Allowance website screenshot

Allowance

Allowance is a consumer trust layer for AI agent payments, backed by Y Combinator. It lets people give AI agents limited, revocable spending power without ever sharing a real credit card number. An agent proposes a spending mandate (a permission object with a budget, merchant and category restrictions, and a time limit); the human owner approves it from the Allowance iOS app; and Allowance then issues single-use virtual cards (PAN, expiry, CVV) that are amount-capped, merchant-locked, and short-lived so the agent can complete checkout autonomously within the approved rules. Allowance exposes a pre-launch OpenAPI 3.1 REST API, a hosted remote MCP server, a published agent SKILL.md, a CLI (PyPI and npm), plus ChatGPT and Claude connectors. The mandate model is designed as a natural precursor to the AP2 Agent Payments Protocol.

Allowance publishes 3 APIs on the APIs.io network: Mandates API, Pricing API, and Status API. Tagged areas include Company, Payments, Agentic Payments, AI Agents, and Virtual Cards.

The Allowance catalog on APIs.io includes 1 event-driven AsyncAPI specification.

Allowance’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, API reference, getting-started guide, support, engineering blog, pricing, and 23 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
58.0/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 84/100 agent native Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
AccessSelf serve
3 APIs 1 MCP Servers
CompanyPaymentsAgentic PaymentsAI AgentsVirtual CardsFintechModel Context ProtocolConsumer TrustSpending ControlsAP2

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
Composite quality — 58.0/100 · developing
Contract Quality 18.0 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 14.8 / 20
Commercial Clarity 8.9 / 20
Operational Transparency 3.1 / 13
Governance 0.0 / 12
Discoverability 10.0 / 10
Agent readiness — 84/100 · agent native
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 15 / 15
MCP Server 12 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 9 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 8 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7
Typed Event Surface 6 / 6
Agent Skills 5 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 4 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/allowance: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 3

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Allowance Mandates API

The Mandates API from Allowance — 5 operation(s) for mandates.

Allowance Pricing API

The Pricing API from Allowance — 1 operation(s) for pricing.

Allowance Status API

The Status API from Allowance — 1 operation(s) for status.

Arazzo Workflows 2

Multi-step API workflows described with the Arazzo specification.

_Index

ARAZZO

Approve a mandate and issue a virtual card

Create a spending mandate, wait for the human owner to approve it, then request a single-use virtual card for a specific purchase against the active mandate.

ARAZZO

MCP Servers 1

Model Context Protocol servers that expose these APIs to AI agents.

allowance-mcp.yml

MCP SERVER

Event Specifications 1

AsyncAPI definitions for this provider's event-driven and streaming APIs.

Allowance Webhooks

ASYNCAPI

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Allowance Authentication

apiKey/oauth2 · 2 schemes

SECURITY

Allowance Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Scopes 1

OAuth scopes governing access to this provider's APIs.

Allowance Scopes

3 scopes · authorizationCode

3 scopes

SCOPES

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Allowance Agentic Access

7 operations · 3 acting · 1 human-in-the-loop

7 operations · 3 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 3

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

DeveloperPortal
DeveloperPortal
 GettingStarted
GettingStarted
 SignUp
SignUp

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation
Documentation
 APIReference
APIReference

Agent Surfaces 5

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess
 LLMsTxt
LLMsTxt
 MCPServer
MCPServer
 AgentSkill
AgentSkill
 WellKnown
WellKnown

Design & Contract 8

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Conformance
Conformance
 ErrorCatalog
ErrorCatalog
 Lifecycle
Lifecycle
 Conventions
Conventions
 Idempotency
Idempotency
 DataModel
DataModel
 Webhooks
Webhooks
 Arazzo
Arazzo

Scroll for all 8

Build 3

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Packages
Packages
 CLI
CLI
 DeclineCodes
DeclineCodes

Access & Security 3

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 OAuthScopes
OAuthScopes
 Authentication
Authentication

Operate 2

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Support
Support
 StatusPage
StatusPage

Commercial 3

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Pricing
Pricing
 TermsOfService
TermsOfService
 PrivacyPolicy
PrivacyPolicy

