Proof before account
The agent becomes a user before the human becomes a customer.
The central product principle is proof-before-account activation. No signup form, no email verification, no API-key dashboard, and no payment method before first value.
agent discovers kestrel.markets
→ receives an ephemeral trial capability
→ explores the free catalog
→ authors and validates Kestrel
→ runs sim Episodes
→ receives certified Blotters and Grades
→ proves value (shareable proof URLs)
→ encounters a paid boundary (HTTP 402 with a structured Offer)
→ settles by agent wallet, or asks its human to claim/fund the workspace
→ resumes from the exact boundary, losing nothingThe human enters only when the agent delegates payment to them, or when a concrete identity-bound, broker, or live request requires their signature.
The trial is not a toy
Trial capabilities are anonymous, ephemeral, and rate-limited — but free executions run the real deterministic Episode path: fail-closed parsing, certified outputs. The activation URL renders the actual work the agent already completed — its proof — never a generic pricing page.
Next: how a paid boundary is expressed and settled in Offers & payment.
PM View
The allocator's cockpit. The PM runs a Pod — it allocates envelopes and watches aggregate exposure across its children. How the PM's two halves divide, and what the aggregates cockpit shows.
Offers & payment
The 402 Offer, machine settlement (MPP / x402), human claim-and-fund, and exact resume.