Table of Contents
A Circle Agent Wallet is a programmable USDC wallet built for AI agents inside Circle Agent Stack. It lets an agent hold balance, pay for services, and operate under spend caps, allowlists, and time-bounded sessions.
Circle launched Agent Stack on May 11, 2026. The initial products include Circle CLI, Agent Wallets, Agent Marketplace, and Nanopayments powered by Circle Gateway, available at agents.circle.com.
Operators who already run the Circle agent nanopayment how-to still need this wallet bootstrap: install CLI, accept terms, email OTP login, create the wallet, fund USDC, then set mainnet spend policy before the agent pays endpoints.
Key Takeaways
- Circle Agent Wallet is the Agent Stack wallet for holding and spending USDC under programmable policies.
- Launch date: May 11, 2026; setup surface is Circle CLI (@circle-fin/cli) plus agents.circle.com skills.
- Create path: install CLI, install skills, login with email OTP, circle wallet create, then fund and set limits.
- Mainnet policies support per-tx / daily / weekly / monthly caps plus recipient or contract allowlists and blocklists.
- Named downside: policies are mainnet-only; session lasts 7 days; OTP gates login and policy changes; testnet rejects spend policies.
What a Circle Agent Wallet is (and is not)
Circle Agent Stack is Circle's chain- and protocol-agnostic infrastructure for the agentic economy. Agents hold assets, discover services, and transact programmatically with USDC across supported chains and protocols such as x402.
Agent Wallets are the programmable USDC wallets in that stack. Circle's product page lists global limits, per-service caps, contract or chain allowlists, and time-bounded sessions as built-in controls.
Circle Gateway powers gas-free USDC nanopayments for high-frequency agent calls. Circle's May 11, 2026 press release cites transfers as small as $0.000001 at machine speed.
This object is not a Coinbase Agentic Wallet, not an AgentKit x402 fetch wrapper, and not Bedrock AgentCore payments. Those paths use different wallets and hosts.
Primary sources: Circle Agent Stack launch (May 11, 2026), Circle Agent Stack product page, and Circle docs: set spending policies.
Who this is for (and who should skip it)
Use a Circle Agent Wallet when the team wants USDC-native agent spend with Circle CLI, Marketplace discovery, and Gateway nanopayments under explicit caps.
Skip it when the job is only accepting agent payments as a seller API (start with Circle's seller storefront guide), when the stack is Coinbase CDP / AgentKit, or when payment lives inside AWS AgentCore.
Create checklist (2026)
1. Install Circle CLI and Agent skills
Circle's setup skill requires Node.js tooling and the Circle CLI package @circle-fin/cli. Confirm Node.js v20.18.2 or later before install, matching Circle's wallet docs.
Install path from agents.circle.com/skills/setup.md:
- which circle || npm install -g @circle-fin/cli
- circle skill install --tool <host> (claude-code, cursor, codex, and other supported hosts)
- Fallback: npx skills add circlefin/skills -g
2. Accept Terms only with explicit human consent
The CLI hard-gates wallet commands until Terms of Use and Privacy Policy are accepted on that machine.
Agents must show live URLs from circle terms show --init --output json and wait for an explicit yes before circle terms accept. Do not treat CIRCLE_ACCEPT_TERMS=1 as silent consent for a human operator.
3. Authenticate with email OTP (7-day session)
Login creates an agent session and can provision agent wallets on supported blockchains. Circle docs state sessions last 7 days. Mainnet and testnet sessions are stored separately.
Interactive path: circle wallet login <email>. Add --testnet for testnet. Non-interactive path uses --init then --request <id> --otp <code>.
Check status with circle wallet status before creating or funding. Logout with circle wallet logout when rotating operators. Source: authenticate an agent wallet.
4. Create the Agent Wallet on a supported chain
List existing wallets, then create if none exist. The setup skill marks --chain as required for list and balance commands. Common starter chain in the skill is BASE.