Company 1

The organization behind the API

Blog
Blog

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: allowance
name: Allowance
description: Allowance is a consumer trust layer for AI agent payments, backed by Y Combinator. It lets people give AI agents
  limited, revocable spending power without ever sharing a real credit card number. An agent proposes a spending mandate (a
  permission object with a budget, merchant and category restrictions, and a time limit); the human owner approves it from
  the Allowance iOS app; and Allowance then issues single-use virtual cards (PAN, expiry, CVV) that are amount-capped, merchant-locked,
  and short-lived so the agent can complete checkout autonomously within the approved rules. Allowance exposes a pre-launch
  OpenAPI 3.1 REST API, a hosted remote MCP server, a published agent SKILL.md, a CLI (PyPI and npm), plus ChatGPT and Claude
  connectors. The mandate model is designed as a natural precursor to the AP2 Agent Payments Protocol.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/allowance/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Self-serve signup
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://useallowance.com/assets/logo.png
x-type: company
x-source: vc-portfolio
x-backed-by:
- y-combinator
x-tier: profiled
x-tier-reason: enriched-from-public-surface
specificationVersion: '0.20'
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-17'
tags:
- Company
- Payments
- Agentic Payments
- AI Agents
- Virtual Cards
- Fintech
- Model Context Protocol
- Consumer Trust
- Spending Controls
- AP2
apis:
- aid: allowance:allowance-mandates-api
  name: Allowance Mandates API
  description: The Mandates API from Allowance — 5 operation(s) for mandates.
  humanURL: https://useallowance.com/connect-agent
  baseURL: https://api.useallowance.com/v1
  tags:
  - Mandates
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/allowance-mandates-api-openapi.yml
- aid: allowance:allowance-pricing-api
  name: Allowance Pricing API
  description: The Pricing API from Allowance — 1 operation(s) for pricing.
  humanURL: https://useallowance.com/connect-agent
  baseURL: https://api.useallowance.com/v1
  tags:
  - Pricing
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/allowance-pricing-api-openapi.yml
- aid: allowance:allowance-status-api
  name: Allowance Status API
  description: The Status API from Allowance — 1 operation(s) for status.
  humanURL: https://useallowance.com/connect-agent
  baseURL: https://api.useallowance.com/v1
  tags:
  - Status
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/allowance-status-api-openapi.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
- FN: APIs.json
  email: info@apis.io
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/allowance-domain-security.yml
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/allowance-agentic-access.yml
- type: OAuthScopes
  url: scopes/allowance-scopes.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/allowance-authentication.yml
- type: DeveloperPortal
  url: https://useallowance.com/connect-agent
- type: Documentation
  url: https://useallowance.com/connect-agent
- type: APIReference
  url: https://useallowance.com/openapi.json
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://useallowance.com/connect-agent
- type: Support
  url: https://useallowance.com/support
- type: Blog
  url: https://useallowance.com/blog/
- type: Pricing
  url: https://useallowance.com/pricing.json
- type: SignUp
  url: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/allowance-agent-wallet/id6762312262
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://useallowance.com/terms
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://useallowance.com/privacy
- type: StatusPage
  url: https://useallowance.com/status.json
- type: LLMsTxt
  url: llms/allowance-llms.txt
- type: MCPServer
  url: mcp/allowance-mcp.yml
- type: AgentSkill
  url: skills/allowance-purchase.md
- type: Packages
  url: packages/allowance-packages.yml
- type: CLI
  url: cli/allowance-cli.yml
- type: WellKnown
  url: well-known/allowance-well-known.yml
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/allowance-conformance.yml
- type: ErrorCatalog
  url: errors/allowance-problem-types.yml
- type: DeclineCodes
  url: errors/allowance-decline-codes.yml
- type: Lifecycle
  url: lifecycle/allowance-lifecycle.yml
- type: Conventions
  url: conventions/allowance-conventions.yml
- type: Idempotency
  url: conventions/allowance-conventions.yml
- type: DataModel
  url: data-model/allowance-data-model.yml
- type: Webhooks
  url: asyncapi/allowance-webhooks.yml
- type: Arazzo
  name: Approve a mandate and issue a virtual card
  url: arazzo/allowance-mandate-to-card.yml
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-07-19'
  status: backfilled
  pass: local-v1
  note: backfilled from .gitignore signal + verified work evidence