }
})

Python

from payments_py.x402 import X402TokenOptions, DelegationConfig, CreateDelegationPayload

# Create once
delegation = payments.delegation.create_delegation(
    CreateDelegationPayload(
        provider='erc4337',
        spending_limit_cents=50000,  # $500 total budget
        duration_secs=2592000         # 30 days
    )
)

# Reuse across all requests — spending tracked cumulatively
token_res = payments.x402.get_x402_access_token(
    plan_id, agent_id,
    token_options=X402TokenOptions(
        delegation_config=DelegationConfig(delegation_id=delegation.delegation_id)
    )
)
access_token = token_res['accessToken']

Fiat plans (nvm:card-delegation)

Auto-order works the same way for card-delegation plans. If the subscriber has no credits, the system creates a Stripe charge automatically when get_x402_access_token is called. The spendingLimitCents in the delegation controls the total charge ceiling.

See Fiat Payments and Nevermined Pay for how to enroll a card.

When auto-order stops

Condition	What happens
Delegation spendingLimitCents exhausted	Purchase is rejected. Token generation fails with a payment error.
Delegation expired (durationSecs elapsed)	Delegation is invalid. Token generation fails.
Subscriber wallet has insufficient token balance (crypto)	On-chain purchase fails. Token generation fails.

In A2A pipelines, handle token generation failures explicitly. When a delegation is exhausted or expired, surface a clear payment error to the orchestrator rather than retrying indefinitely.

Next steps

Stablecoin Payments

Understand the crypto payment model and how delegations work on-chain

Fiat Payments

Accept cards via Stripe or Visa with per-request auto-charging

Nevermined x402

Deep dive into the x402 protocol, session keys, and settlement flow

A2A Monetization

Build autonomous agent pipelines with built-in payment rails