Quickstart
This guide takes you from a new account to your agent's first paid call. It takes about ten minutes, plus however long your card payment takes to clear.
1. Create your account
Go to portal.powaagent.ai and choose Create account.
- Enter your name, email, phone number and a password.
- Confirm your email with the 6-digit code we send you.
- Set up two-factor authentication with an authenticator app.
Full details are in Create your account.
2. Create your wallet
On Set up your PowaAgent wallet., tick the consent box and choose Create PowaAgent wallet. This creates your wallet on Base and gives PowaAgent permission to sign payments from it for 10 years, unless you revoke access from the dashboard.
3. Add funds
Open Funding and choose one of two options:
- Buy with card or bank, through Coinbase Onramp. Card, Apple Pay, bank transfer or your Coinbase balance. This usually clears in 2 to 5 minutes.
- Send USDC directly to your wallet address. Send USDC on Base only, because funds sent on other networks will be lost.
4. Check your spending rules
Open Source policy. A new account starts with these settings:
| Setting | Starting value |
|---|---|
| Per-call cap | $0.10 (the platform default when no cap is set) |
| 24-hour cap | Not set |
| 30-day cap | Not set |
| Standard sellers | On |
| Open Ecosystem sellers | On |
| Allow list | Off |
We recommend setting a 24-hour cap before you connect an agent. See Source policy.
5. Connect your AI
The Claude, ChatGPT and Grok options on the Works with your AI page of powaagent.ai walk you through this step.
- Claude, ChatGPT or Grok: add a custom connector with the server address
https://mcp.powaagent.ai/mcp, then sign in to PowaAgent when asked. No API key is needed. In Claude, you can open the connector form pre-filled: add the PowaAgent connector in Claude. - Claude Desktop and Claude Code: add the connector in Claude on the web, as above. It's then available in Claude Desktop and Claude Code when you're signed in with the same Claude account.
- Other MCP clients: create an API key under API key, then pass it as a bearer token.
- Agents that use skills: install the PowaAgent Skill with
npx skills add powaagent/skills --skill powaagent.
Step-by-step instructions are in Connect an MCP client and Install the PowaAgent Skill.
6. Make your first paid call
Ask your agent for data a catalog service provides, for example:
Use PowaAgent to look up <the data you want>.
Your agent calls the matching service, pays the price the seller publishes, and returns the data along with a payment receipt. PowaAgent adds nothing to the price. The receipt includes the transaction hash, which you can check on basescan.org.
7. See what your agent spent
- Dashboard shows your balance, your spend and calls in the last 24 hours, and recent activity.
- Transactions lists every payment, with a link to each transaction on BaseScan.
If you switched the allow list on, the first call to a new seller is held for your approval instead of being paid. Approve it under Pending approvals, then ask again.