- circle wallet list --chain BASE --type agent --output json
- circle wallet create
- circle wallet balance --address <addr> --chain BASE --output json
Circle's Agent Stack FAQ lists supported chains including Arbitrum, Arc testnet (mainnet coming soon), Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Monad, OP Mainnet, Polygon PoS, and Unichain. Confirm the live list with circle blockchain before production.
5. Fund USDC and optionally deposit to Gateway
An empty wallet cannot pay Marketplace or x402 endpoints. Use Circle's wallet-fund skill after setup, or deposit into Gateway when the agent will make gasless nanopayments.
Seller-side walkthroughs on Arc Testnet show funding then circle gateway deposit so the paying wallet holds USDC in Gateway balance. Gateway is designed for nanopayments down to $0.000001 in Circle's published materials.
6. Set mainnet spending policy before autonomous spend
Spending policies cap USDC transfers over a rolling window or restrict recipient and contract addresses. Circle docs state policies apply to mainnet agent wallets only. Setting a policy triggers a second email OTP.
Example transfer limits from Circle docs (illustrative caps):
circle wallet limit set \ --address 0xYourWalletAddress \ --chain ARC \ --policy-type stablecoin \ --per-tx 100 \ --daily 500 \ --weekly 2000 \ --monthly 5000
Limits must satisfy per-tx ≤ daily ≤ weekly ≤ monthly. Rule types also include recipient-allowlist, recipient-blocklist, contract-allowlist, and contract-blocklist with a bracketed --targets list.
Verify with circle wallet limit --address <addr> --chain <chain>. Reset defaults with circle wallet limit reset (also OTP-gated). Source: custom spending policies.
Agent Wallet create vs related SCI paths
| Path | Host / object | Primary job | When to use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circle Agent Wallet | Circle Agent Stack + CLI | Create policy-controlled USDC wallet for agents | Circle-native agent spend and Marketplace |
| Circle nanopayment how-to | Gateway + x402 | Buyer pays a priced endpoint | Wallet already exists; need payment loop |
| Coinbase Agentic Wallet | Coinbase CDP / awal | Create Coinbase agent wallet | Coinbase stack, not Circle CLI |
| Coinbase AgentKit x402 | AgentKit fetch wrapper | Pay one x402 API from agent code | App-level x402 without Circle CLI |
| Bedrock AgentCore payments | AWS + Coinbase/Stripe Privy | AWS-hosted agent micropayments | Agent already runs in AgentCore |
Pay for a service after the wallet exists
Once funded, discover services with circle services search, inspect pricing, then pay with circle services pay. Payment can use Nanopayments or x402 so access and payment happen in one request path.
For protocol context on HTTP 402 flows, see x402 protocol. For Circle's launch framing, see Circle launches Agent Stack.
FAQ
What is a Circle Agent Wallet?
A Circle Agent Wallet is a programmable USDC wallet inside Circle Agent Stack. Agents use it to hold funds, pay for services, and operate under spend limits, allowlists, and sessions documented by Circle.
How do you create a Circle Agent Wallet with the CLI?
Install @circle-fin/cli, install Circle skills, accept Terms with explicit consent, run email OTP login, then circle wallet create. List and balance commands require --chain.
What spend controls does Circle document?
Mainnet policies support per-transaction, daily, weekly, and monthly rolling caps, plus recipient or contract allowlists and blocklists. Changes require email OTP. Testnet does not support spending policies.
How long does an agent wallet session last?
Circle's authenticate docs state sessions last 7 days. Mainnet and testnet sessions are separate. Use circle wallet logout to clear a session.
How is this different from a Circle agent nanopayment?
Nanopayments are the payment rail (often via Gateway and x402). The Agent Wallet is the funded, policy-controlled account that signs and pays. Create and harden the wallet first, then run payment flows.
Which chains does Agent Stack list?
Circle's Agent Stack FAQ lists Arbitrum, Arc testnet (mainnet coming soon), Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Monad, OP Mainnet, Polygon PoS, and Unichain. Confirm with circle blockchain before shipping.
This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or tax advice; no material herein should be interpreted as a recommendation, endorsement, or solicitation to buy or sell any financial instrument, and readers should conduct their own independent research or consult a qualified professional.
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