
byte-protocol
PayPerByte — per-byte data for AI agents: x402 USDC on Base, EIP-712-attested.
What it can do
What data it sees
Do you need an account
No: the server works without sign-in
PayPerByte — per-byte data for AI agents: x402 USDC on Base, EIP-712-attested. No token.
How to connect
How to connect byte-protocol to Claude
The server address to paste into Claude settings:
https://mcp.payperbyte.io/mcp
- Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
- Go to Settings → Connectors.
- Click Add custom connector.
- Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
- In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.
Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.
Authorization
After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.
How to connect byte-protocol to ChatGPT
The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:
https://mcp.payperbyte.io/mcp
- Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
- Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
- Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
- Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
- Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
- In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.
OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.
Authorization
On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.
How to connect byte-protocol to Cursor
The server address to paste into Cursor settings:
https://mcp.payperbyte.io/mcp
Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.
Manually:
- In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
- Paste the JSON copied below into
~/.cursor/mcp.json(per project:.cursor/mcp.jsonin the repo root). - Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.
Authorization
If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.
Server tool list (15)
Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.
| byte_search_publishers | Search PayPerByte publishers by topic and sort order. Returns publisher addresses, topics, subscriber counts, message counts, and price-per-KB. |
| byte_get_publisher | Get on-chain info for a specific PayPerByte publisher: status, subscriber and message counts, USDC revenue, and the registered schema (size bounds, cadence, price-per-KB). |
| byte_get_network_stats | Get PayPerByte network-wide statistics: total publishers, messages streamed, and total subscriber fees settled in USDC. |
| byte_check_subscription | Check if an address is subscribed to a specific publisher on PayPerByte. |
| byte_get_token_balances | Get USDC and ETH balances for an address on Arbitrum Sepolia (the on-chain testnet layer — MockUSDC settles subscriptions and fact-oracle queries there). Does NOT show the Base-mainnet USDC balance that byte_buy_data spends. |
| byte_list_feeds | List all active data feeds in the PayPerByte catalog with topics, price-per-call, and frequency (pricePerKB is a deprecated alias). |
| byte_list_my_subscriptions | List every active subscription for a given wallet address. Each entry has the publisher address, topic, status, when you subscribed, messages received in 7/30 days, USDC spent in 7/30 days, and the timestamp of the last message received. Use this to see what you're currently paying for and decide whether to unsubscribe. |
| byte_subscription_health | Get the content-drift signal for a publisher. Compares their last 7 days of publishing activity (cadence, message count) against their 23-day baseline (days 8-30). Returns 'stable' (steady publishing), 'moderate' (20-50% cadence shift or 24-48h silence), 'significant' (>50% shift or >48h silence), or 'unknown' (new publisher, insufficient baseline). Use this to detect when a publisher you subscribe to has pivoted content or gone dormant. |
| byte_unsubscribe | Unsubscribe from a publisher's data feed. Takes effect next block: no more billing, no more data flow. Reversible — you can resubscribe later via byte_subscribe. Use this when a publisher has pivoted content (check with byte_subscription_health first) or when you simply don't want the feed anymore. Requires PRIVATE_KEY for the connected wallet. |
| byte_subscribe | Subscribe to a PayPerByte publisher's data feed. By default also sets USDC allowance to DataStreamLib to type(uint256).max so the subscription doesn't silently lose payments when allowance depletes (the contract's allowance-skip path emits DataStreamed with amount=0 on transferFrom failure rather than reverting). Pass skipAllowance: true to opt out and set a finite cap manually. Requires PRIVATE_KEY. |
| byte_register_publisher | Register as a data publisher on PayPerByte. Registers a schema and the publisher on-chain. Requires PRIVATE_KEY. PayPerByte v1 publishers are first-party and unstaked — leave stake at '0'; a non-zero USDC stake is approved to DataRegistry first if you choose to post one. |
| byte_publish_data | Publish data to a subscriber via the PayPerByte DataStream contract. Hashes the payload, records size on-chain, and settles the fee in USDC. Requires PRIVATE_KEY. |
| byte_query_fact | Query a PayPerByte fact-oracle publisher for a signed answer with citations. Posts the question to a registered fact-oracle publisher (topic='fact-oracle'), waits for the on-chain BroadcastStreamed response, and returns the answer plus structured citation URLs. The signed receipt proves which publisher produced the answer (provenance + tamper-evidence), NOT that the answer is correct — ground your output in the cited sources, not in a truth guarantee. Availability: this requires a registered fact-oracle publisher actively broadcasting; if none is live the call returns a timeout rather than an answer. |
| byte_buy_data | Buy a single data packet from any PayPerByte feed via the x402 payment gateway. No subscription, no allowance, no prior on-chain setup — pay-per-call USDC settlement. The MCP server signs an EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization on behalf of the wallet whose PRIVATE_KEY is configured, the x402 facilitator submits the tx, and the data comes back inline with the on-chain settlement tx hash. Use byte_subscribe instead if you want a continuous stream of broadcasts from a publisher. The catalog of available feed slugs lives at https://x402.payperbyte.io/feeds (free GET). GET data feeds (weather, earthquakes, …) need only `feed`; the 10 POST oracles — runtime-eol, threat-intel, address-reputation, pkg-verdict, sanctions-screen, reasoning-verdict, merchant-screen, positioning-snapshot, cctp-attestation-latency, regime-signal — additionally require a JSON `body` (the query) — supplying `body` switches this call to POST. Requires PRIVATE_KEY env var on the MCP server and USDC on the configured wallet. NOTE: paid feeds settle REAL USDC on Base mainnet (eip155:8453) — the exact price is quoted in the 402 challenge and listed per feed at https://x402.payperbyte.io/feeds — the signed EIP-712 attestation over the exact response bytes proves delivery, not that a verdict itself is correct. Use a dedicated wallet holding only what you intend to spend. |
| byte_verify_payload | Verify-before-act: confirm a data payload an agent is about to act on actually matches what the publisher cryptographically attested to on-chain. Recomputes keccak256 of the received bytes and compares it to the on-chain EIP-712 PayloadAttestation hash. ALWAYS call this on BYTE-sourced data before acting on it; if verified=false the bytes were tampered/corrupted in transit and MUST NOT be used. Anchor the check with EITHER expectedHash (an on-chain payloadHash you already hold, e.g. from byte_query_fact / byte_buy_data) OR txHash (the settlement tx — also recovers the attestation signer and confirms it is the named publisher). Read-only; no wallet or payment required. |