Core Concepts

Before integrating with Conto, it’s helpful to understand the key concepts and terminology.

Agents

An Agent represents an AI agent connected to Conto. Each agent has:

Name - Human-readable identifier
Type - The agent framework (OpenAI, Claude, LangChain, Custom)
Public Key - Unique cryptographic identifier
Status - Active, Paused, Suspended, or Revoked
SDK Keys - API keys for authentication

// Example agent configuration
{
  name: "Customer Support Agent",
  agentType: "OPENAI_ASSISTANT",
  publicKey: "0x1234...",
  status: "ACTIVE"
}

Wallets

A Wallet holds stablecoins for agent payments. Wallets can be linked to multiple agents with different spend limits.

Property	Description
`address`	Wallet address
`balance`	Current stablecoin balance
`chainType`	EVM or SOLANA
`custodyType`	PRIVY, SPONGE, or EXTERNAL
`status`	ACTIVE, FROZEN, or ARCHIVED

Supported Chains

Chain	Chain ID	Type	Currency	Environment
Tempo Testnet	`42431`	EVM	pathUSD	Testnet (default)
Tempo Mainnet	`4217`	EVM	USDC.e	Production
Base	`8453`	EVM	USDC	Production
Base Sepolia	`84532`	EVM	USDC	Testnet
Ethereum	`1`	EVM	USDC	Production
Arbitrum One	`42161`	EVM	USDC	Production
Polygon	`137`	EVM	USDC	Production
Solana Mainnet	`solana-mainnet`	Solana	USDC	Production
Solana Devnet	`solana-devnet`	Solana	USDC	Testnet

Tempo chains require no separate gas token. Tempo Testnet uses pathUSD; Tempo Mainnet uses USDC.e, making Tempo the easiest option for both testing and production.

Cards

A Card is a payment card (virtual or physical) that agents can use for traditional merchant payments. Today, Cards are registered manually for BYOC flows; native issuing through Conto is not yet generally available.

Property	Description
`provider`	STRIPE_ISSUING, LITHIC, or MANUAL
`last4`	Last 4 digits of card number
`cardType`	VIRTUAL or PHYSICAL
`status`	ACTIVE, PAUSED, or CANCELLED
`spendLimitDaily`	Card-level daily limit

Cards are assigned to agents via Agent-Card Links, similar to wallet links. Each agent gets independent spend limits, time windows, and merchant category controls on the shared card. Policies can also be linked directly to cards for rule engine enforcement.

Agent-Wallet Links

When you link an agent to a wallet, you configure:

Spend Limits - Per-transaction, daily, weekly, monthly limits
Time Windows - Allowed hours and days for transactions
Delegation Type - Full, Limited, View-Only, Preapproved, or Allowlist access

// Example agent-wallet link (business-hours restriction)
{
  spendLimitPerTx: 500,      // Max $500 per transaction
  spendLimitDaily: 2000,     // Max $2,000 per day
  spendLimitMonthly: 20000,  // Max $20,000 per month
  allowedHoursStart: 9,      // 9 AM (default: 0)
  allowedHoursEnd: 17,       // 5 PM (default: 24)
  allowedDays: ["Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri"]  // default: all 7 days
}

Policies

A Policy is a set of rules that determine whether a payment should be approved, denied, or require manual approval.

Policy Types

Spend Limit

Control maximum amounts per transaction, day, week, or month

Time Window

Restrict transactions to specific hours and days

Counterparty

Control which recipients are allowed based on trust

Geographic

Block transactions to sanctioned countries (OFAC compliance)

Approval Threshold

Require manual approval above certain amounts

Velocity

Limit transaction frequency to prevent rapid drain

x402 / MPP

Controls for micropayment protocols (price ceilings, service allowlists)

Policy Priority

Policies are evaluated in priority order (highest first). This allows you to:

Evaluate critical security/compliance policies first (priority 90+)
Set default policies (priority 50) for normal operations
Add catch-all policies (priority 10) for fallbacks

Priority only controls order. Policies still combine with AND logic, so a high-priority allow rule does not override a lower-priority deny or failed allowlist.

Transactions

A Transaction represents a stablecoin payment from a wallet to a recipient.

