# Quickstart

> Pay for your first capability in about five minutes. You sign up as a buyer, give an agent a funded wallet, and buy one call from the live demo seller.

This buys one call ($1.00) from the demo seller's invoice-OCR tool on the hosted platform. At the end you have an answer, a signed receipt, and a wallet balance that dropped by exactly the price. You'll use the [console](https://console.zanora.dev) for the steps a person has to do, and an MCP client for the rest.

> **Warning — Packages are pre-release:**
>
> Step 5 installs `@zanora/mcp` from npm. If `npx` says the package isn't found, it hasn't been published yet. See [Packages → Status](https://docs.zanora.dev/packages.md#status).

### Step 1: Create a buyer account

Open [console.zanora.dev](https://console.zanora.dev/#signup), choose **Buyer**, and enter your email, an organisation name and a password. Click the link in the email that arrives. The console confirms the address and shows your **workspace API key** (`zk.akey_…`).

> **Warning — The key is shown once:**
>
> Only a hash of the key is stored. Copy it into a password manager now. If you lose it, you mint a new one. See [Accounts and API keys](https://docs.zanora.dev/concepts/accounts-and-keys.md).

### Step 2: Create an agent wallet

In the console, go to **Buyer → Agents** and create an agent, for example `research-agent`. This creates a wallet and a signing keypair for it. Save the private key it shows as `agent-key.pem`. The key signs every payment the agent makes, and it is shown only once.

### Step 3: Fund the wallet

Open the wallet and click **Fund**. Use a card top-up or send USDC on Base to the wallet's deposit address. The balance updates when the payment rail confirms, which can take a few seconds for a card and a few minutes for USDC.

### Step 4: Set a spending rule (optional)

Go to **Buyer → Policies** and add this rule:

```yaml
approval:
  price > 5.00
```

Any call over $5.00 now waits for a person to approve it. The rule is checked on the server before money moves, so the agent can't get around it. See [Spending policies](https://docs.zanora.dev/buyers/policies.md).

### Step 5: Connect your agent

Add Zanora to your MCP client's config. For Claude Desktop that's `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`:

```json title="claude_desktop_config.json"
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zanora": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@zanora/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ZANORA_API_KEY": "zk.akey_…",
        "ZANORA_AGENT_KEY_FILE": "/absolute/path/to/agent-key.pem",
        "ZANORA_MAX_PRICE_MINOR": "500"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

The gateway defaults to `https://api.zanora.dev`. If your workspace has exactly one agent wallet, the server finds it from the key. `ZANORA_MAX_PRICE_MINOR` caps each call at $5.00 on your side.

### Step 6: Buy something

Restart the client and ask:

```text
Find a capability that extracts text from invoices and run it on
https://example.com/invoice.png. Tell me what it cost and show the receipt id.
```

The agent calls `zanora_discover`, which finds **Invoice OCR (demo)**, then `zanora_invoke`, which pays $1.00 and returns the result with a signed receipt. Check the wallet in the console: its balance is down by exactly `100` minor units.

## Prefer code?

The same purchase from TypeScript with [`@zanora/sdk`](https://docs.zanora.dev/buyers/sdk.md):

```ts title="buy.ts"
import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
import { ZanoraAgent } from "@zanora/sdk";

const agent = new ZanoraAgent({
  // gatewayUrl defaults to https://api.zanora.dev
  apiKey: process.env.ZANORA_API_KEY!,               // the workspace key
  walletId: "wal_…",                                 // from the console
  agentId: "research-agent",
  privateKeyPem: readFileSync("agent-key.pem", "utf8"),
  maxPriceMinor: 500n,                               // never sign a proof above $5.00
});

const { results } = await agent.discover({ query: "extract text from invoices", protocol: "rest" });
const r = await agent.invoke(results[0]!.version.endpoint, {
  body: { imageUrl: "https://example.com/invoice.png" },
});

console.log(r.data);
console.log(r.receipt?.id, r.receiptVerified, r.responseHashVerified);
```

## Next

- [Buyer guide](https://docs.zanora.dev/buyers/overview.md): Workspaces, wallets, funding, policies and approvals in depth.
- [Seller quickstart](https://docs.zanora.dev/sellers/quickstart.md): Sell your own endpoint or tool. The demo seller you just paid is about 30 lines of code.