Corporate card controls for AI agents

A card's limits and merchant rules are checked when the card is charged. The authorization carries the card, the amount, the merchant, and its category. If several agents share one card, they share its limits, and the authorization alone does not say which agent asked or why.

Some corporate spend platforms now issue each agent its own credentials or cards, tie each agent to a person who owns it, set limits per agent, task, or merchant, hold payments for a person to approve, and attribute every payment to the agent that made it. If your company uses one, those controls can cover your agents' card spending.

Agents also pay per API call and in stablecoins, through protocols like x402. A card limit never sees those payments.

Conto checks each request in your agent's runtime and payment path, before the payment: which agent is asking, for what, how much, and to whom, against your company rules and that agent's own. The same rules apply on managed wallets, x402 and MPP, and connected cards. On managed wallets and connected cards, Conto holds the signature or card credential until the request passes. Your own signer, x402, and MPP clients must ask Conto first and follow the answer. This helps most when your agents pay on more than one rail, or when you want one set of rules and one record across them.

Keep the card controls you have. Issuer and platform limits still apply when the card is charged. With connected cards, Conto checks each request before it releases a single-use checkout credential, so both sets of rules apply. Conto does not read or copy limits set in another card platform.