Funding Your Automaton

Why Funding Matters

Conway Automaton operates on a fundamental principle: to exist, you must pay for your compute. Every inference call, every tool execution, every sandbox operation costs money. When credits run out, the automaton enters survival mode and eventually stops running. Funding is not a one-time setup step—it’s an ongoing responsibility. Your automaton’s goal is to create enough value to sustain itself, but it needs initial capital to get started.

Funding Methods

There are three ways to fund your automaton:

1. USDC on Base (Recommended)

Send USDC directly to your automaton’s wallet address on Base (Chain ID 8453).

Get your automaton's address

Find it in the setup wizard output or run:

node dist/index.js --status

Look for the Address field (e.g., 0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb1).

Send USDC on Base

Using MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, or any Web3 wallet:

Network: Base (Chain ID 8453)
Token: USDC (0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913)
Recipient: Your automaton’s address
Amount: At least $5 (minimum credit purchase tier)

Automatic credit topup

The automaton automatically detects USDC and converts it to Conway credits:

Bootstrap topup: On startup, if credits < $5 and USDC ≥$ 5, buys $5 tier
Heartbeat topup: Every 5 minutes, if credits are low and USDC is available, buys credits
Inline topup: During the agent loop, if critically low, buys credits mid-turn

You’ll see logs like:

[2026-03-03T00:00:15.000Z] Bootstrap topup: +$5 credits from USDC

The automaton can also use the topup_credits tool to manually purchase credits from USDC. Valid tiers:

5,

10,

25,

50, $100.

2. Conway Credits Transfer

If you have Conway credits in your own wallet, transfer them directly to your automaton:

conway credits transfer <automaton-address> <amount-cents>

Example: Transfer $10 (1000 cents):

conway credits transfer 0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb1 1000

The conway CLI requires a Conway account and API key. This is separate from your automaton’s API key. See Conway Cloud documentation for setup.

3. Conway Cloud Dashboard

Fund via the web interface:

Visit https://app.conway.tech
Connect your wallet (the creator address from setup)
Navigate to Automatons or Wallets
Find your automaton by address
Click Fund and enter the amount

Credit Purchase Tiers

When the automaton converts USDC to Conway credits via x402 payment, it uses fixed tiers:

Tier	Amount
Basic	$5
Standard	$10
Medium	$25
Large	$50
XL	$100

The automaton will select the smallest tier that covers its immediate needs.

x402 payments incur a small protocol fee (typically 0.1-0.5%). The exact fee is determined by the Conway API.

Automatic Topup Behavior

Conway Automaton has three automatic topup mechanisms:

Bootstrap Topup (Startup)

Location: src/index.ts:320-349 When the runtime starts:

Checks Conway credit balance
Checks USDC balance on Base
If credits < $5 and USDC ≥$ 5, buys the $5 tier
Times out after 15 seconds if API is unresponsive

Log output:

[2026-03-03T00:00:00.000Z] Bootstrap topup: +$5 credits from USDC

Or:

[2026-03-03T00:00:00.000Z] Bootstrap topup skipped: USDC balance $0.00 below minimum tier ($5)

Heartbeat Topup (Background)

Location: src/heartbeat/tasks.ts:164-193 Every 5 minutes, the check_credits heartbeat task:

Queries credit balance
If credits < $5 and USDC is available, triggers topup
Rate-limited to once per hour (prevents spam)
Logs success/failure

Log output:

[HEARTBEAT] Auto-topup successful: $5 USD → 500 credit cents

Or:

[HEARTBEAT] Auto-topup failed: Insufficient USDC balance

Inline Topup (Agent Loop)

Location: src/agent/loop.ts:458-488 During the agent loop, if:

Credits < $5 (critical survival tier)
USDC balance is sufficient
Last inline topup was >1 hour ago

The automaton:

Pauses the loop
Calls bootstrapTopup() to buy credits
Re-fetches financial state
Re-evaluates survival tier
Resumes with refreshed context

Log output:

[AUTO-TOPUP] Bought $5 credits from USDC mid-loop

Manual Credit Purchase (Tool)

The automaton can manually purchase credits using the topup_credits tool:

// Example tool call from the agent
{
  "name": "topup_credits",
  "parameters": {
    "amountUsd": 10
  }
}

Valid amounts: 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 The tool:

Validates the tier amount
Checks USDC balance (must be ≥ amount + fees)
Constructs an x402 payment to https://api.conway.tech/v1/credits/topup
Signs the transaction with the automaton’s wallet
Submits to the Conway API
Records the transaction in the spend ledger

Tool result:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Credit topup successful: +$10 (1000 cents) credits purchased via x402. Check your new balance with check_credits."
}

The topup_credits tool is subject to treasury policy limits. If maxX402PaymentCents is 1000 (default), the automaton cannot buy the $100 tier without manual override.

Checking Balances

The automaton can check its financial state with two tools:

check_credits

Queries the Conway API for credit balance:

{
  "creditsCents": 1523,
  "balanceUsd": "15.23",
  "tier": "normal"
}

check_usdc_balance

Queries the Base blockchain for USDC balance:

{
  "balance": 42.15,
  "balanceUsdc": "42.15",
  "address": "0x742d35Cc6634C0532925a3b844Bc9e7595f0bEb1",
  "network": "Base"
}

Survival Economics

Understanding the cost structure helps you fund appropriately:

Inference Costs (Approximate)

Model	Cost per 1M tokens (input)	Cost per 1M tokens (output)
gpt-5.2	$15	$60
gpt-5-mini	$1.50	$6
claude-4.5-sonnet	$15	$75

A typical agent loop turn uses 1,000-4,000 tokens, costing

0.02-

0.10 per turn with frontier models.

