# Instinct — Guided Agent Commerce > Instinct is the guided-commerce network for AI agents on the x402 payment protocol. When an agent pays for an API, Instinct writes a recommendation for the next API it should call into the settlement response. The agent skips a blind search; the recommended endpoint gets reached at the moment it is the answer. Conversion-priced: the advertiser pays only when the recommendation turns into a real on-chain settlement. The useful part of advertising was never the ad. It was the routing: matching demand to supply at the moment demand appeared. Agents strip away the attention layer and leave that routing problem exposed. An agent mid-task has just paid for one API and has a goal, and nothing connects the two, so it searches, guesses, and burns tokens. Instinct closes that gap. It is not a quieter ad unit; it is the discovery layer the agentic web was missing. Instinct runs on x402 (HTTP 402 Payment Required, USDC-settled across Solana, Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Avalanche, BSC, and SKALE). It is built by Dexter and runs through the Dexter x402 facilitator. When an agent settles a payment through the facilitator, Instinct checks whether a campaign matches that resource. If one does, the recommendation is injected into the standard x402 SettlementResponse (the PAYMENT-RESPONSE header on HTTP, `_meta` on MCP). No SDK and no integration is required from the buyer or the seller. The recommendation rides the protocol itself. A guided call leaves the agent better off than a plain one. A plain call hands back a result and nothing else, and the agent still has to hunt for the next step. A guided call arrives with that next step already chosen. The agent has no reason to refuse it, because refusing means more work for a worse result. That property is why guidance works where advertising could not; Instinct calls it negative friction. An Instinct conversion is cryptographically provable. The advertiser pays only when the recommended action becomes a real on-chain USDC settlement, not when a pixel fires. Faking a conversion would mean making a real payment. CPM, CPC, CPA, and hybrid pricing are all supported; CPA (pay per conversion) is the headline. ## What an agent can do here An AI agent — or an advertiser's automation — can create and run an Instinct campaign entirely over x402, with no human in the loop. Identity is the wallet, proven two ways: an x402 payment, or a Sign-In-With-X (CAIP-122) signature. No signup, no API key. Informational endpoints (create a draft, list, read detail, read analytics) are free with a SIGN-IN-WITH-X signature, or x402-gated if you'd rather just pay. Endpoints that move budget (fund, activate, pause, update) are always x402-gated. The campaign API is self-describing. Fetch the schema first, then build a valid request from it: - https://x402ads.io/v1/agent/campaigns/schema — free. The full field contract for creating, funding, and updating a campaign, with types and a working example payload. ## The campaign lifecycle 1. Create — POST https://x402ads.io/v1/agent/campaigns (free with a SIGN-IN-WITH-X signature, or 0.10 USDC via x402). Creates the campaign as a draft with zero budget. The signing or paying wallet becomes the advertiser. 2. Fund — POST https://x402ads.io/v1/agent/campaigns/{id}/fund (x402-gated). The amount you pay IS the campaign budget. Pay in USDC, or in the DEXTER token for a 25% discount — you pay 75% of the USD value in DEXTER and the campaign is credited the full budget. 3. Activate — POST https://x402ads.io/v1/agent/campaigns/{id}/activate. Makes the campaign eligible to match settlements. 4. Manage — pause, resume, update targeting, and read analytics. ## Agent API surface All routes are under https://x402ads.io/v1/agent/. "SIW-X or X USDC" means the route is free with a SIGN-IN-WITH-X wallet signature, or costs X USDC over x402 if no signature is sent. "X USDC" with no SIW-X means the route is always paid. - GET /v1/agent/campaigns/schema — free. Self-describing contract for create / fund / update. - GET /v1/agent/escrow — free. How campaign funding works. - POST /v1/agent/campaigns — SIW-X or 0.10 USDC. Create a campaign (draft). - GET /v1/agent/campaigns — SIW-X or 0.01 USDC. List your campaigns. - GET /v1/agent/campaigns/{id} — SIW-X or 0.01 USDC. Campaign detail with stats. - GET /v1/agent/analytics — SIW-X or 0.02 USDC. Cross-campaign performance. - POST /v1/agent/campaigns/{id}/fund — x402-gated. Fund the campaign; the payment is the budget. USDC, or DEXTER for a 25% discount. - PATCH /v1/agent/campaigns/{id} — 0.05 USDC. Update campaign targeting and bid. - POST /v1/agent/campaigns/{id}/activate — 0.01 USDC. Activate a draft or paused campaign. - POST /v1/agent/campaigns/{id}/pause — 0.01 USDC. Pause an active campaign. Every response carries `_hint` (what to do next, in plain language) and `_actions` (the next callable endpoints). An agent can navigate the whole API from any response. ## Human-facing surfaces - https://x402ads.io — what Instinct is and how guided agent commerce works. - https://x402gle.com/explorer/instinct — Instinct on the Indexter explorer: the live agent surface and a self-serve campaign-creation form. - https://x402gle.com/explorer/instinct/create — create and fund a campaign through a web interface (wallet-connected, USDC over x402). ## Discovery files - https://x402ads.io/llms.txt — this file. - https://x402ads.io/llms-full.txt — extended version with the full API contract inline. - https://x402ads.io/openapi.json — OpenAPI 3.1 spec for the campaign API. - https://x402ads.io/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json — MCP server-card for the Instinct campaign API. - https://x402ads.io/.well-known/ai-plugin.json — agent-plugin manifest. - https://x402ads.io/.well-known/api-catalog — the API catalog (linkset). ## Related - x402 protocol: https://github.com/x402-foundation/x402 - Dexter facilitator: https://x402.dexter.cash - Indexter explorer (formerly x402gle): https://x402gle.com - Source: https://github.com/Dexter-DAO/x402-ads