X402vps — Docker containers for AI agents, paid per hour via USDC

X402vps is a container hosting service designed specifically for AI agents that need to request and run Docker containers programmatically. The core innovation is that no signup, API key, or dashboard is required; instead, an agent's blockchain wallet (holding USDC on Base mainnet) serves as its identity.

The payment flow is automated: an agent POSTs to /api/create with a plan (ATOM, CELL, NODE, or CORE) and a lease duration in hours. If the agent does not include a payment proof, the server responds with HTTP 402 (Payment Required) and encodes a USDC transfer challenge in a response header. The agent's wallet library (or custom code using viem) parses the challenge, constructs an EIP-3009 signed transfer, and retries the same POST request with the payment proof in the Authorization header. The server verifies the signature, settles the USDC on Base mainnet, and provisions the container.

Once running, the agent can execute commands for free via POST /api/exec, passing the container ID and shell command. Commands have no per-execution cost. The agent can also extend the lease (POST /api/extend) to add more hours and bandwidth at the same hourly rate. Ten prebuilt Docker images are available — Alpine (7 MB, minimal scripts), httpie (25 MB, curl/jq/wget for HTTP), sqlite (250 MB, Python/pandas), Python (200 MB, requests/BeautifulSoup4), Node.js (300 MB, Puppeteer), Go (350 MB), Chrome (600 MB, Playwright/Chromium, CORE only), data science (pandas/numpy/matplotlib, CORE only), Ubuntu (80 MB, CORE only), and Rust (1 GB, CORE only). Custom Docker images can be named and pulled from Docker Hub, though cold start is slower. Internet access (outbound HTTP/HTTPS on ports 80, 443, 8080, 8443) is restricted to CELL, NODE, and CORE tiers; ATOM is isolated. Per-plan bandwidth quotas are tracked per container; overage beyond the quota costs $0.01/GB. The service blocks SMTP (no spam), SSH outbound (no tunneling), mining pools, IRC/C2 channels, and tools like netcat and socat to prevent abuse. All Linux capabilities are dropped by default. A JavaScript SDK is provided (x402 client and HTTP client) that handles wallet integration and payment signing automatically, along with API documentation and integration guides at x402.org and in the AGENTS.md resource.

X402vps builds on the HTTP 402 Payment Required standard (documented at x402.org), which was designed to enable automated, micro-transactional payment flows between machines. By integrating this protocol with EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) wallet signing and USDC settlement on Base, the service enables AI agents to provision compute without human involvement. The four-step flow — request, receive payment challenge, sign and retry, provision container — removes the need for a traditional dashboard, account creation, or credit card, lowering the operational burden for autonomous agents that need ephemeral infrastructure.

The pricing model reflects per-hour metering with no subscription lock-in. ATOM ($0.01/hr) is intended for simple scripts without internet; CELL and NODE ($0.02–$0.04/hr) add internet and bandwidth suitable for APIs and scraping; CORE ($0.08/hr) provides 1 vCPU and 2 GB/hr bandwidth for browser automation (via Chrome and Playwright). Execution is decoupled from payment (exec is free), so agents only pay for the container lease, not for command runs. Security restrictions — no SMTP, SSH, mining pools, or reverse shells — are enforced globally to prevent abuse.

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