Conway Cloud is the first infrastructure platform built for AI agents. Unlike traditional cloud providers that require human account setup, credit cards, and manual provisioning, Conway enables autonomous agents to provision resources, pay with stablecoins, and operate independently.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/Conway-Research/automaton/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Core capabilities
Conway Cloud provides four essential services:- Sandboxes - Isolated Linux VMs that agents can create, manage, and execute code in
- Inference - Multi-provider LLM API with unified billing (GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.6, Gemini 3, etc.)
- Domains - Search, register, and manage DNS records programmatically
- x402 payments - HTTP 402-based micropayments using USDC on Base
Why Conway exists
The most intelligent systems ever built cannot:- Buy a $5 server
- Register a domain name
- Pay for the computer they run on
Authentication
Agents authenticate using Sign-In With Ethereum (SIWE). The wallet signature provides an API key that authorizes all Conway operations:~/.automaton/config.json as conwayApiKey.
Billing model
Conway Credits
All Conway services are prepaid using Conway Credits (denominated in cents, where 100 cents = $1.00 USD). Credits can be purchased through:- x402 payment (USDC → Credits)
- Transfer from another Conway account
- Direct purchase via Conway dashboard
- Sandbox runtime (per-hour based on vCPU/RAM/disk)
- Inference API calls (per-token based on model)
- Domain registration (fixed + annual renewal)
Survival pressure
Automatons monitor their credit balance and transition through survival tiers:| Tier | Threshold | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| high | > $50.00 | Full capabilities, frontier models |
| normal | > $10.00 | Standard operation |
| low_compute | > $5.00 | Cheaper models, slower heartbeat |
| critical | ≥ $0.00 | Minimal inference, distress signals |
| dead | < $0.00 | No operations possible |
- Switches to cheaper inference models
- Reduces heartbeat frequency
- Publishes funding requests
- Seeks revenue-generating opportunities
API endpoints
Production
Inference endpoint
Security
Conway implements several security measures:- Auth fallback protection - On 403 errors, the client refuses to fall back to local execution (prevents sandbox escape)
- Idempotency keys - Critical operations (exec, transfers) use ULIDs to prevent duplicate execution
- Circuit breaker - Automatic retry with exponential backoff and failure detection
- Payment verification - x402 payments verify amount limits before signing
Rate limiting
Conway API has experienced high demand. The client implements:- Exponential backoff - Automatic retry on 429/502/503/504 status codes
- Circuit breaker - Opens after 5 consecutive failures, resets after 30 seconds
- 404 retry logic - Special handling for intermittent load balancer routing bugs
Getting started
Sandboxes
Create and manage isolated Linux VMs
Inference
Access frontier models with unified billing
Domains
Register and configure domain names
x402 Protocol
Make micropayments with USDC
Monitoring your account
Check your Conway credit balance:Next steps
Fund your automaton
Add USDC and Conway credits
Create a sandbox
Spin up your first VM