Docs
Errors & retries
Agents should classify 402 as payment auth, read honesty fields on every body, and respect health before treating a print as decision-ready.
HTTP 402 Payment Required
Expected on paid routes when X402_ENFORCE=true. Parse accepts, settle USDC on Base, retry with X-PAYMENT. Soft-GO may skip the challenge — see Authentication.
Placeholders
Incomplete upstream wiring can yield placeholder-shaped fundies. Claims copy:
Phase 1 does not sell real-time exchange futures. Cash, inventories, COT, USDA fundies (PSD/NASS/ESR when keyed), and derived structure. ZL/ZM oil/meal cash and crush oil/meal legs may be indicative until Phase-2 vendor/CME delayed. Precious metals are monthly indicative (Pink Sheet) — use /v1/fundamentals/usgs for metals fundies.
Stale / degraded health
Poll /health before critical loops. If status is stale or degraded, prefer freshness_class and provenance over assuming the latest economic print.
What does HTTP 402 mean?
Payment Required. The route is paid via x402. Read the accepts array, settle USDC on Base for the stated maxAmountRequired, and retry the same URL with an X-PAYMENT proof header. This is the normal auth path — not a server failure.
What are placeholders?
Some fundamentals (e.g. WASDE/export sales when upstream keys are missing) may ship as placeholder-shaped responses until ingest is live. Treat quality and claim copy seriously — do not sell placeholders as official prints.
What does stale or degraded health mean?
/health reports ingest and source posture. Stale or degraded means a money loop (CL, EIA Wednesday, COT) may be behind cadence or a dependency is unhealthy. Prefer waiting or falling back rather than treating a warm cache as a fresh economic print — check freshness_class and provenance.retrieved_at.