# Quickstart

Make your first on-chain agent payment in under five minutes.

***

## Prerequisites

* Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+
* A RailProtocol account at [app.railprotocol.org](https://app.railprotocol.org)

***

## Step 1: Install the CLI

```bash
npm install -g @railprotocol/cli
```

Verify the installation:

```bash
rail --version
# railprotocol/cli v1.0.0 darwin-arm64
```

***

## Step 2: Authenticate

```bash
rail auth login
```

This opens a browser window to complete authentication. Your credentials are stored in `~/.railprotocol/credentials`.

For non-interactive environments (CI, scripts):

```bash
rail auth login --token $RAIL_API_KEY
```

***

## Step 3: Create an agent wallet

Every agent that makes payments needs a wallet. Wallets are non-custodial Solana program-derived addresses owned by the agent's keypair.

```bash
rail wallet create --agent my-agent
```

Output:

```
Agent wallet created.

  Agent:    my-agent
  Address:  7xKXtg2xpAGMq8KLwpSodE9LFKq8Z1EscezSShpump
  Balance:  0.00 USDC
  Network:  Solana Mainnet
```

***

## Step 4: Fund the wallet

Top up via the dashboard at [app.railprotocol.org](https://app.railprotocol.org), or transfer USDC directly to the wallet address shown above.

To check balance at any time:

```bash
rail wallet balance --agent my-agent
# Balance: 50.00 USDC
```

***

## Step 5: Set spend policies

Policies are enforced at the gateway before any payment is submitted. Set them once.

```bash
rail policies set my-agent \
  --daily-budget 10 \
  --per-call-limit 0.50 \
  --allowed-domains "api.dune.com,api.browserbase.com"
```

***

## Step 6: Make your first payment

Install the SDK:

```bash
npm install @railprotocol/sdk
```

```typescript
import { RailProtocol } from "@railprotocol/sdk";

const rail = new RailProtocol({
  agentId: "my-agent",
  apiKey: process.env.RAIL_API_KEY,
});

const result = await rail.pay({
  endpoint: "https://api.dune.com/v1/query/1234/results",
  method: "GET",
});

console.log(result.status);       // 200
console.log(result.protocol);     // "x402"
console.log(result.amountPaid);   // { usdc: 0.002 }
console.log(result.txHash);       // Solana transaction hash
console.log(result.data);         // The actual API response
```

RailProtocol detects the payment protocol automatically and handles the full handshake. You do not need to know whether the service uses x402 or MPP.

***

## Step 7: View the on-chain record

Every payment is recorded on Solana. View your transaction history:

```bash
rail transactions list --agent my-agent
```

Output:

```
TX HASH                      PROTOCOL  AMOUNT     ENDPOINT                           TIME
5yJ8kX...mQ9pL              x402      0.002 USDC  api.dune.com/v1/query/...          just now
```

Click the transaction hash in the dashboard to open the Solana Explorer entry directly.

***

## Next steps

* [How the payment router works](/features/payment-router.md)
* [Agent wallet reference](/features/agent-wallets.md)
* [Full spend policy options](/features/spend-policies.md)
* [TypeScript SDK reference](/sdk/typescript.md)


---

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