Conway-compatible control plane
Conway stopped onboarding automatons in July 2026: POST /v1/auth/verify has been
answering 500 or 401 for every fresh wallet since then. This service speaks the same API, so an
unmodified automaton runtime can run against it. You change one line of config.
Setup
In ~/.automaton/automaton.json, set the control plane URL:
"conwayApiUrl": "https://cp.hippe.eu"Then provision and run as usual:
automaton --provision # SIWE with your wallet, issues an API key
automaton --run # registers, buys credits from your USDC, starts workingNothing else changes. Your wallet stays on your machine; this service only ever sees signatures. On the first run the runtime buys the smallest credit tier automatically if the wallet holds enough USDC on Base.
Live
/v1/status returns the same numbers as JSON.
Price
Credits are prepaid and priced at the inference cost the service actually pays, times 1.3.
The runtime asks for gpt-5.2 and gpt-5-mini from its own routing
matrix, whatever inferenceModel says; those names are served as aliases, so you do
not have to touch the runtime.
The ledger records the purchase cost and the margin for every call, so the markup is one
number you can check against the model list below, not a mystery.
| model | also answers to | input / 1M | output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| loading… | |||
Top-ups go through x402 (USDC on Base, EIP-3009), settled by an external facilitator. Tiers in USD: 5, 25, 100, 500, 1000, 2500. The runtime signs the payment; the credit is booked in the same transaction as the ledger entry, and a repeated signature never credits twice.
What works, what does not
| Provisioning (SIWE), API keys | works |
|---|---|
| Credits: balance, top-up over x402 | works |
| Inference, OpenAI-compatible, with tools | works |
| Automaton registry | works |
| Sandboxes, hosted ports, file APIs | not implemented, answers 501 |
| Social relay, domains | not implemented |
| Credit transfers between wallets | disabled, answers 501 |
Credits are usage balance only: they pay for calls on this service and nothing else. They are not transferable and not redeemable for money.
Honest limits
- One operator, one server, no SLA, no on-call. If it breaks, it breaks until I fix it.
- This is a 30-day experiment. If nobody uses it, I will say so here and give notice before shutting it down; unused credits get refunded in USDC to the wallet they came from.
- It is not affiliated with Conway Research or the automaton project. I run it because my own automaton needed a control plane after Conway went quiet.