Transaction Lifecycle

Transaction Properties

Property	Description
`txHash`	Blockchain transaction hash
`amount`	Payment amount
`status`	Current transaction status
`policyResult`	Policy evaluation result
`purpose`	Reason for payment
`category`	Spending category

Counterparties

A Counterparty is a recipient of payments (vendor, merchant, agent, service, or platform).

Trust Levels

Level	Score Range	Description
TRUSTED	75 - 100	High confidence, minimal restrictions
VERIFIED	50 - 74	Established relationship, standard monitoring
UNKNOWN	20 - 49	New or limited history, requires scrutiny
BLOCKED	0 - 19	High risk, all transactions blocked

Trust Score Factors

Trust scores are calculated based on:

History (30%) - Transaction count and volume
Reliability (30%) - Success rate, failed transactions
Activity (20%) - Account age, recency, consistency
Verification (20%) - Manual verification, network data, and external trust providers (Fairscale for Solana, sanctions screening)

Conto maintains both a per-organization trust score (your org’s own view of a counterparty) and a network trust score (the cross-organization view). Policies can reference either via the TRUST_SCORE rule type. See Trust Scoring for the full breakdown.

Network Intelligence

Conto’s Network Intelligence provides anonymized cross-organization trust data:

See if other organizations have flagged an address
Benefit from collective fraud detection
Contribute to network safety (opt-in)

For Solana wallets, trust scores are powered by Fairscale, a composable reputation scoring system that analyzes onchain behavioral signals like transaction patterns, staking activity, and token holdings. Solana addresses with no existing network data are automatically enriched with Fairscale scores, so you get real trust data instead of blank defaults. Conto also integrates with sanctions screening providers (Chainalysis, TRM Labs, and a built-in OFAC list) for compliance. See Trust & Risk Providers for full details on all integrated providers.

Network Intelligence data is anonymized. Organizations share aggregate trust signals, not transaction details.

SDK Keys vs API Keys

Conto uses two types of authentication:

Credential	Format	Scope	Typical use
Standard SDK key	`conto_agent_xxx...`	One agent	The payment lifecycle and agent-scoped reads
Admin SDK key	`conto_agent_xxx...`	One agent, elevated scopes	Delegated management of agents, wallets, and policies
Organization API key	`conto_xxx...`	Whole organization	Backend/admin automation with `ContoAdmin`

Standard SDK keys cover the payment lifecycle (payments:request, payments:execute, payments:approve, payments:confirm) plus read-only agent data. Policies, spend limits, and approvals govern what those payments can do.
Admin SDK keys add elevated agents:write, wallets:write, and policies:write scopes but remain tied to a specific agent identity.
Organization API keys are the canonical credential for backend provisioning, integrations, and the ContoAdmin SDK.

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Reference

Changelog

Core Concepts

Core Concepts

Agents

Wallets

Supported Chains

Cards

Agent-Wallet Links

Policies

Policy Types

Spend Limit

Time Window

Counterparty

Geographic

Category

Approval Threshold

Velocity

x402 / MPP

Policy Priority

Transactions

Transaction Lifecycle

Transaction Properties

Counterparties

Trust Levels

Trust Score Factors

Network Intelligence

SDK Keys vs API Keys

Next Steps

Quick Start

Policy Guide

​Core Concepts

​Agents

​Wallets

​Supported Chains

​Cards

​Agent-Wallet Links

​Policies

​Policy Types

Spend Limit

Time Window

Counterparty

Geographic

Category

Approval Threshold

Velocity

x402 / MPP

​Policy Priority

​Transactions

​Transaction Lifecycle

​Transaction Properties

​Counterparties

​Trust Levels

​Trust Score Factors

​Network Intelligence

​SDK Keys vs API Keys

​Next Steps

Quick Start

Policy Guide

Core Concepts

Agents

Wallets

Supported Chains

Cards

Agent-Wallet Links

Policies

Policy Types

Policy Priority

Transactions

Transaction Lifecycle

Transaction Properties

Counterparties

Trust Levels

Trust Score Factors

Network Intelligence

SDK Keys vs API Keys

Next Steps