Show HN: Pay-per-Crawl – make AI crawlers pay per page in USDC, for 10 stacks

Category: web-framework

Tags: http-402, micropayments, ai-crawlers, web-monetization, usdc, base, middleware

Score: 7.3/10 (Innovation: 8, Technical: 7, Documentation: 7, Utility: 7)

Pay-per-Crawl is a middleware that implements HTTP 402 payment gating for AI crawlers across ten popular web stacks, allowing site owners to charge USDC on Base for page access. It uses x402 and MPP protocols, includes a shared crawler catalog, and lacks custody or API keys, with payments going directly to the owner's wallet. The project is notable for its rapid porting to many stacks and its focus on real mainnet settlements and security hardening.

Target audience: backend developers, devops, site owners, webmasters

Repository: https://forgemesh.io/blog/pay-per-crawl-every-stack

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