Install the PowaAgent Skill
The PowaAgent Skill is a set of instructions your agent loads to use PowaAgent. It teaches your agent when PowaAgent is the right tool and how to use it. It's a single SKILL.md file, published at github.com/powaagent/skills.
The Skill works on its own or together with the PowaAgent connector. When the connector is present, the Skill routes everything through it automatically.
What you need
- With the PowaAgent connector: connect the connector in your agent platform. The Skill finds it automatically, with no setup and no API key for the Skill to store. You still need USDC in your PowaAgent wallet.
- Without the connector, for PowaAgent-managed payments: a PowaAgent account from portal.powaagent.ai, an API key, and USDC in your wallet on Base.
- Catalog only: no PowaAgent account. You make and pay for calls yourself.
Install
With the skills command-line tool:
npx skills add powaagent/skills --skill powaagent
This installs the Skill into every agent platform it detects on your machine.
To install by hand, copy skills/powaagent/SKILL.md from the GitHub repository into your agent platform's skills folder.
First run
The first time your agent uses the Skill, it checks for the PowaAgent connector:
- Connector found: the Skill uses it straight away, with no setup.
- No connector: the Skill asks how you want to use it before it does anything else.
1. PowaAgent-managed payments (powaagent_flow). The Skill finds the right service and PowaAgent signs and pays from your wallet, applying your source policy. The Skill asks three more questions:
| Question | Default |
|---|---|
| Which environment variable holds your API key | POWAAGENT_API_KEY |
| Which file the key is stored in | ~/.env |
| Whether to offer the sandbox when a service supports it ("Ask each time") or always use production ("Always production") | Always production |
Then add your key to that file, under the variable name you chose:
POWAAGENT_API_KEY=<your PowaAgent API key>
Restart your agent so it picks up the key. The Skill reads the key from the environment variable first, then from the file, and it never displays the key.
2. Catalog only (catalog_only). The Skill finds the matching PowaHub service and gives you the request to make and the seller's payment terms. It doesn't pay. You make the call with your own wallet or tool.
Your answers are saved to skill-config.json, next to SKILL.md.
Using it
Ask your agent for data the way you normally would. With PowaAgent-managed payments, the Skill:
- Looks for a matching Premium or Standard listing at
https://api.powahub.ai/catalog. - If nothing matches, searches the public x402 Bazaar for Open Ecosystem endpoints.
- Calls the seller, has PowaAgent sign the payment, and retries with the payment attached.
- Shows you the result, where it came from, what was paid and the settlement details.
The Skill asks you to confirm the price before paying when it uses the connector, and when the seller came from a Bazaar search.
Your spend caps, seller tiers and allow and deny lists live on your PowaAgent account, not in the Skill. They're checked every time PowaAgent signs a payment. See Source policy.
Change your setup
Ask your agent to "Reconfigure PowaAgent". The Skill shows your current settings and lets you keep or change each one.
Update the Skill
npx skills update
Updating replaces the Skill folder, which clears skill-config.json, so the Skill asks the setup questions again on its next use. Your API key isn't affected as long as its file is outside the Skill folder. The default, ~/.env, is.
Check it works
Ask your agent for data a catalog service provides, for example:
Use PowaAgent to look up <the data you want>.
If the call is held with "Seller approval pending", your allow list is on. Approve the seller under Pending approvals and ask again.