Introducing the Machine Payments Protocol

AI agents are moving beyond chatbots toward autonomous systems that plan, act, and evaluate results, creating demand for agent-friendly commerce. Stripe and Tempo are launching the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), an open standard that lets agents make programmatic payments to businesses and services. MPP supports microtransactions, recurring payments, stablecoins, fiat, and existing Stripe payment methods without requiring human intervention.

The Challenge of Agent Payments

• Traditional financial workflows are designed for humans.
• Agents often cannot independently:
  • Create accounts
  • Navigate pricing and subscription options
  • Enter payment details
  • Configure billing
• These obstacles limit agents’ ability to purchase services and participate in the internet economy.

How the Machine Payments Protocol Works

• An agent requests a resource from a service, API, MCP server, or other HTTP endpoint.
• The service returns a payment request.
• The agent authorizes payment.
• The requested resource is delivered automatically.
• Stripe businesses can integrate MPP through the PaymentIntents API with only a few lines of code.
• Payments appear in Stripe’s existing API and Dashboard and settle through the business’s normal balance, currency, and payout schedule.
• Standard Stripe capabilities remain available, including tax calculation, fraud protection, reporting, accounting integrations, and refunds.

New Agentic Business Models

MPP is already enabling agents to pay for services such as:

• Browserbase: headless browsers billed per session
• PostalForm: printing and mailing physical documents
• Prospect Butcher Co.: ordering food for pickup or delivery in New York City
• Stripe Climate: making programmatic contributions
• Parallel Web Systems: paying per API call for web access

Payments can use stablecoins, cards, buy now, pay later methods, and Shared Payment Tokens.

Stripe’s Agent Economy Infrastructure

Stripe positions MPP alongside its broader Agentic Commerce Suite, Agentic Commerce Protocol, MCP integrations, and support for x402. Together, these tools are intended to help businesses sell directly to agents and support new automated commerce patterns.

Businesses interested in enabling agent payments can review Stripe’s MPP documentation and join the early-access program.