Let agents buy Apify web automation runs with x402

Apify has made eligible Actors payable through x402, the HTTP payment protocol used for agentic payments. The useful part is practical: an agent can hit an Actor endpoint, receive a payment requirement, authorize a small USDC payment on Base, and run the task without pre-provisioning an Apify API key.

This is a tool candidate, not a general news post. Use it for controlled experiments where an agent needs paid web automation on demand, such as scraping a small dataset, calling a marketplace Actor, or testing MCP payment flows.

Check the limits before using it in production. Apify says the feature is experimental, eligibility depends on the Actor pricing and permissions model, and wallet funding should be treated like a low-balance hot-wallet workflow.