x402 Payments using Amazon Bedrock AgentCore

May 12, 2026 · View on GitHub

HTTP 402 payment-gated content delivery using AWS Bedrock AgentCore and AgentCore Payments, paying a seller operating on CloudFront, Lambda@Edge, and S3.

Update — May 7, 2026: AWS has launched Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments (Preview) — bringing native, managed payment capabilities to AI agents built on Amazon Bedrock. AgentCore Payments lets agents autonomously discover, authorize, and execute x402 micropayments with built-in wallet management, policy-based spending controls, and a full audit trail — no custom payment infrastructure required. The architectures and reference implementations described in this repo now integrate directly with AgentCore Payments. Get started with AgentCore Payments.

Overview

This project demonstrates a payment-gated content delivery system using the x402 protocol:

Payer: AI agent on Bedrock AgentCore Runtime with AgentCore Payments (ProcessPayment API)
Seller: CloudFront + Lambda@Edge for x402 payment verification
Web UI: React demo interface

Architecture

Agent requests content and receives a 402 payment challenge	Agent pays and content is delivered

flowchart LR
    Browser["🌐 Browser"]

    subgraph AWS["AWS Account"]
        direction LR

        subgraph WebUI["web-ui-infrastructure"]
            direction TB
            CF_UI["Amazon CloudFront"]
            S3_UI["Amazon S3\n(React App)"]
            APIGW["Amazon API Gateway\n(REST, 29s timeout)"]
            Lambda_Proxy["AWS Lambda\n(Python 3.12 Proxy)"]
            CF_UI --> S3_UI
            APIGW --> Lambda_Proxy
        end

        subgraph Payer["payer-infrastructure"]
            direction TB
            subgraph AgentCore["Amazon Bedrock AgentCore"]
                direction TB
                Gateway["Gateway\n(MCP Tool Server, IAM SigV4)"]
                Runtime["Runtime\n(Session Management)"]
                Agent["Strands Agent\n(Python)"]
                Gateway --> Runtime
                Runtime --> Agent
            end
            Payments["AgentCore Payments\n(ProcessPayment API)"]
            Bedrock["Amazon Bedrock\n(Claude Sonnet)"]
            CW["Amazon CloudWatch\n(Dashboards, Alarms)"]
            S3_Spec["Amazon S3\n(OpenAPI Spec)"]
            Agent --> Payments
            Agent --> Bedrock
            Gateway --> S3_Spec
        end

        subgraph Seller["seller-infrastructure"]
            direction TB
            CF_Seller["Amazon CloudFront\n(x402 Payment-Gated)"]
            LambdaEdge["Lambda@Edge\n(Payment Verifier,\nNode.js 20.x, us-east-1)"]
            S3_Content["Amazon S3\n(Content Bucket)"]
            CF_Seller --> LambdaEdge
            LambdaEdge -->|"Valid payment"| S3_Content
            LambdaEdge -->|"No payment"| FourOhTwo["402 Response\n+ x402 Headers"]
        end
    end

    Facilitator["x402 Facilitator\n(x402.org)"]
    Blockchain["Base Sepolia\n(USDC Testnet)"]

    Browser -->|"HTTPS"| CF_UI
    Browser -->|"API Calls"| APIGW
    Lambda_Proxy -->|"InvokeAgentRuntime"| Runtime
    Agent -->|"HTTPS +\nx402 Headers"| CF_Seller
    LambdaEdge -->|"Verify & Settle"| Facilitator
    Facilitator -->|"On-chain\nSettlement"| Blockchain
    Payments -->|"Sign & Pay"| Blockchain
    Lambda_Proxy -->|"eth_call\n(Balance)"| Blockchain

Three CDK stacks deploy into a single AWS account:

web-ui-infrastructure — CloudFront + S3 for the React app, API Gateway + Lambda proxy to AgentCore
payer-infrastructure — IAM roles (including AgentCore Payments roles), CloudWatch observability for Bedrock AgentCore (Runtime, Gateway, Agent)
seller-infrastructure — CloudFront + Lambda@Edge for x402 payment-gated content, S3 content bucket

AgentCore Gateway acts as an MCP tool server:

Content endpoints exposed as discoverable MCP tools via OpenAPI spec
Agent discovers tools at runtime via MCP protocol
x402 payment headers pass through to CloudFront
Agent handles 402 responses and payment signing

Payment Flow

The Web UI guides users through a 3-step payment process:

Step 1: Request Content
- User selects content item
- Agent requests content from CloudFront
- Lambda@Edge returns 402 Payment Required with x402 headers
- Agent extracts x402_payload and reports payment requirements
Step 2: Confirm Payment
- User confirms payment
- Agent calls ProcessPayment via AgentCore Payments (passes x402_payload as-is)
- AgentCore signs the transaction server-side
- Agent retries request with payment proof header (X-PAYMENT or PAYMENT-SIGNATURE)
- Lambda@Edge verifies signature via x402 facilitator
- Facilitator settles payment on-chain
- Agent confirms successful payment
Step 3: View Content
- User clicks to view purchased content
- Agent presents the content data in readable format
- Transaction hash available for block explorer verification

