# Micropayments

#### The Future of the Web

EtheLock is built for the emerging machine-to-machine economy. We support the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" protocol, enabling seamless micropayments for web services.

#### Use Cases

* **AI Agents:** Authorize your personal AI assistants to spend small amounts (e.g., $0.001 per query) to access paid APIs, premium data sources, or computational resources.
* **Content Access:** Pay-per-article or pay-per-minute for media consumption instead of purchasing expensive monthly subscriptions.
* **API Monetization:** Developers can bill directly for API usage on a per-call basis.

#### Threshold Security

To balance convenience with security, you can set "Auto-Approve" thresholds.

* **Example:** "Auto-approve any transaction under $0.05."
* **Result:** Your AI agent can work autonomously within safe limits, while larger transactions still require your physical card tap.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.ethelock.xyz/3-features/micropayments.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.