How to let an AI agent shop and pay without losing control

Key points

• Nox searches Shopify's stores through Shop, Shopify's shopping service, then builds the cart and starts the checkout for you.
• Every purchase waits for you: either you finish the checkout from Nox's link, or you approve a card showing the items, delivery and total before Nox pays with Shop Pay.
• Nox never sees your card. Shop Pay keeps it in your Shop account, and linking Shop is a code you check in Shop.
• An agent's own wallet now follows your rules: who it may pay, and amounts above which it asks you first, per payment and per 24 hours.
• Rules take effect at once with no signature, on top of the limits written into the wallet itself, and every new address is checked against scam and sanctions lists.

Letting an AI agent spend money usually means one of two bad deals. Either it can only research and send you links, so you still do all the clicking, or you give it your card and hope it never gets confused. nox.cool now takes a third way: Nox does the shopping and the paperwork, every purchase waits for your OK, and the rules you set decide what an agent's wallet may pay. It's available today in nox.cool's early access.

#Why is it hard to let an AI agent spend money?

An AI agent is good at the tedious part of buying things: searching many shops, comparing prices and delivery dates, filling in a cart. The hard part is the moment money moves. A card number in an agent's hands can be read, repeated or used for the wrong thing if the agent misunderstands you, or if a web page it reads tries to trick it.

So most agents stop short. They give you a list of links and leave the rest to you. That's safe, but it isn't much help.

We wanted Nox to go all the way to the checkout, and still make sure two things hold:

• No money moves without you. Every purchase shows you exactly what will be paid, and waits.
• Nox never holds your card. Payment details stay with services built to keep them, and never reach the AI.

#How does Nox shop for you?

Nox now uses Shop, Shopify's own shopping service, which searches products across stores built on Shopify and handles carts and checkout (Shopify's announcement). Searching needs no account, so you can try it straight away.

Here's a real example. You type:

Find me an organic cotton t-shirt under £40 that ships to the UK.

Nox searches Shop and answers with a short list: each product's name and link, the seller, the price and how long delivery takes. It says which one fits best and why. If you only wanted ideas, you can stop there.

#Finishing the purchase yourself

If you'd rather pay yourself, say so ("put it in a cart and give me the link"). Nox builds the cart at that shop, starts the checkout and gives you the link. You open it, check the details and pay as you normally would. Nox never touches the payment.

#Letting Nox pay, with your OK

If you want Nox to finish the job, link your Shop account once. Nox shows a card with a short code and an Open Shop button. You open Shop and check the code matches. Nothing is typed into nox.cool: no password, no card.

Linking lets Nox use your saved addresses and Shop Pay. It doesn't let Nox pay on its own. When Nox is ready to buy, it stops and shows you a card:

• what you're buying, with size, colour and quantity
• the delivery option and how long it takes
• the subtotal, the delivery cost and the total
• the card Shop Pay will charge, shown as the last four digits

Nox is paused until you press Approve or Decline. Decline, and nothing is bought; the cart stays at the shop if you change your mind.

Two more details matter here. First, Nox checks the checkout again just before paying, and if the total has gone up since you approved, it doesn't pay. Second, one OK pays once. If something goes wrong halfway, Nox checks the order instead of paying again, and any second try would need a new OK from you, so a hiccup can't quietly turn into a double order.

#What about shops that aren't on Shopify?

For a shop outside Shopify, Nox can ask Shop for a one-time card. You see a card in nox.cool first: the items, the total, and the most the card may be used for (the total plus a little room for delivery or tax, never more than 15% over). You approve it there, and Shop asks you to approve it once more. The card works once, at that one shop.

Nox's computer types the card into the shop's checkout. The number goes from Shop to the checkout form without ever passing through the AI, and it's hidden from anything Nox reads back.

#Why does shopping run on nox.cool, not on the agent's computer?

Nox does most of its work on its own computer in the cloud, where it can run programs and browse. For shopping we made an exception: Shop runs on nox.cool's own server, with each agent's link to your Shop account kept sealed there.

The reason is simple. Anything on the agent's computer is something the agent can reach. If your Shop link lived there, a confused agent could in principle find another way to pay that skips your approval. On nox.cool's server, the only way to pay is through the approval card. Commands on the agent's computer that try to reach Shop directly are refused.

#What are wallet rules?

Some agents on nox.cool have a wallet of their own, for paying people and paid services in digital dollars (USDC) and other coins. You own that wallet through your own crypto wallet, and it has daily or weekly limits written into it, which need your signature to change. A payment to someone new already asked you first.

Wallet rules add your everyday preferences on top, and they take effect the moment you save them, with no signature:

• Who it may pay: anyone (someone new still asks first), only the addresses in its address book, or only your own wallet.
• Ask above, per payment: any single payment worth more than this, in dollars, asks you first.
• Ask above, per 24 hours: if a payment would take the total paid in the last 24 hours past this, it asks you first.

Three presets fill them in with one tap:

#How do the rules decide?

With the Careful preset, here's what happens to a few payments:

A refusal isn't a dead end. The agent explains what it wanted to pay and to whom, and you can pay it yourself, add the address to its book, or change the rule. If a payment's value in dollars can't be checked while you have caps set, it asks you rather than guess.

#The address book

The Address book lists who the agent may pay, each with a name you choose, like "Maria (assistant)". An address you approve during a task is added for you; you can also add one yourself, or remove one with a click. Before any address goes in, nox.cool checks it against lists of known scam and sanctioned addresses.

#Setting it up

1. Open the agent's window: the pencil next to its name in the task's details.
2. In Wallet, press Change rules, pick a preset or set your own, and press Save rules.
3. Press Address book to name the people and services the agent may pay.

During early access, agent wallets run on test networks, where coins have no value. That makes it a good time to try different rules and watch how the agent behaves.

#What keeps you safe, in short

• Nox can't buy anything without you: either you finish the checkout, or you approve a card with the full total.
• Nox never sees your card number, from Shop Pay or from a one-time card.
• If the total goes up after you approve, Nox doesn't pay, and one OK pays only once.
• Your link to Shop is kept on nox.cool's server, out of reach of the agent's computer.
• Wallet rules decide who an agent may pay and when it must ask, at once and with no signature, while the wallet's own limits still hold.
• New addresses are checked against scam and sanctions lists, and payments home to your own wallet are never blocked.

Shopping and wallet rules are in nox.cool's early access now, along with six new apps and a few smaller changes listed in the announcement. If you're not in yet, ask for an invite and sign up.

#Questions and answers

Is it safe to let an AI agent buy things for me?

With nox.cool, the agent does the searching, the cart and the checkout, but it can't pay on its own. Each purchase shows you the items, delivery and total, and Nox waits for your Approve. If the total changes after you approve, it doesn't pay.

Can Nox buy from any online shop?

Nox shops through Shop, which covers stores built on Shopify. For other shops, Nox can ask Shop for a one-time card that works once, at that shop, up to an amount you approve. You approve it in nox.cool and once more in Shop.

Does Nox ever see my card number?

No. Shop Pay keeps your card in your Shop account. A one-time card is typed into the shop's checkout by Nox's computer, and its number never reaches the AI. Nox only sees what Shop shows, such as the last four digits.

What happens when my agent wants to pay more than my limit?

It asks you first, the way it does for someone new. If your rules say it may only pay its address book or your own wallet, a payment to anyone else is refused, and the agent tells you what it wanted to pay so you can decide.

Do wallet rules replace the wallet's own limits?

No, they add to them. The daily or weekly limits written into the wallet need your own wallet's signature to change and hold whatever happens. Rules are quicker to change and take effect at once.