x402 Pay gates selected WordPress posts behind an x402 payment. When a paywalled URL is requested without a valid Payment-Signature header, the plugin responds with HTTP 402 and a PAYMENT-REQUIRED payload describing how to pay. Bots, API clients, and browser-wallet users can sign a USDC transfer, retry the request, and get the response.

Use it to:

Charge automated agents per article view.
Offer pay-per-request access to a small set of premium posts.
Test the x402 payment flow on Base Sepolia without setting up your own facilitator.

The plugin is inert until you pick a paywall mode in Settings x402 Pay. The default mode is “No posts,” so installing the plugin alone does not gate anything or contact any external service.

Audience and modes

Audience decides who gets paywalled. “Only bots” (default) uses crawler detection so human readers still see your content. “Everyone” gates both humans and bots.
Mode decides which posts qualify. Choose “No posts” (off), “All posts,” or restrict the paywall to a chosen category.

Built-in facilitators

x402.org (Test network) — routes verify and settle calls through the public x402.org facilitator on Base Sepolia. Default for new installs. No real funds move.
Coinbase CDP — routes through Coinbase Developer Platform on Base mainnet (real USDC). Requires a CDP API key.

External services

This plugin connects to external x402 facilitators to verify and settle payments. A facilitator is only contacted when a request hits a paywalled URL carrying a Payment-Signature header, or when an admin clicks Test connection on the settings page. Installing the plugin without selecting a paywall mode triggers no outbound calls.

x402.org (Test network)

Used by the default x402.org (Test network) connector.

Endpoint: https://x402.org/facilitator/
What is sent: x402 PaymentRequirements (your receiving wallet address, amount, asset, network, resource URL) and the paying client’s PaymentPayload (a signed USDC transferWithAuthorization authorization).
Why: to verify and settle the USDC payment on Base Sepolia.
Site: https://www.x402.org/
Terms of use: https://lfprojects.org/policies/terms-of-use/
Privacy policy: https://lfprojects.org/policies/privacy-policy/
This is a public testnet facilitator; do not use it for production paywalls.

Coinbase Developer Platform

Used only when an admin selects the Coinbase CDP connector and saves an API key.

Endpoint: https://api.cdp.coinbase.com/platform/v2/x402/
What is sent: the same x402 PaymentRequirements and PaymentPayload, plus a CDP-signed JWT proving the API key.
Why: to verify and settle the USDC payment on Base mainnet.
Terms of service: https://coinbase.com/legal/developer-platform/terms-of-service/
Privacy policy: https://coinbase.com/legal/privacy

Development

Source, build instructions, and issue tracker: https://github.com/Automattic/x402-pay

The admin UI is built from assets/src/index.jsx via npm run build; the bundled assets/build/index.js is the compiled output.