How TOLL·402 verifies x402 services
The directory's evidence ladder, safety boundaries and rules for awarding or removing trust signals.
DIRECT ANSWER
TOLL·402 starts with source documentation, then probes public endpoints for tool catalogs and unpaid payment requirements. Paid-call verification is awarded only after a bounded, real payment settles and the documented output is confirmed. Bulk discovery records never receive a verification badge automatically, and failed or stale checks remain visible.
Key takeaways
- Truthful absence is better than an invented endpoint, price or tool name.
- Probe evidence overrides documentation-derived detail when they conflict.
- Mutating tools are excluded from unattended dry-call and paid-call tests.
The evidence ladder
A discovered candidate needs a real source URL and identifiable service. Documentation can support names, descriptions and explicit prices. An automated probe can add current tool catalogs and 402 requirements. A human-controlled paid call is the final verification step because money movement and output evaluation require tighter judgment.
Safety boundaries
The probe avoids mutating operations, caps the number of dry calls and records failures instead of hiding them. Unknown prices stay unknown. A documentation pass cannot set the listing-level sort price unless the live probe confirms it. These rules reduce the chance that plausible marketing copy becomes false machine-readable data.
- Never publish a private key, payment signature or sensitive output.
- Use dedicated wallets with small balances for verification.
- Retain source, date and failure reason for review.
What verification does not promise
A verified badge is evidence of one successful, reviewed transaction. It is not an endorsement of every tool, a security audit, a guarantee of future uptime or a promise that a price will not change. Buyers must still apply their own permissions and spend policy.
Related directory entries
Sources and methodology
TOLL·402 distinguishes public claims, registry discovery, unpaid quote checks and settled paid-call verification. Sources below support the visible claims; presence in a registry is not treated as verification.
- TOLL·402 quote-check definitions — Public evidence ladder and limits for each trust signal.
- TOLL·402 discovery methodology — Public rules separating bulk discovery from curated verification.
- x402 buyer quickstart — Current client-side payment mechanics.