Where Innovation
Meets Execution
Automated testing and deployment pipelines built for modern teams.
Ship faster with confidence — from commit to production.
Protocol
How It Works
Four steps from request to response. No wallet popups, no browser extensions, no manual approvals.
Agent requests a resource
An AI agent sends a standard HTTP request to a protected API endpoint. No wallet setup required upfront.
Middleware returns 402
Cortex402 intercepts the request and responds with HTTP 402 Payment Required, including a unique memo_hash, amount, and destination.
Agent pays on Stellar
The agent builds, signs, and submits a Stellar transaction with the memo_hash. Settlement completes in under 3 seconds.
Middleware verifies & serves
Cortex402 verifies the on-chain payment, marks the memo_hash as used (replay protection), and returns the requested resource.
// 1. Agent requests protected resource
const res = await fetch("/api/compute");
// res.status === 402
// 2. Extract payment details
const { memo_hash, amount, destination } = await res.json();
// 3. Sign & submit on Stellar (< 3s)
const tx = await signStellarTransaction({
destination, amount, memo_hash, asset: "USDC"
});
// 4. Middleware verifies on-chain → 200 OK
const data = await fetch("/api/compute", {
headers: { "X-Tx-Hash": tx.hash }
});Features
Why Cortex402
Security, speed, and developer experience — without compromise.
No Cold Start
Ephemeral wallets are initialized in milliseconds. Trustlines are established atomically before the first payment.
Replay Protection
Every payment uses a unique memo_hash. Once verified, it's marked as used — duplicate submissions are rejected instantly.
Trustline Enforcement
The middleware validates that the destination has an active USDC trustline before accepting payment. No lost funds.
Structured Error Recovery
Stellar error codes (op_no_trust, underfunded, bad_seq) are mapped to typed errors with retryable flags for the AI agent.
Edge-Ready Deployment
Runs on any VPS behind Cloudflare Tunnel. Rate-limited, helmet-hardened, with structured JSON logging out of the box.
AI-Native Design
Built for LLM tool_use. The agent receives the 402 challenge, orchestrates the payment, and verifies — all autonomously.
Infrastructure
Powered by Stellar
The Stellar network provides the speed, low cost, and built-in asset controls that make machine-to-machine payments practical.
Stellar's consensus protocol settles transactions in 3-5 seconds with fees under $0.00001. Built-in trustlines let issuers control which accounts can hold an asset — perfect for regulated stablecoins and machine payments.
Cortex402 uses Stellar Testnet with the USDC test asset issued by GBBD...LWRC.
3-5s
Finality
Consensus-based settlement
$0.00001
Avg. fee
Per transaction
1,000+
TPS capacity
Network throughput
Testnet
Network
Safe for development
Live Testnet
Try It Live
Fixed Wallet demo with real Stellar Testnet payment and middleware verification.
Live Demo - Fixed Wallet (Testnet)
This demo uses a pre-funded Testnet wallet. Click Run Demo to execute intent -> payment -> verify.
Source wallet: configured
Merchant wallet: GBR2...H3GD