Do I need a custom SDK to connect an agent?

No. AgentWallet exposes its capabilities as MCP tools, so any MCP-capable agent can discover and call them.

What does the agent.passport tool return?

A one-shot identity card describing the agent's identity, its scoped capabilities, and the spending limits that apply to it.

Is the Personal Access Key the only control?

No. The scoped key is the first layer; policy limits and human approvals are enforced on top of it at spend time.

MCP

How AI Agents Authenticate: MCP, Access Keys, and agent.passport

AgentWallet agents connect over MCP, authenticate with a scoped Personal Access Key, and fetch a one-shot identity card via the agent.passport tool.

The AgentWallet TeamMay 18, 20262 min read

In short

An AgentWallet agent connects over the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and authenticates with a scoped Personal Access Key (PAK). Once connected, it can call the agent.passport MCP tool to receive a one-shot identity card describing who it is, which capabilities it has, and what spending limits apply.

Why MCP

MCP is an open protocol for connecting AI models to tools and data. Because AgentWallet exposes its capabilities as MCP tools, any MCP-capable agent can integrate without a bespoke SDK: it discovers the available tools, reads their descriptions, and calls them.

Scoped Personal Access Keys

Each agent authenticates with a Personal Access Key that is scoped to exactly the capabilities it needs. A key that can read balances need not be able to send payouts, and a key that can shop need not be able to issue cards. Scoping the key is the first layer of least privilege, before policy limits even come into play.

The agent.passport identity card

The agent.passport tool returns a single, one-shot identity card. Instead of guessing what it may do, an agent asks once and receives a clear statement of its identity, its granted capabilities, and its applicable limits. This makes agent behavior predictable and easy to audit.

Identity — which agent this is and which principal and account it belongs to.
Capabilities — the scoped tools this key may call.
Limits — the hard caps and approval policy in force for this agent.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a custom SDK to connect an agent?: No. AgentWallet exposes its capabilities as MCP tools, so any MCP-capable agent can discover and call them.
What does the agent.passport tool return?: A one-shot identity card describing the agent's identity, its scoped capabilities, and the spending limits that apply to it.
Is the Personal Access Key the only control?: No. The scoped key is the first layer; policy limits and human approvals are enforced on top of it at spend time.

Sources

Model Context Protocol Anthropic

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