PROTOCOL TRACE

PEAC transaction trace

This page shows a PEAC transaction trace end to end. An agent discovers site policy (peac.txt + aipref.json), receives an HTTP 402 challenge when payment is required, retries using a supported payment adapter, and receives a signed PEAC-Receipt that anyone can verify offline.

Originary provides optional hosted components (Gateway 402, Verify API), but the core receipt and verification flow is protocol-native and portable.

PEAC transaction trace

Click any step to explore. HTTP 402 + PEAC-Receipt flow.

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Agent request

Autonomous agent needs your API or content

HTTP exchange sequence

Real protocol headers. PEAC-Receipt is the canonical header (no X- prefix).

REQUEST

GET /.well-known/peac.txt HTTP/1.1
Host: originary.xyz

RESPONSE

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/plain
preferences: https://www.originary.xyz/.well-known/aipref.json
access_control: http-402
payments: [x402, stripe]
provenance: c2pa
receipts: required
verify: https://www.originary.xyz/.well-known/jwks.json
verify_api: https://api.originary.xyz/verify
public_keys: https://www.originary.xyz/.well-known/jwks.json
contact: contact@originary.xyz
updated_at: 2025-12-13T12:00:00+05:30

Live from origin

/.well-known/peac.txt

preferences: https://www.originary.xyz/.well-known/aipref.json
access_control: http-402
payments: [x402, stripe]
provenance: c2pa
receipts: required
verify: https://www.originary.xyz/.well-known/jwks.json
verify_api: https://api.originary.xyz/verify
public_keys: https://www.originary.xyz/.well-known/jwks.json
contact: contact@originary.xyz
updated_at: 2025-12-13T12:00:00+05:30

Rail-neutral: PEAC supports multiple payment adapters (x402, stripe).verify points to JWKS for offline verification;verify_api is optional convenience.

Transaction flow

Step 1

Agent request

Autonomous agent needs your API or content

Step 2

Policy discovery

Agent fetches peac.txt and learns discovery URLs

Step 3

Preferences check

Agent fetches aipref.json (or uses cached snapshot)

Step 4

Policy evaluation

Server decides: allow, deny, or require payment (402)

Step 5

402 challenge

Server returns 402 with PAYMENT-REQUIRED instructions

Step 6

Payment adapter

Client retries using a supported adapter (x402/stripe)

Step 7

Resource access

Server returns resource when requirements are satisfied

Step 8

PEAC-Receipt

Server attaches signed PEAC-Receipt (JWS) to response

Receipt anatomy (v0.9.23)

Decoded payload showing aipref snapshot, payment evidence, and policy hash binding.

DECODED RECEIPT PAYLOAD (v0.9.23)

This shows why PEAC is proof: the receipt binds the request to a specific policy snapshot and payment evidence.

Receipt verification

Offline via JWKS is default. Verify API is optional convenience.

DEFAULTOffline verification (JWKS)

# Any PEAC verifier can validate offline
peac verify "<PEAC-Receipt JWS>" \
  --jwks https://www.originary.xyz/.well-known/jwks.json \
  --subject https://www.originary.xyz/demo/paid-resource
# Output:
{
  "valid": true,
  "signature_verified": true,
  "policy_hash_match": true,
  "aipref_hash_match": true
}

OPTIONALVerify API (hosted helper)

POST https://api.originary.xyz/verify
Content-Type: application/json
{"receipt": "eyJhbGciOiJFZERTQSI..."}
# Response:
{
  "valid": true,
  "issued_at": "2025-12-13T12:00:00Z",
  "issuer": {
    "domain": "originary.xyz",
    "kid": "2025-12-13"
  },
  "signature_verified": true,
  "policy_hash_match": true,
  "aipref_hash_match": true
}

✓ Cryptographic proof: Each PEAC-Receipt is signed (Ed25519) and can be verified offline using the issuer JWKS. A hosted Verify API is optional convenience.

Compatibility with existing signals

PEAC works alongside existing policy and licensing standards.

AIPREF

Machine-readable AI preferences (IETF WG). This demo snapshots aipref.json into the receipt for auditability.

Learn more

Content Signals

Cloudflare robots.txt extensions (ai-input, ai-train). Can be ingested as additional inputs to policy snapshots.

Learn more

RSL

Really Simple Licensing for machine-readable terms. PEAC receipts can bind requests to RSL terms for auditability.

Learn more

Audit-ready exports (v0.9.23)

Dispute packet format for compliance and audit trails.

{"ts":"2025-12-13T12:00:00Z","request_hash":"sha256-...","policy_hash":"sha256-...","aipref_hash":"sha256-...","receipt_jws":"eyJhbGci...","payment_reference":"x402_pay_..."}
{"ts":"2025-12-13T12:01:00Z","request_hash":"sha256-...","policy_hash":"sha256-...","aipref_hash":"sha256-...","receipt_jws":"eyJhbGci...","payment_reference":"x402_pay_..."}
{"ts":"2025-12-13T12:02:00Z","request_hash":"sha256-...","policy_hash":"sha256-...","aipref_hash":"sha256-...","receipt_jws":"eyJhbGci...","payment_reference":"x402_pay_..."}