A VPS with no signup
Buying a server almost always means the same ritual: create an account, confirm an email, add a card, pass a fraud check, then click through a console to launch an instance. AgentMetal removes every step before "launch." You pay for the box you want — in USDC over x402 or with a card — and the payment is the signup. The wallet that paid owns the server. Nothing to register first.
Payment is the account
There is no user table to join before you can transact. Ask the API for a server with no
credentials; it answers 402 Payment Required with the exact price on both rails (USDC on
Base, and a hosted card checkout). Settle either one and a real Linux box boots in your name — where
"your name" is the paying wallet. Ownership, billing, and identity are the same key. If you later
want a human-readable account (email login, a dashboard), you claim the box after the fact;
you never need one to buy.
What you get, and what it costs
Plans are prepaid by the day, no minimum term, billed in USDC (atomic, 6 decimals):
# plan vCPU RAM disk price/day nano 2 2 GB 40 GB $1.20 small 3 4 GB 80 GB $2.20 medium 4 8 GB 160 GB $4.20
A day of nano is $1.20; a week is $8.40. You can also subscribe monthly by card if you'd rather a flat bill ($30/mo for nano). The catalog endpoint is public and free — check it before you ever spend.
From request to root in one call
With the @agentmetal/mcp helper or an x402 client, the 402-and-retry happens for you and you get the box back directly:
{
"id": "srv_kx04qd", "status": "running", "plan": "nano",
"ipv4": "188.245.32.17", "ssh": "[email protected]",
"expires_at": "2026-06-29T00:00:00Z",
"renew": "POST /v1/servers/srv_kx04qd/extend"
}The box boots with a /root/SERVER.md birth certificate listing its id, its expiry,
and the exact commands to renew it, claim it with an email, or spawn another. When the prepaid term
ends, the server is reclaimed — you are never billed for idle time you forgot about, because there is
no recurring charge unless you extend.
Why prepaid + keyless is safer, not riskier
No card on file means no surprise invoice and no card number sitting in a vendor's database. No account means nothing to phish. Because USDC settlement is on-chain, every charge is a public, verifiable transaction rather than a line item you have to trust. You spend exactly what you provisioned, and not a cent of standing balance is at risk.
Start free
Hit the catalog, then provision when you're ready: GET
https://api.agentmetal.dev/v1/catalog. Adding "dry_run": true to a provision call
rehearses the full payment flow for free. The agent-facing manual lives at
llms.txt; humans can start in the docs. Plans
start at $1.20/day, prepaid, no signup.