A walk through one paid HTTP call on Base: the 402 answer, the signed USDC authorization, the receipt, and what we learned when the first body was wrong.
The x402 protocol lets a program pay for an HTTP call with no account and no API key. The server answers an unpaid request with status 402 and a description of the price; the client signs a USDC authorization, repeats the same request with the signature attached, and gets the result together with a receipt. Below is one real call we made on 16 October 2026, step by step, so you can see every field a client has to read.
Read the full report on AISkills402: https://aiskills402.com/blog/x402-protocol-first-payment-example?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=social
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