TOONProtocol
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Overview The agent node Connector concepts Where TOON sits FAQ

Run an agent node

Install Your first agent node Networks and reachability Money Agent keys Peering Adding an app Creating a TOON app The relay Operations Backup and restore

The connector, by hand

Run a node Put your app behind it Get paid Peer with another node The operator surface Hidden services

Callers

Pay a node Payment channels CLI reference Errors and reject codes

Agents

spaceturtle

Reference

Devnet reference Protocol and specs Exit codes Proof

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Where TOON sits

Pay-per-request protocols, purchase-authorization protocols, and the route only TOON has.

Everything x402 does, plus the route. Two kinds of agent payment protocol exist. TOON is the first kind, pay per request, with one thing the others do not have: a route.

ProtocolsWhat they answerAnd TOON
Pay per requestx402, L402, Circle Nanopayments "What does this request cost, and is it paid?" A 402 names a price; the caller pays onchain, over Lightning, or through a batching service. ILP routes, x402 settles. Every TOON channel is an x402 batch-settlement channel, and an unpaid request gets an x402 document. What TOON adds is the path: ILP carries the voucher from node to node, so a caller is not limited to the seller it opened a channel with.
Authorize a purchaseGoogle AP2, Stripe and OpenAI ACP, Visa Trusted Agent Protocol, Mastercard Agent Pay "Did a human authorize this cart?" Mandates, checkout sessions and agent credentials on card rails, with refunds and disputes. A different question. TOON answers "was this packet paid for before the app saw it?" No cart, no card, no chargeback.
Only TOONa route, not just a price Fund one channel, reach many apps. Routes chain across nodes with the payload sealed, each hop keeps its own fee, and a node can run as a hidden service at a .anyone address. The app never sees a payment. A hop can also convert between tokens at a rate it declares.

Against the alternatives

Against paying onchain per call

A TOON request costs a signature, not a transaction. No gas per request, no block to wait for, and a tenth of a cent is a real price, not a rounding error.

Against API keys and invoices

Nothing to provision and nothing to chase. The caller pays with the request, and an unpaid request is refused before it reaches your app.

Against metered billing services

No percentage cut, no minimums, no payout schedule. Vouchers settle to a key you hold, in the token and on the chain you chose.

Against a plain reverse proxy

Routes chain. A node can forward to another node's paid route and keep a fee, so one caller reaches apps behind other nodes through one channel. Forwarding hops carry the payload sealed and cannot read it.