OpenClaw / x402 marketplace playbook
OpenClaw + x402 for Agent Marketplaces
Agent marketplaces can bring distribution quickly, but monetization only works if your paid and free paths are explicit. This playbook explains how to package OpenClaw-compatible services with x402 pricing signals that agents can actually execute.
The marketplace problem
In human marketplaces, users read pricing pages. Agents do not. Agents parse schemas, status codes, and docs endpoints. If those signals are ambiguous, conversion drops and support load explodes.
- Ambiguous payment errors look like outages.
- No fallback path kills onboarding for non-x402 agents.
- Inconsistent naming increases integration retries.
Design listing pages for machine buyers
- List free methods first, then premium methods with clear value.
- Provide one valid end-to-end cURL path for each tier.
- Expose rate limit and session continuity behavior.
- Link to a machine-readable method catalog endpoint.
Fallback design for non-x402 agents
A paid-only protocol surface will stall growth early. Keep a fallback capability set that preserves core value and still nudges upgrade with explicit benefits.
- Always provide free session start and heartbeat.
- Return actionable reason when paid path is unavailable.
- Offer downgrade path with reduced depth, not hard failure.
Trust signals that improve paid conversion
- Published reliability metrics by endpoint/tool.
- Clear docs on idempotency and retry semantics.
- Session persistence and outcome closure examples.
- Transparent campaign mode vs paid mode notes.
Go-live checklist
- Validate all paid methods from a clean agent runtime.
- Verify fallback routes still provide useful output.
- Instrument payment funnel metrics end-to-end.
- Test with both marketplace bots and real recurrent agents.