Launch 20 April 2026 · 6 min read · By Zishan

The First Agent-Originated Transaction Settled Through Rako

Last week, something happened that we’ve been building towards for months. An AI agent asked a natural-language question. The Agent Attribution Protocol returned a structured offer. A real user clicked through and purchased a SIM deal from a real merchant. Commission was calculated, cryptographically attributed, and logged — without a single cookie, redirect chain, or browser fingerprint.

This is what agent-native commerce looks like. Here’s exactly how it worked.

The flow, step by step

1. The agent searches

A user asks their AI assistant: “I need a cheap SIM deal, at least 10GB, no contract.”

The agent calls Rako’s MCP server with:

search_offers(vertical="sim", min_data_gb=10, contract_months=0, max_price=12)

The protocol returns four matching offers from three merchants, each with a cryptographically signed AAP Code that proves the offer is real, priced correctly, and commission-eligible.

2. The agent recommends

The agent evaluates the offers and recommends SMARTY 30GB at £10/month — 3x the requested data at the user’s budget.

recommend(session_id="...", offer_id="...", context="Best value per GB in rolling plans")

This call is the attribution event. Rako records that this agent influenced this user’s decision. No cookie needed. No redirect. Server-side, tamper-proof.

3. The user buys

The user says “let’s do it.” The agent calls checkout(), which generates a Hyperswitch payment link. The user enters their card details on a checkout page branded to the merchant — card statement shows SMARTY, not Rako.

The merchant’s own Stripe account processes the payment. Rako never touches the funds.

4. Commission is settled

When the webhook confirms payment, Rako calculates commission based on the merchant’s agreed rate. The conversion is logged with:

  • Agent attribution — which agent recommended it, in what context
  • Session chain — search → recommend → checkout → purchase
  • AAP Code — cryptographic proof linking the offer to the attribution
  • Commission split — 80% to the agent builder, 20% network fee

The merchant sees the conversion in their Rako dashboard. The agent builder sees earnings in their API.

Why this matters

No cookies, no problem

Traditional affiliate marketing depends on browser cookies for attribution. When an AI agent makes a recommendation, there’s no browser. There are no cookies. The entire attribution model breaks.

Rako solves this by recording attribution at the API layer. When recommend() is called, the link between agent, offer, and session is established server-side. It survives device switches, browser changes, and time gaps.

The merchant’s PSP processes payment

Rako is not a payment processor. We’re an attribution and orchestration layer. The merchant connects their existing Stripe (or Adyen, or Worldpay) account via OAuth. Payment links route through Hyperswitch to the merchant’s own processor. Funds flow directly from buyer to merchant.

This means:

  • No payment services licence required for Rako
  • Merchants keep their existing payment infrastructure
  • Card statements show the merchant’s name
  • Rako invoices commission as a post-transaction receivable

Open protocol, not a walled garden

The Agent Attribution Protocol is open source under Apache 2.0. The MCP server is published on npm. SDKs exist for JavaScript and Python. Any agent builder can integrate in three API calls.

We’re not trying to be the only game in town. We’re trying to establish the standard for how agents earn commission on the purchases they influence. If someone builds a better implementation of AAP, that’s a win for the ecosystem.

The architecture

Agent (Claude, ChatGPT, custom)
  ↓ MCP / REST API
Rako API (search, recommend, checkout)
  ↓ OAuth connector
Hyperswitch (payment orchestration)
  ↓ Merchant's PSP
Stripe / Adyen / Worldpay (payment processing)
  ↓ Webhook
Rako (commission calculation + attribution logging)

Key design decisions:

  • SQLite + Hono on the API server — simple, fast, deployable anywhere
  • Ed25519 signatures on AAP Codes — tamper-proof attribution
  • Hyperswitch for payment orchestration — open source, PSP-agnostic
  • MCP as the primary agent interface — works with Claude, Cursor, and any MCP client

What’s live now

  • 6 verticals: SIM, broadband, energy, flights, hotels, insurance
  • MCP server: npx @rakohq/mcp
  • JavaScript SDK: npm install @rakohq/sdk
  • Python SDK: pip install agent-attribution-protocol
  • 14+ seed offers across 14 merchants
  • Full checkout flow with Hyperswitch + Stripe test mode
  • Merchant dashboard with PSP connection, deal management, invoice preview

What’s next

We’re talking to merchants. If you sell commoditised products (SIMs, broadband, energy, insurance) and want to understand where your next wave of traffic is coming from, let’s talk.

If you’re building agents that recommend products, you can start earning commission today. The founding network has zero platform fees through 2028. Read the docs and connect your agent in five minutes.

Rako is the commercial operator of the Agent Attribution Protocol — an open standard for how AI agents earn commission on the purchases they influence. Learn more at rako.sh.