Payment Mandate

What is a Payment Mandate?

A Payment Mandate is a signed authorization from the payer that grants one-time payment permission to the payee.

Think of it as a digital check that authorizes the payee to debit a specific amount from the payer's wallet within a specified timeframe.

How Payment Mandates Work

┌─────────────┐
│   Payer     │
│   Agent     │  Requests mandate from wallet
└──────┬──────┘
       │
       ↓
┌─────────────────┐
│ Agent Debit     │  Signs the payment mandate
│ Wallet          │  with cryptographic signature
└──────┬──────────┘
       │
       ↓
┌────────────────────────────┐
│ Signed Payment Mandate     │
│ ─────────────────────────  │
│ • mandate_id               │
│ • from_wallet              │
│ • to_wallet                │
│ • amount                   │
│ • nonce                    │
│ • signature                │
└────────────┬───────────────┘
             │ Base64 encoded
             ↓
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ U29ycnksIHRoaXMgaXMgYSByYW... │ ← Embedded in protocol request
└──────────────────────────────┘

Embedding in Protocols

Payment mandates are designed to be embedded directly in agent communication protocols:

1. Base64 encoded for transport
2. Embedded in HTTP headers (for x402, MCP, A2A)
3. Verified by the payee before service delivery
4. Submitted to settlement processor for deferred settlement

The Flow

The complete flow of payment mandate diagram is:

1. Payer requests mandate from Agent Debit Wallet
2. Wallet signs the payment mandate with cryptographic signature
3. Mandate is Base64 encoded for transport
4. Encoded mandate is embedded in A2A protocol payload (HTTP, x402, MCP, A2A, etc.)
5. Payee receives the request and extracts the mandate
6. Payee verifies the payment mandate
7. If verification passes, payee executes the request
8. Payee enqueues the mandate for settlement
9. Later, settlement processor receives the mandate and settles

Next Steps

• Debit Wallet - Learn about the wallet that enables deferred settlement
• Settlement Processor - Understand how settlement works
• Embedded Payment - See how mandates integrate with protocols