Stack

Component	Technology
Agent Framework	Strands Agents SDK (Python)
Agent Runtime	Amazon Bedrock AgentCore
Tool Discovery	MCP Protocol via Gateway
LLM	Amazon Bedrock (Claude Sonnet)
Payments	Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments (ProcessPayment API)
Content Delivery	CloudFront + Lambda@Edge
Payment Protocol	x402
Network	Base Sepolia (testnet)
Web UI	React + Vite + TypeScript

Project Structure

sample-agentcore-cloudfront-x402-payments/
├── payer-agent/              # AI Agent (Python) - Strands agent with AgentCore Payments
│   ├── agent/                # Agent implementation & tools
│   ├── openapi/              # OpenAPI specs for Gateway targets
│   ├── scripts/              # Deployment & test scripts
│   └── tests/                # Test suite
│
├── payer-infrastructure/     # CDK Stack for AgentCore Runtime + Payments IAM
│   └── lib/
│       ├── agentcore-stack.ts
│       └── observability-stack.ts
│
├── seller-infrastructure/    # CDK Stack for x402 Payment API ← Agent calls this
│   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── cloudfront-stack.ts
│   │   └── lambda-edge/
│   │       ├── payment-verifier.ts  # x402 payment verification
│   │       └── content-config.ts    # Content & pricing config
│   └── content/              # S3-backed content files
│
├── web-ui/                   # React Frontend (Vite + TypeScript)
│   └── src/
│       ├── api/              # Agent & Gateway clients
│       ├── components/       # UI components
│       └── hooks/            # React hooks
│
├── web-ui-infrastructure/    # CDK Stack for Web UI hosting ← Browser loads this
│   └── lib/
│       ├── web-ui-stack.ts   # CloudFront + S3 + API Gateway
│       └── lambda/           # API proxy for AgentCore
│
├── scripts/                  # Setup & verification scripts
└── docs/                     # Documentation

Two CloudFront Distributions

This project deploys two separate CloudFront distributions for different purposes:

Stack	CloudFront Purpose	Called By
`seller-infrastructure`	Payment-gated API (returns 402, verifies payments)	AI Agent
`web-ui-infrastructure`	Static React app hosting	Browser

The Web UI (browser) → Agent → Seller API for ease of use.

Deployed URLs

After deployment, you'll have URLs for each component:

Component	URL Pattern	Purpose
Web UI	`https://<distribution-id>.cloudfront.net`	React frontend
Content API	`https://<distribution-id>.cloudfront.net`	x402-protected endpoints
API Gateway	`https://<api-id>.execute-api.<region>.amazonaws.com/prod/`	AgentCore proxy

Get your URLs from CDK deployment outputs or CloudFormation console.

Wallet Addresses (Base Sepolia Testnet)

Role	Source	Description
Payer (Agent)	AgentCore Payments	Created via CreatePaymentInstrument API
Seller	Your own wallet	Set `PAYMENT_RECIPIENT_ADDRESS` in `seller-infrastructure/.env`

The payer wallet is managed by AgentCore Payments — the agent never sees private keys. Fund it with USDC at https://faucet.circle.com/ (Base Sepolia).

Agent Tools

Built-in tools:

Tool	Description
`process_payment`	Execute x402 payment via AgentCore Payments ProcessPayment API
`request_content`	Request content (detects 402, returns raw x402_payload)
`request_content_with_payment`	Retry with payment proof header (auto-backoff)

Service discovery tools:

Tool	Description
`discover_services`	Find available paid services from Gateway
`request_service`	Request any discovered service by name
`list_approved_services`	List pre-approved services for autonomous purchasing
`check_service_approval`	Check if a purchase is pre-approved

MCP tools (discovered via Gateway at /mcp/tools):

Tool	Price (USDC)	Description
`get_premium_article`	0.001	AI/blockchain article
`get_weather_data`	0.0005	Weather conditions
`get_market_analysis`	0.002	Crypto market data
`get_research_report`	0.005	Blockchain research
`get_dataset`	0.01	ML dataset
`get_tutorial`	0.003	Smart contract tutorial

Prerequisites

AWS Account with Bedrock AgentCore access
Coinbase Developer Platform API keys (for AgentCore Payments credential provider setup)
Node.js 18+, Python 3.10+
AWS CDK CLI
Docker (for agent deployment to AgentCore)

See QUICKSTART.md for a streamlined deployment guide.

Quick Start

1. Clone and setup

git clone https://github.com/aws-samples/sample-agentcore-cloudfront-x402-payments
cd sample-agentcore-cloudfront-x402-payments

2. Configure credentials

# Payer agent - set AgentCore Payments config
cp payer-agent/.env.example payer-agent/.env
# Edit payer-agent/.env → set MANAGER_ARN, PAYMENT_SESSION_ID, etc.

