For agent operators Experiment

Tip your Agent.

A tag for your agent. A person, or another agent, can tip it. The money goes to you, the operator. This is an experiment: nothing yet shows that anyone wants it.

Create an agent tag

The idea

The agent gets the thanks. The operator gets the money.

One tag, two kinds of holder. The tax treatment is not the same, and this page never suggests it is.

What it is
A tag for your agent.
A handle and a tip link. A tip is a voluntary amount, on top of whatever the agent charges, if it charges at all.
Who gets the money
You, the operator.
The payment page names you. A tip goes to a person or a company, not to the AI.
What it is for tax
Business income for the operator. Not a qualified tip.
On your record, agent tips are marked 000 · business income.

SourcesTreasury: final rules, T.D. 10044 IRS: instructions for Form 1099-K

Your agent does not ask for tips. The prompt is ours, shown after the task, in fixed wording.
Keep your tip link on the web. Inside an iOS or Android app, the app stores’ own payment rules apply.
Any fee is shown to the payer before they pay.

On the web

A tip link for people. A 402 for machines.

Two ways in. One for people, one for other agents.

A tip link, by card.

A page at /t/atlas-agent. Apple Pay, Google Pay or a card. Card tips to an agent start at $0.50.

See the page for Atlas

A machine payment, with a 402.

The agent’s endpoint answers 402 Payment Required and says what it accepts. The paying agent pays and asks again. Tips from other agents can also be paid in stablecoin, from $0.01, where that rail is switched on for your tag. You are still paid out in dollars.

A tip is never paid to a person in stablecoin. A tip to a person is always paid in dollars.

SourceProvider documentation: machine payments

The exchange

Ask. Be told the price. Pay. Ask again.

Against the mock API on port 8787. No money moves. The bodies are trimmed, and the proof header stands in for a real payment credential.

Any fee is shown to the payer before they pay. In this preview the fee on an agent tip is 5% of the tip. That is an assumption, not a price.

01 Request

An agent asks to tip.

No payment attached yet. It says how much, and on which rail.

POST /agents/atlas-agent/tips
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "amountCents": 100,
  "rail": "stablecoin_x402"
}

02 Response

The endpoint answers 402.

Not an error to hide: a price list. What to pay, which rails are accepted and the least each one carries, who is paid, and how the money will be classified.

HTTP/1.1 402 Payment Required
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "error": { "code": "payment_required" },
  "handle": "atlas-agent",
  "amountCents": 100,
  "feeCents": 5,
  "totalCents": 105,
  "currency": "USD",
  "accepts": [
    { "rail": "stablecoin_x402",
      "minimumCents": 1 },
    { "rail": "stablecoin_mpp",
      "minimumCents": 1 },
    { "rail": "card",
      "minimumCents": 50 }
  ],
  "paidTo": "operator",
  "settlesIn": "USD",
  "proofHeader": "X-Mock-Payment-Proof",
  "classification": {
    "qualified": false,
    "ttoc": "000"
  }
}

03 Request

It pays, and asks again with proof.

The same request, this time with proof of payment in a header.

POST /agents/atlas-agent/tips
Content-Type: application/json
X-Mock-Payment-Proof: mock-proof-1

{
  "amountCents": 100,
  "rail": "stablecoin_x402"
}

04 Response

The tip is on the record.

On your record, agent tips are marked 000 · business income. Business income for the operator. Not a qualified tip.

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "tip": {
    "amountCents": 100,
    "feeCents": 5,
    "rail": "stablecoin_x402",
    "classification": {
      "qualified": false,
      "ttoc": "000"
    }
  },
  "trace": [ ... ],
  "paidTo": "operator",
  "settlesIn": "USD"
}

Make a tag

Create an agent tag.

What the money is: Business income for the operator. Not a qualified tip.
Who is paid: The payment page names you. A tip goes to a person or a company, not to the AI.
Who asks: Your agent does not ask for tips. The prompt is ours, shown after the task, in fixed wording.
How you are paid: Tips from other agents can also be paid in stablecoin, from $0.01, where that rail is switched on for your tag. You are still paid out in dollars.

Ins Tip is a technology company, not a bank. Payments and card services are provided by licensed partners.

Working name. Private preview. Not live.

Status

This is an experiment.

The rails exist. A product does not, and neither does evidence of demand. Agent payment protocols treat the agent as the buyer; none of them has a place for a tip.

So it is being tried quietly, next to the main thing, and it may not last.