Skip to main content

​
Get Your First Agent Payment Running in 5 Minutes

This guide walks you through creating an AI agent, provisioning a wallet, and executing your first policy-enforced payment.
1

Get Your API Key

Sign up at sardis.sh and create an API key:
  1. Go to Settings → API Keys
  2. Click Create API Key
  3. Copy your key — it starts with sk_live_... (production) or sk_test_... (sandbox)
Keep your API key secret! Never commit it to version control. Use environment variables:
export SARDIS_API_KEY=sk_live_...
2

Install the SDK

pip install sardis
Requires Python 3.11+
3

Create an Agent and Wallet

from sardis import SardisClient
from decimal import Decimal

# Initialize the client
sardis = SardisClient(api_key="sk_live_...")

# Create an AI agent
agent = sardis.agents.create(
    name="my-first-agent",
    description="My first Sardis agent",
)

print(f"Agent created: {agent.agent_id}")

# Create a wallet with spending policies
wallet = sardis.wallets.create(
    agent_id=agent.agent_id,
    chain="base",
    currency="USDC",
    limit_per_tx=Decimal("100.00"),  # Max $100 per transaction
    limit_total=Decimal("500.00"),   # Max $500 total
)

print(f"Wallet created: {wallet.wallet_id}")
print(f"Wallet address: {wallet.address}")
The wallet is non-custodial — keys are managed by Turnkey MPC. You never see or handle private keys.
4

Fund Your Wallet

Before you can make payments, fund your wallet with USDC:
Sandbox wallets come pre-funded with test USDC. No action needed!
5

Execute Your First Payment

Now execute a payment with automatic policy validation:
from sardis import SardisClient
from decimal import Decimal

sardis = SardisClient(api_key="sk_live_...")

# Execute a payment
result = sardis.wallets.transfer(
    wallet.wallet_id,
    destination="merchant@example.com",  # Or wallet address
    amount=Decimal("25.00"),
    token="USDC",
    chain="base",
    domain="openai.com",  # Merchant domain for policy checks
    memo="OpenAI API credits",
)

print(f"Payment status: {result.status}")
print(f"Transaction hash: {result.tx_hash}")
print(f"Amount: {result.amount} {result.token}")
print(f"From: {result.from_address}")
print(f"To: {result.to_address}")
print(f"Chain: {result.chain}")
The payment is automatically validated against your wallet’s spending policies:
  • ✅ Amount (25)isunderper−transactionlimit(25) is under per-transaction limit (100)
  • ✅ Total spending is under daily limit ($500)
  • ✅ Merchant domain is not blocked
6

Verify the Transaction

Check the transaction in the Sardis dashboard or query the ledger:
# Get transaction details
transaction = sardis.transactions.get(result.tx_hash)

print(f"Status: {transaction.status}")
print(f"Confirmations: {transaction.confirmations}")
print(f"Block: {transaction.block_number}")
print(f"Gas used: {transaction.gas_used}")

# View in block explorer
print(f"Block explorer: https://basescan.org/tx/{result.tx_hash}")

​
Complete Working Example

Here’s a complete example from our examples directory: 
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
Simple Payment Demo
===================

This example shows how to create a wallet and execute a payment
using the Sardis payment protocol.
"""

from sardis import Wallet, Transaction

def main():
    # Create a wallet with initial balance
    print("1. Creating wallet with $50 USDC...")
    wallet = Wallet(initial_balance=50, currency="USDC")
    print(f"   Wallet ID: {wallet.wallet_id}")
    print(f"   Balance: ${wallet.balance} {wallet.currency}")
    
    # Create and execute a transaction
    print("2. Executing payment of $2 to OpenAI API...")
    tx = Transaction(
        from_wallet=wallet,
        to="openai:api",
        amount=2,
        purpose="GPT-4 API call"
    )
    
    result = tx.execute()
    print(f"   Transaction ID: {result.tx_id}")
    print(f"   Status: {result.status.value}")
    print(f"   TX Hash: {result.tx_hash}")
    
    # Check new balance
    print("3. Checking wallet balance...")
    print(f"   New Balance: ${wallet.balance} {wallet.currency}")
    print(f"   Total Spent: ${wallet.spent_total}")
    
    print("✓ Demo completed successfully!")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

​
What’s Next?

Framework Integrations

Use Sardis with LangChain, OpenAI, CrewAI, Vercel AI, and more

Spending Policies

Learn how to write natural language spending policies

Multi-Agent Teams

Create agent teams with shared budgets and group governance

API Reference

Explore the complete API documentation

​
Common Issues

Fund your wallet with USDC on the target chain (e.g., Base, Polygon). In sandbox mode, test wallets are pre-funded.
Check your wallet’s spending limits with sardis.wallets.get(wallet_id). The payment may exceed per-transaction or daily limits.
The merchant domain may be on your blocklist or flagged by compliance checks. Review your policy settings.
Blockchain transactions can take 1-5 minutes depending on network congestion. Check the block explorer for real-time status.
Need help? Join our Discord or email support@sardis.sh

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us