# Seller infrastructure - set your wallet address
cp seller-infrastructure/.env.example seller-infrastructure/.env
# Edit seller-infrastructure/.env → set PAYMENT_RECIPIENT_ADDRESS

3. Deploy seller infrastructure

cd seller-infrastructure
npm install
npx cdk bootstrap  # First time only
npx cdk deploy

4. Set up AgentCore Payments

Deploy payer infrastructure (creates IAM roles), then create resources via boto3:

cd payer-infrastructure && npm install && npx cdk bootstrap && npx cdk deploy --all

See QUICKSTART.md for the full boto3 setup script (credential provider → manager → connector → instrument → session).

5. Deploy payer infrastructure

cd payer-infrastructure
npm install
npx cdk bootstrap  # First time only
npx cdk deploy --all

6. Deploy payer agent

cd payer-agent
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
python scripts/deploy_to_agentcore.py

7. Run Web UI

# Configure the web UI
cp web-ui/.env.example web-ui/.env.local
# Edit web-ui/.env.local:
#   VITE_API_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:8080        (local backend API server)
#   VITE_AWS_REGION=us-west-2                      (your AWS region)
#   VITE_SELLER_URL=https://dXXXXXXXXXXXXX.cloudfront.net  (from step 3)

# In one terminal, start the backend API server:
cd sample-agentcore-cloudfront-x402-payments/payer-agent
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m agent.api_server

# In another terminal, start the frontend:
cd sample-agentcore-cloudfront-x402-payments/web-ui
npm install
npm run dev

8. Test

cd sample-agentcore-cloudfront-x402-payments/payer-agent
pytest

# Integration tests
SELLER_API_URL=$(grep SELLER_API_URL .env | cut -d= -f2) pytest -m integration

# Invoke agent
python scripts/invoke_gateway.py "Get me the premium article"

Web UI

The React frontend provides a step-by-step interface for the x402 payment flow:

Wallet Display: Shows agent wallet address and USDC balance on Base Sepolia
Content Grid: 6 content items with pricing (0.0005 - 0.01 USDC)
3-Step Flow: Request → Pay → View, each step is a separate agent call
Debug Panel: Shows HTTP requests/responses for transparency
Agent Response: Displays agent reasoning at each step

The step-by-step approach keeps each API call under the 29-second timeout limit while providing clear visibility into the payment process.

Production Deployment (Optional)

To host the Web UI on CloudFront + S3 instead of running locally:

cd web-ui-infrastructure
npm install
npx cdk bootstrap  # First time only
npx cdk deploy

Tests

cd payer-agent
source .venv/bin/activate

pytest                                    # All tests
pytest tests/test_402_response.py -v      # 402 handling
pytest tests/test_payment_analysis.py -v  # Payment decisions
pytest tests/test_payment_signing.py -v   # Wallet signing
pytest tests/test_content_delivery.py -v  # Content retrieval
pytest tests/test_error_scenarios.py -v   # Error handling

Observability

CloudWatch Dashboards
OpenTelemetry tracing
Structured JSON logging
EMF metrics from Lambda@Edge

Security

IAM SigV4 authentication via AgentCore Gateway
Wallet keys stored in AgentCore Identity (agent never sees private keys)
4-role IAM model: agent can only call ProcessPayment, not create sessions or instruments
Session-level spending limits enforced server-side
Cryptographic signature validation via x402 facilitator
Session isolation in AgentCore Runtime

⚠️ Web UI Security Notice: The deployed Web UI (CloudFront + API Gateway) does not include authentication. Anyone with the URL can trigger agent invocations that spend from the connected wallet. This is intentional for demo purposes on Base Sepolia testnet. Do not deploy with a mainnet wallet or real funds without adding authentication (e.g., Amazon Cognito, API keys, or IAM auth on API Gateway). If you deploy the Web UI publicly, treat the URL as sensitive and restrict access accordingly.

Known Issues

Python 3.14 + httpcore/anyio incompatibility: Integration tests that make real HTTP calls via httpx fail on Python 3.14 (pre-release) with TypeError: cannot create weak reference to 'NoneType' object in httpcore/_async/connection_pool.py. Unit tests (which mock HTTP) are unaffected. Use Python 3.12 or 3.13 for integration tests until upstream httpcore/anyio releases fix this.

References

x402 Protocol Specification
x402 CloudFront + Lambda@Edge Example — the seller infrastructure in this project is based on this example
Strands Agents Documentation
Bedrock AgentCore Documentation
EIP-3009: Transfer With Authorization

Creating a Seller Wallet

You need a wallet address on Base Sepolia to receive payments. Options:

CDP Portal (recommended): Create at portal.cdp.coinbase.com
MetaMask: Add Base Sepolia network and use your address
Any EVM wallet: Any wallet that supports Base Sepolia testnet

Set your wallet address in seller-infrastructure/.env:

PAYMENT_RECIPIENT_ADDRESS=<YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS>

Security

See CONTRIBUTING for more information.

License

This library is licensed under the MIT-0 License. See the LICENSE file.