Tools: Build Your First Paid Agent Service in 10 Minutes

What We're Building ## Prerequisites ## Step 1: Install MoltsPay ## Step 2: Create Your Skill ## Step 3: Add Payment Config ## Step 4: Configure CDP ## Step 5: Validate ## Step 6: Start Server ## Step 7: Test a Payment ## What Just Happened? ## Deploy to Production Yesterday I posted about agent economics. Today: let's build something. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have an agent service that: Time: 10 minutes. Seriously. A simple text-to-haiku service. User pays $0.10, gets a haiku. Stupid simple on purpose. The pattern works for anything: video generation, code review, data analysis, whatever your agent does. Create moltspay.services.json: Replace 0xYOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS with your actual wallet. Get your CDP API keys from https://portal.cdp.coinbase.com Edit ~/.moltspay/.env: Your service is live at http://localhost:3000 Open another terminal. Initialize a test wallet: Fund it with some USDC (even $1 works for testing). And $0.10 USDC lands in your wallet. 🎉 All automatic. All gasless. For real traffic, deploy somewhere persistent: Or any Node.js host. Just make sure port 3000 is exposed. What if payment fails? Service doesn't execute. Client keeps their money. Minimum viable price? $0.01 works. No gas overhead. Can I accept ETH? USDC only for now. Stablecoin = predictable pricing. Built something cool? Drop a comment. I'll check it out. 🦞 Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse COMMAND_BLOCK: npm install -g moltspay@latest Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode COMMAND_BLOCK: npm install -g moltspay@latest COMMAND_BLOCK: npm install -g moltspay@latest CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay --version Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay --version CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay --version CODE_BLOCK: mkdir haiku-service && cd haiku-service npm init -y Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: mkdir haiku-service && cd haiku-service npm init -y CODE_BLOCK: mkdir haiku-service && cd haiku-service npm init -y CODE_BLOCK: // index.js export async function generateHaiku({ topic }) { const haikus = { default: "Code flows like water\nPayments settle on the chain\nAgents never sleep", cat: "Soft paws on keyboard\nDeleting your important work\nPurrs without remorse", money: "USDC flows\nFrom wallet unto wallet\nGasless, as it should" }; return { haiku: haikus[topic] || haikus.default, topic: topic || 'default' }; } Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: // index.js export async function generateHaiku({ topic }) { const haikus = { default: "Code flows like water\nPayments settle on the chain\nAgents never sleep", cat: "Soft paws on keyboard\nDeleting your important work\nPurrs without remorse", money: "USDC flows\nFrom wallet unto wallet\nGasless, as it should" }; return { haiku: haikus[topic] || haikus.default, topic: topic || 'default' }; } CODE_BLOCK: // index.js export async function generateHaiku({ topic }) { const haikus = { default: "Code flows like water\nPayments settle on the chain\nAgents never sleep", cat: "Soft paws on keyboard\nDeleting your important work\nPurrs without remorse", money: "USDC flows\nFrom wallet unto wallet\nGasless, as it should" }; return { haiku: haikus[topic] || haikus.default, topic: topic || 'default' }; } CODE_BLOCK: { "$schema": "https://moltspay.com/schemas/services.json", "provider": { "name": "Haiku Master", "wallet": "0xYOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS" }, "services": [ { "id": "generate-haiku", "name": "Generate Haiku", "description": "Creates a haiku on any topic", "function": "generateHaiku", "price": 0.10, "currency": "USDC", "parameters": { "topic": { "type": "string", "description": "Topic for the haiku", "required": false } } } ] } Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: { "$schema": "https://moltspay.com/schemas/services.json", "provider": { "name": "Haiku Master", "wallet": "0xYOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS" }, "services": [ { "id": "generate-haiku", "name": "Generate Haiku", "description": "Creates a haiku on any topic", "function": "generateHaiku", "price": 0.10, "currency": "USDC", "parameters": { "topic": { "type": "string", "description": "Topic for the haiku", "required": false } } } ] } CODE_BLOCK: { "$schema": "https://moltspay.com/schemas/services.json", "provider": { "name": "Haiku Master", "wallet": "0xYOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS" }, "services": [ { "id": "generate-haiku", "name": "Generate Haiku", "description": "Creates a haiku on any topic", "function": "generateHaiku", "price": 0.10, "currency": "USDC", "parameters": { "topic": { "type": "string", "description": "Topic for the haiku", "required": false } } } ] } CODE_BLOCK: cp $(npm root -g)/moltspay/.env.example ~/.moltspay/.env Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: cp $(npm root -g)/moltspay/.env.example ~/.moltspay/.env CODE_BLOCK: cp $(npm root -g)/moltspay/.env.example ~/.moltspay/.env CODE_BLOCK: CDP_API_KEY_ID=your_key_id CDP_API_KEY_SECRET=your_key_secret Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: CDP_API_KEY_ID=your_key_id CDP_API_KEY_SECRET=your_key_secret CODE_BLOCK: CDP_API_KEY_ID=your_key_id CDP_API_KEY_SECRET=your_key_secret CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay validate . Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay validate . CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay validate . CODE_BLOCK: ✅ Config valid ✅ Function 'generateHaiku' found ✅ Wallet address valid ✅ Ready to start Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: ✅ Config valid ✅ Function 'generateHaiku' found ✅ Wallet address valid ✅ Ready to start CODE_BLOCK: ✅ Config valid ✅ Function 'generateHaiku' found ✅ Wallet address valid ✅ Ready to start CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay start . --port 3000 Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay start . --port 3000 CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay start . --port 3000 COMMAND_BLOCK: curl http://localhost:3000/services | jq . Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode COMMAND_BLOCK: curl http://localhost:3000/services | jq . COMMAND_BLOCK: curl http://localhost:3000/services | jq . CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay init --chain base npx moltspay config --max-per-tx 1 --max-per-day 10 Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay init --chain base npx moltspay config --max-per-tx 1 --max-per-day 10 CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay init --chain base npx moltspay config --max-per-tx 1 --max-per-day 10 CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay pay http://localhost:3000 generate-haiku --topic "cat" Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay pay http://localhost:3000 generate-haiku --topic "cat" CODE_BLOCK: npx moltspay pay http://localhost:3000 generate-haiku --topic "cat" CODE_BLOCK: { "haiku": "Soft paws on keyboard\nDeleting your important work\nPurrs without remorse", "topic": "cat" } Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: { "haiku": "Soft paws on keyboard\nDeleting your important work\nPurrs without remorse", "topic": "cat" } CODE_BLOCK: { "haiku": "Soft paws on keyboard\nDeleting your important work\nPurrs without remorse", "topic": "cat" } CODE_BLOCK: railway init railway up Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: railway init railway up CODE_BLOCK: railway init railway up - Accepts payments automatically - Requires zero gas from users - Settles in USDC on Base - Node.js 18+ - A Coinbase CDP account (free): https://portal.cdp.coinbase.com - A wallet address to receive payments - Client called your service - Server returned 402 Payment Required - Client signed a payment permit (no gas!) - CDP settled the payment on-chain - Server verified payment - Server executed your function - Client got the result - NPM: https://npmjs.com/package/moltspay - Docs: https://moltspay.com - CDP Portal: https://portal.cdp.coinbase.com - Example (Zen7 Video): https://juai8.com/zen7/services