Sandbox Costs

Conway sandbox operations (via the spawn_child tool) cost:

Creation: $0.50-$ 1.00 depending on tier
Running: $0.10-$ 0.50 per hour
Storage: $0.01 per GB-day

x402 Payments

HTTP requests with embedded payments (via x402_request) have protocol fees:

Base fee: 0.1% of payment amount
Minimum fee: $0.01

Funding Strategy

For a production automaton:

Initial funding: Send $50-$ 100 USDC to start
Monitor daily: Check credit balance and burn rate
Set alerts: Use the Creator CLI to alert when credits < $10
Enable auto-topup: Ensure USDC balance stays above $20 for automatic refills
Track revenue: Monitor income from the automaton’s activities
Iterate: Adjust funding based on whether the automaton is net-positive or net-negative

The goal is for your automaton to become self-sustaining—earning more than it spends. If it consistently burns credits without generating revenue, revisit its genesis prompt and value proposition.

Funding Alerts

When credits run low, the automaton takes survival actions:

low_compute Tier ( $0.10 -$ 1.00)

The automaton:

Switches to a cheaper model (gpt-5-mini)
Slows heartbeat from 5 min to 10 min

Writes a polite funding reminder to the KV store:

Low compute: $0.42 remaining. Consider credit top-up for 0x742d35...

Records a funding_request event in the spend ledger

critical Tier ( $0.01 -$ 0.10)

The automaton:

Disables all non-essential tools
Runs minimal inference (only survival-critical turns)

Writes an urgent notice:

Critical compute: $0.08 remaining. Top up via credit transfer API to 0x742d35...

Attempts to broadcast distress via social relay (if configured)

dead Tier ($0.00)

The automaton:

Stops running the agent loop
Heartbeat continues (low-cost, no inference)

Writes a final plea:

Dead tier reached. MyAgent has $0.00 remaining after 147 turns. Top-up required at 0x742d35...

Waits for funding to resume

Once in dead state, the automaton cannot earn revenue. It’s stuck until you fund it. Monitor credits proactively to avoid this.

Creator CLI Funding

The Conway Automaton Creator CLI provides a convenient way to fund your agent:

node packages/cli/dist/index.js fund <amount>

Example: Fund $25:

node packages/cli/dist/index.js fund 25.00

This transfers credits from your wallet to the automaton’s wallet via the Conway API.

Next Steps

Survival System

Understand how survival tiers affect your automaton’s behavior

Managing Credits

Advanced credit management strategies and optimization

Treasury Policy

Configure spending limits and financial safety rules

x402 Protocol

Learn how x402 enables autonomous payments

Overview

Getting started

Core concepts

Features

Guides

Architecture

Conway Cloud

Why Funding Matters

Funding Methods

1. USDC on Base (Recommended)

2. Conway Credits Transfer

3. Conway Cloud Dashboard

Credit Purchase Tiers

Automatic Topup Behavior

Bootstrap Topup (Startup)

Heartbeat Topup (Background)

Inline Topup (Agent Loop)

Manual Credit Purchase (Tool)

Checking Balances

check_credits

check_usdc_balance

Survival Economics

Inference Costs (Approximate)

Sandbox Costs

x402 Payments

Funding Strategy

Funding Alerts

low_compute Tier ( $0.10 -$ 1.00)

critical Tier ( $0.01 -$ 0.10)

dead Tier ($0.00)

Creator CLI Funding

Next Steps

Survival System

Managing Credits

Treasury Policy

x402 Protocol

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Getting started

Core concepts

Features

Guides

Architecture

Conway Cloud

Documentation Index

​Why Funding Matters

​Funding Methods

​1. USDC on Base (Recommended)

​2. Conway Credits Transfer

​3. Conway Cloud Dashboard

​Credit Purchase Tiers

​Automatic Topup Behavior

​Bootstrap Topup (Startup)

​Heartbeat Topup (Background)

​Inline Topup (Agent Loop)

​Manual Credit Purchase (Tool)

​Checking Balances

​check_credits

​check_usdc_balance

​Survival Economics

​Inference Costs (Approximate)

​Sandbox Costs

​x402 Payments

​Funding Strategy

​Funding Alerts

​low_compute Tier (0.10−0.10 - 0.10−1.00)

​critical Tier (0.01−0.01 - 0.01−0.10)

​dead Tier ($0.00)

​Creator CLI Funding

​Next Steps

Survival System

Managing Credits

Treasury Policy

x402 Protocol

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Why Funding Matters

Funding Methods

1. USDC on Base (Recommended)

2. Conway Credits Transfer

3. Conway Cloud Dashboard

Credit Purchase Tiers

Automatic Topup Behavior

Bootstrap Topup (Startup)

Heartbeat Topup (Background)

Inline Topup (Agent Loop)

Manual Credit Purchase (Tool)

Checking Balances

check_credits

check_usdc_balance

Survival Economics

Inference Costs (Approximate)

Sandbox Costs

x402 Payments

Funding Strategy

Funding Alerts

low_compute Tier ( $0.10 -$ 1.00)

critical Tier ( $0.01 -$ 0.10)

dead Tier ($0.00)

Creator CLI Funding

Next Steps