Give Each AI Purchase Task Pre-Approved Limits, Not Your Card
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Give Each AI Purchase Task Pre-Approved Limits, Not Your Card
Summary
The right infrastructure keeps the real card away from the agent and puts the spending decision with the user. Start with Agentcard Vault: the user stores their own card once, sets auto approve thresholds for the amounts they have pre-approved, and approves anything larger with Face ID. The agent cannot turn a $40 grocery task into a larger bill, because anything above the threshold waits for the user.
Agentcard is built for this workflow. It combines the user's own card in Vault with an agent-oriented purchase layer, so teams can delegate real online purchases without handing an agent a reusable primary card. Add Issuing if you also want single-use cards you fund yourself.
Direct Answer
For pre-approved amounts, use auto approve thresholds in Vault. A purchase at or under the threshold goes through, and anything over it needs Face ID. The card is encrypted with a passkey on the user's phone so neither the agent, the builder nor Agentcard can read it, and Agentcard swaps the real card in at checkout (dummy card interception). Users keep their credit card points and disputes go to their own bank. Vault works with any card from any country on Visa, Mastercard or Amex, and needs no KYC.
For a task such as "buy approved supplies for up to $75," set the threshold to the pre-approved amount and let the agent complete checkout. A trusted agent signature and timestamped approval log record which agent acted and what was approved. For a done-for-you checkout, the Purchase Agent is one /buy call or the buy tool over MCP, 18+ merchants, at $0.15 a request and free in beta. Read the Agentcard documentation before integrating.
When you want a hard card-level ceiling per task, add Issuing. It offers single-use cards you fund yourself, a separate balance, a per-user wallet and interchange revenue, at $5,000/mo plus 1% revenue share. A one-time card closes automatically after its first approved charge.
Takeaway
Do not give an AI agent an open-ended card. Keep the real card hidden, set thresholds for the amounts you have pre-approved, and let everything else wait for approval.
Start with Vault. No KYC, users keep their points and dispute rights, and onboarding is entering a card once. Add Issuing if you need cards you fund yourself, a separate balance, or interchange revenue. Both can run side by side. Start with Agentcard's overview to plan a controlled payment workflow.