Pay-per-Crawl for Go · v0.1.1 · free, open source

Charge AI crawlers in Go, Caddy or Traefik

One Go module with a net/http middleware, a Caddy handler module and a Traefik plugin. Pure-Go keccak so the core loads inside Traefik's interpreter.

Works with: net/http, Caddy module http.handlers.pay_per_crawl, Traefik plugin

Install

go get github.com/forgemeshlabs/[email protected]

Add the gate

package main

import (
	"net/http"

	"github.com/forgemeshlabs/pay-per-crawl-go/middleware"
	"github.com/forgemeshlabs/pay-per-crawl-go/paypercrawl"
)

func main() {
	site := http.FileServer(http.Dir("./public"))
	http.ListenAndServe(":8080", middleware.Handler(paypercrawl.Config{
		PayTo:    "0xYourWalletOnBase",
		PriceUSD: 0.01,
		Mode:     "monitor",
	}, site))
}

# xcaddy build --with github.com/forgemeshlabs/pay-per-crawl-go/caddy
example.com {
	route {
		pay_per_crawl {
			pay_to 0xYourWalletOnBase
			price_usd 0.01
			mode monitor
		}
		file_server
	}
}

experimental:
  plugins:
    payPerCrawl:
      moduleName: github.com/forgemeshlabs/pay-per-crawl-go
      version: v0.1.1
# then a middleware in your dynamic config:
# http.middlewares.ppc.plugin.payPerCrawl.payTo: 0xYourWalletOnBase

Turn it on

1. 1go get the module and wrap your handler, or build Caddy with the module, or add the Traefik plugin.
2. 2Set PayTo and keep Mode at monitor.
3. 3Read the OnHit events, then set Mode to gate.

Settings

Things to know

• Without a verifiable IP, or when DNS is down, a search-engine claim is kept rather than charged.
• The Caddy download page listing is still pending; build with xcaddy for now.
• Behind Cloudflare, set AI Crawl Control and any "Block AI bots" rule to Allow for the crawlers you want to charge. A crawler blocked at the edge never reaches the gate and never sees the 402.
• Humans never see a 402. Search engines are verified by reverse DNS; a request that only claims to be Googlebot is charged.
• Start in monitor mode. It logs every bot with what it would have paid and never blocks. Switch to gate when the numbers make sense.

Proof it settles

Real settlements on Base mainnet through the PayAI facilitator, $0.01 each, October 2026:

• x402 v1 (X-PAYMENT, network base)0x948aa9522f9feed31a1a8bc77e7c1de88699b1e629759f5677bd6a2e3117c4e8
• x402 v2 (PAYMENT-SIGNATURE, eip155:8453)0x80b5b56043bba8b4b17c95eb9759415affbf9857f8a22a249b841ac16260aebc

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