> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.useprivatus.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.useprivatus.com/agents-and-automation/spend-policies.md).

# Spend Policies

A spend policy is the set of rules a parent account defines for an agent it controls. It's what makes autonomous spending safe: you hand an agent real spending power without surrendering an inch of control over what it does with it.

***

## What a spend policy defines

| Rule                        | Description                                                                                       |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Daily limit                 | Maximum total USDG the agent can spend in a rolling 24-hour window                                |
| Per-transaction limit       | Maximum amount for any single transfer                                                            |
| Allowed recipients          | An allowlist of addresses, handles, or domains (for x402 payments) the agent can pay              |
| Asset restrictions          | Which assets the agent is permitted to spend (USDG only, by default; USDC and SOL can be enabled) |
| Time windows                | Hours or days during which the agent is permitted to transact at all                              |
| Human-in-the-loop threshold | A dollar amount above which a transaction requires explicit human approval before it executes     |

***

## Setting a policy

Spend policies are configured from the parent account's dashboard under **Agents → \[agent name] → Spend Policy**, or programmatically via the API. See [Agents & Spend Policies](/api-reference/agents-and-spend-policies.md).

Policies can be updated at any time. Changes are written to the agent's policy account on-chain, apply to new transactions going forward, and never retroactively touch anything already settled.

***

## Enforcement

Policy checks happen twice, and the one that matters is on-chain. The agent's signing flow evaluates a proposed transaction against its current policy locally first, so anything that fails a check is never constructed or submitted. But the real guarantee sits deeper: the same policy is enforced by the Privatus agent program on Solana. Every transfer instruction from an agent account is validated against the policy stored in the account's state before it can execute. A spend limit here is a program constraint, not a server-side rule, which means even a compromised client or a bug in the agent's own logic cannot land a transaction outside its policy.

***

## Human-in-the-loop approval

For transactions above the configured threshold, the agent constructs and holds the transaction, then triggers a push notification to the parent account. The human reviews the amount, recipient, and any attached context, then approves or rejects. One tap, full authority.

* Approved transactions are signed and submitted immediately
* Rejected transactions are discarded. Nothing is submitted, and no funds move
* Unactioned requests expire after a configurable window (default 24 hours) and are automatically rejected

This gives you a dial between full autonomy and full oversight. Set the threshold to zero for an agent you want to review every payment from, or set it high for one you trust to run unattended for routine, low-value transactions.

***

## Example policy

```json
{
  "daily_limit_usdg": 500.00,
  "per_transaction_limit_usdg": 50.00,
  "allowed_recipients": ["api.market", "*.anthropic.com", "@yourname"],
  "assets": ["USDG"],
  "active_hours": "00:00-23:59",
  "hitl_threshold_usdg": 25.00
}
```

Under this policy, the agent can spend freely on calls to `api.market` and `anthropic.com` domains up to $25 per transaction without approval. Anything above $25, or any recipient outside the allowlist, requires a human decision or is rejected outright.

***

## Next

* [x402 Payments](/agents-and-automation/x402-payments.md)
* [Webhooks & Events](/agents-and-automation/webhooks-and-events.md)


---

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