Monetize your existing APIs without code changes

Also available in Português and Español.

You have a subscription-based API. It works. Now you want to add micropayments as a new revenue stream without disrupting your existing business model.

The problem? Adding micropayments traditionally requires weeks of integration work: new payment SDKs, authorization flows, usage tracking systems, blockchain settlement logic, and infrastructure changes across your entire stack. For most companies, this friction has made micropayments economically unfeasible.

That just changed.

The breakthrough: zero-code micropayments

Kobaru's Transparent Proxy is the first x402 implementation that lets you add micropayments to existing APIs without touching your codebase. You prove domain ownership, configure pricing, and get a payment gateway URL. Your backend stays exactly as it is. Your subscription system keeps running. You just added a completely new revenue model.

This is groundbreaking for x402 adoption. When clients request your API through access.kobaru.io, Kobaru handles the entire payment lifecycle at the network edge - payment verification, blockchain settlement, usage tracking, automatic refunds. Your service receives clean requests with payment details stripped and responds normally, completely unaware that micropayments just happened.

This isn't middleware. This isn't a wrapper. This is payment infrastructure that abstracts complexity so completely that your backend doesn't even know it exists. You focus on your core business while micropayments create a parallel revenue stream.

How it works

The proxy sits between your customers and your backend:

1. Client requests your endpoint through access.kobaru.io/your-slug/path
2. Gateway verifies payment or returns HTTP 402 with payment instructions
3. Client pays by signing a blockchain transaction
4. Client retries with payment proof
5. Gateway forwards the request to your backend
6. Your backend responds normally

The entire flow takes under 2 seconds. Your backend never sees payment tokens or blockchain details.

What makes this remarkable

The proxy runs on the edge with distribution across more than 100 data centers globally - the same infrastructure handling your subscription traffic now routes micropayments with zero additional latency. Usage tracking is intelligent: credits consume only when your backend returns success responses. Your backend errors trigger automatic refunds. You accept payments on Solana, Base, and SKALE without writing a single line of blockchain code.

Setup takes four steps: verify your domain, create a proxy service, enable a payment capability, and configure your wallet address and pricing. That's it. You now have two revenue models running in parallel. Route exceptions let you override pricing for premium endpoints. Upstream authentication ensures only Kobaru-proxied traffic reaches your backend, preventing direct access bypass.

Full x402 v2 compliance

The system implements the x402 v2 protocol. Merchants who need granular control can use standard SDKs directly while still leveraging Kobaru's payment infrastructure for verification and settlement. The transparent proxy gives you the fastest path to monetization. The standard SDK gives you complete control over payment flows.

Both approaches use the same facilitator endpoints and payment verification logic. You choose the integration pattern that fits your use case.

When to use the proxy

Choose the transparent proxy when you want the fastest path to monetization, when your backend is in any language, when you don't want to add payment middleware to your code, when you have a legacy API that can't be easily modified, or when simple uniform pricing works for your use case.

Consider the standard SDK when you need dynamic pricing based on request content, when your request bodies exceed 64KB, when you need WebSocket support, or when you want full control over error handling and response formatting.

Get started

Ready to implement? Check out the Kobaru documentation for step-by-step instructions on domain verification, service setup, and capability configuration.

Kobaru is the payment provider enabling micropayments for APIs at scale. Turn your existing infrastructure into a revenue stream without writing a single line of payment code.