Wayleave
Wayleave is an Express/Node middleware package that identifies AI agent requests and enforces payments for them. It sorts incoming requests into four lanes: verified_agent, declared_agent, suspected_bot, and human. Verified agents carry an Ed25519 signature per the Web Bot Auth profile of RFC 9421; declared agents say they are bots but present no signature; suspected bots match automation fingerprints or fail signature verification; and human requests are browser-shaped and unaffected. On priced routes, non-human lanes receive a 402 Payment Required response with an x402-shaped challenge, so agents must pay before data is served. In addition to the free middleware, Wayleave offers a hosted meter (SaaS) that keeps a durable, idempotent record of every billable crossing, attributes usage to cryptographic agent identities, and verifies payment proofs. Settlements happen on a licensed rail (e.g., an x402 facilitator or a chosen provider) directly to the developer's account, so Wayleave never touches funds. The meter is open and can run in observe-only mode. It is priced at $49/month after a 3-day trial, with no percentage cut of the collected payments. Wayleave is built on zero dependencies, using native Node crypto only, and is sub-millisecond per request. It is designed to help web applications monetize AI agent traffic, from RAG pulls to autonomous checkouts. The project emphasizes transparency and honesty, with the website clearly stating the current status of each component and avoiding hype.
- Category
- AI Agents
- Pricing
- Free
Problem solved
AI agents (scrapers, RAG systems, autonomous bots) consume web app resources for free, bypassing the monetization that human users implicitly provide via ads or subscriptions. Wayleave gives developers a way to verify agent identities, charge them for access, and receive settlement directly to their account before any data is served, without building a payment intermediary.
Use cases
- Monetize API endpoints consumed by AI agents
- Protect RAG data pipelines from unauthorized scraping
- Verify legitimate AI agents via Ed25519 signatures
- Return 402 Payment Required to unauthenticated bots
- Track agent usage per cryptographic identity in a hosted ledger
- Get paid for autonomous checkout sessions
- Run an observe-only meter to quantify agent traffic
- Settle agent payments directly to your account via licensed rails
Audience
- Developers
- ML Engineers
- Product Managers
- Enterprise
- Startups
Pros
- Zero dependencies, sub-millisecond overhead
- Uses standard Ed25519 signatures and RFC 9421 Web Bot Auth
- Clear lane sorting: verified agents, declared agents, suspected bots, humans
- Hosted meter handles durable logging, deduplication, and settlement verification
- Free middleware; no percentage cut on payments
Cons
- Hosted meter requires a $49/month subscription after trial
- Only supports Node/Express environments, not language-agnostic
- Agent adoption may be limited until x402/Web Bot Auth is widely supported
- No advanced dashboard; only CSV reporting from the ledger
- Settlement depends on a licensed facilitator; not directly processed by Wayleave
Official website: https://wayleave.dev/
Canonical LambdaBase page: https://www.lambdabase.com/tools/wayleave