Ecommerce agents

An ecommerce agent can search, reserve, purchase, refund, or reconcile within a mandate. Its authority should be narrower than the user's wallet and narrower than a merchant administrator credential.

Example mandate

Allow one agent to purchase approved product categories from named merchants, up to a per-order and weekly budget, until a fixed expiry. Require human approval when the shipping address changes, the price exceeds a threshold, or the merchant is new.

Execution path

flowchart LR
  Owner["Wallet owner"] --> Mandate["Scoped mandate"]
  Mandate --> Agent["Delegated agent lane"]
  Agent --> Intent["Typed commerce intent"]
  Intent --> Policy["Merchant, budget, risk, and expiry"]
  Policy --> Approval["Approve, deny, or step up"]
  Approval --> Payment["Wallet signing"]
  Payment --> Audit["Receipt and audit"]

Keep catalog browsing outside wallet authority. Enter the signing path only when an operation reserves value, moves funds, changes an order, or uses a privileged merchant capability. Revoke the agent lane without rotating the owner's credential.

Start with delegated agents and policies and mandates.