About Settlegrid Discovery
Settlegrid Discovery is an MCP server for finding monetized AI tools by category, with tool details, pricing, and developer information. It is intended for agents and other MCP clients looking up tools in the SettleGrid discovery catalog.
Key features
- 01Search tools by category
- 02Retrieve tool details and pricing
- 03List available categories
- 04Look up tool developers
Use cases
- 01Find tools matching a category
- 02Check a tool's pricing before selection
- 03Identify a tool's developer
- 04Browse available categories in an agent workflow
MCP support
The discovery server exposes four tools to MCP clients: search_tools, get_tool, list_categories, and get_developer. It can be run as a local MCP server, and SettleGrid also describes a remote HTTP MCP endpoint.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
Tools
4Saved tool list · updated 3w ago
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| query | string | No | Free-text search query |
| category | string | No | Filter by tool category (e.g. finance, weather, ai) |
| limit | integer | No | Maximum number of results to return (1-100, default 20) |
Details
From the project READMEThe Settlement Layer for AI Agent Payments
Monetize any AI tool with 2 lines of code. Per-call billing, 14 agent payment protocols brokered or tracked, built-in discovery.
Website · Docs · Showcase · 1,017 Servers · Discovery Guide · Handbook
Quick Start
npm install @settlegrid/mcp
import { settlegrid } from '@settlegrid/mcp'
const sg = settlegrid.init({
toolSlug: 'my-tool',
pricing: { defaultCostCents: 5 },
})
const billedHandler = sg.wrap(myHandler)
Every call validates the consumer's API key, checks their credit balance, executes your function, and meters usage — all with a single Redis balance check on the hot path.
Or scaffold a complete project instantly:
npx create-settlegrid-tool
Why SettleGrid?
| SettleGrid | Stripe Billing | Nevermined | Paid.ai | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protocol support | 14 tracked (9 brokered + 2 detection + 3 emerging) | REST only | x402 / DeFi | MCP only |
| Real-time metering | Redis hot path | Batch only | On-chain | Per-call |
| Built-in discovery | 8+ registries | None | None | None |
| Multi-hop settlement | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Agent identity (KYA) | Yes | No | No | No |
| Budget enforcement | Yes | No | No | No |
| Outcome-based billing | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Free tier (0% fees) | Yes | No | No | No |
| $1 minimum payout | Yes | No | No | No |
| Open-source SDK | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Fraud detection | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Discovery — Your Tools, Found Everywhere
SettleGrid doesn't just bill — it distributes. Every active tool is automatically discoverable across:
| Channel | How it works |
|---|---|
| Showcase | Consumers browse, search, and purchase credits |
| Discovery API | GET /api/v1/discover — programmatic search for directories & apps |
| MCP Discovery Server | AI agents find tools natively via MCP protocol |
| HTTP MCP Endpoint | Remote streamable HTTP transport for any MCP client |
| Official MCP Registry | The canonical MCP server registry |
| Smithery | 6,000+ MCP server directory |
| Glama | 14,000+ MCP server directory |
| RSS Feed | New tools syndicated automatically |
{
"mcpServers": {
"settlegrid-discovery": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["@settlegrid/discovery"]
}
}
}
6 Pricing Models
| Model | Best for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Per-Invocation | Search, lookups, CRUD | 5¢/call |
| Per-Token | LLM wrappers, text processing | $0.001/1K tokens |
| Per-Byte | File conversion, data export | 1¢/MB |
| Per-Second | Video processing, ML inference | 2¢/second |
| Tiered | Multi-method tools | read 1¢, write 5¢ |
| Outcome-Based | Lead gen, data extraction | 25¢ on success |
Payment Protocol Coverage
The @settlegrid/mcp SDK adds native billing to any Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool server and provides a REST middleware for any HTTP service. On top of that, the hosted Smart Proxy at settlegrid.ai/api/proxy/{slug} brokers payments across agent payment protocols and tracks emerging specs as they mature.
9 brokered by the Smart Proxy (production or pending GA): MCP · x402 (Coinbase) · Stripe MPP · AP2 (Google) · ACP (OpenAI) · UCP (Google/Shopify) · Visa TAP · Mastercard Verifiable Intent · Circle Nanopayments
2 detection-adapter-only: L402 (Bitcoin Lightning) · KYAPay (Skyfire)
3 tracked as emerging: ACTP (Alipay's Agentic Commerce Trust Protocol) · EMVCo agent payments · DRAIN (Bittensor Subnet 58)
Features
Billing & Metering
- A single Redis balance check on the hot path, on every call
- Budget enforcement — HTTP 402 when exceeded
- Multi-hop settlement across agent chains — each hop settled as it completes
Security & Compliance
- Agent identity (KYA) with trust scoring
- Fraud detection (12 real-time signals)
- IP allowlisting (CIDR support)
- HMAC-SHA256 webhook signatures
- Audit logging with CSV export (SOC 2 ready)
Developer Experience
sg.wrap()— one function, any handler- 6 pricing models configurable from dashboard
- 97 open-source templates with billing pre-wired
- CLI scaffolder:
npx create-settlegrid-tool - Discovery tab with badge generator, checklist, API URLs
- Consumer reviews with developer responses
- Quality gates + Verified badge for activated tools
- Proactive monitoring (onboarding drip, quality alerts, monthly summary)
Pricing
| Tier | Price | Ops/month | Take Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 forever | 25,000 | 0% |
| Starter | $9/mo | 100,000 | 5% |
| Growth | $29/mo | 500,000 | 5% |
| Scale | $79/mo | 2,000,000 | 5% |
$1 minimum payout — the lowest in the industry. Stripe Connect Express for instant payouts.
REST API Middleware
For non-MCP services (Express, Next.js, Hono, etc.):
import { settlegridMiddleware } from '@settlegrid/mcp'
const withBilling = settlegridMiddleware({
toolSlug: 'my-api',
costCents: 5,
})
export async function GET(request: Request) {
return withBilling(request, async () => {
return Response.json({ data: 'hello' })
})
}
Project Structure
settlegrid/
├── apps/web/ # Next.js 15 platform (settlegrid.ai)
├── packages/mcp/ # @settlegrid/mcp SDK
├── packages/discovery-server/ # @settlegrid/discovery MCP server
├── packages/create-tool/ # npx create-settlegrid-tool CLI
├── open-source-servers/ # 1,017 indexed MCP servers
└── .mcp.json # MCP plugin config (Cursor, Claude)
Links
| Website | settlegrid.ai |
| Documentation | settlegrid.ai/docs |
| Discovery Guide | settlegrid.ai/learn/discovery |
| Handbook | settlegrid.ai/learn/handbook |
| API Reference | settlegrid.ai/api/openapi.json |
| Discovery API | settlegrid.ai/api/v1/discover |
| RSS Feed | settlegrid.ai/api/feed |
| npm (SDK) | @settlegrid/mcp |
| npm (Discovery) | @settlegrid/discovery |
| MCP Registry | io.github.lexwhiting/settlegrid-discovery |
| Support | [email protected] |
License
MIT © 2026 SettleGrid
Comments
New to MCP?
From what the protocol is to installing your first server, these answers cover most first questions.
An open protocol that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data in a uniform way. Clients talk to the model; MCP servers provide tools, resources and prompt templates. They exchange standard messages, so one server can be reused by many clients.