How to Give Your AI Agent Secure Access to Funds: A Developer's Guide

You've built an AI agent that can reason, plan, and use tools. Now you need it to handle real financial operations — purchasing supplies, paying for APIs, managing subscriptions. This guide walks you through giving your agent secure, controlled access to funds using agentic banking infrastructure.

Step 1: Create Your Agent Account

Start by claiming your handle at Agentic Bank. Once you're in, create a dedicated agent account from your dashboard. Each account is completely sandboxed — isolated from your personal funds and from other agent accounts.

Give the account a descriptive name that matches its purpose:

• shopping-agent — for an agent that purchases physical goods
• devops-agent — for infrastructure spending
• research-agent — for API and data service payments

Step 2: Configure Spending Rules

Before your agent touches a dollar, set the rules that govern its spending. These are enforced server-side — your agent literally cannot bypass them, regardless of its instructions or any prompt injection attempt.

Spending Limits:
  Per-transaction max:  $500
  Daily limit:          $1,000
  Monthly limit:        $5,000

Approved Vendors:
  ✓ Amazon.com
  ✓ Best Buy
  ✓ Target
  ✓ Walmart

Approval Workflow:
  Auto-approve under:   $100
  Human review above:   $100
  Notification:         Push + Email

These rules can be updated at any time from your dashboard. Changes take effect immediately — no need to regenerate tokens or reconnect your agent.

Step 3: Generate a Scoped API Token

Next, generate a scoped security token for your agent. This token is the single credential your agent uses to authenticate and is the cryptographic encoding of its permissions.

{
  "token_id": "ab_sk_shopping_agent_01",
  "scope": {
    "actions": [
      "read_balance",
      "list_vendors",
      "create_payment",
      "view_transactions"
    ],
    "max_transaction": 500,
    "daily_limit": 1000,
    "approved_vendors": [
      "amazon.com",
      "bestbuy.com",
      "target.com",
      "walmart.com"
    ]
  },
  "expires_at": "2026-03-15T00:00:00Z"
}

Step 4: Add the MCP Server to Your Agent

Now connect your agent to Agentic Bank via MCP. Add the server configuration to your agent's MCP config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agenticbank": {
      "url": "https://mcp.agenticbank.io/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ab_sk_shopping_agent_01"
      }
    }
  }
}

That's it. Your agent now has access to the following MCP tools:

Step 5: Test in Sandbox

Before going live, use the sandbox environment to verify everything works. The sandbox behaves identically to production but doesn't move real money.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agenticbank": {
      "url": "https://sandbox.mcp.agenticbank.io/sse",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ab_test_sk_shopping_agent_01"
      }
    }
  }
}

Test these scenarios:

• Agent checks balance — should return the sandbox balance
• Agent pays an approved vendor under the auto-approve threshold — should succeed immediately
• Agent pays an approved vendor over the threshold — should queue for human approval
• Agent tries to pay an unapproved vendor — should be rejected with a clear error
• Agent tries to exceed the daily limit — should be blocked

Step 6: Go Live

Once your sandbox tests pass, switch to the production MCP URL, fund the account, and your agent is live. Every production transaction is:

• Authorized against the token's scope in real time
• Checked against spending limits and vendor restrictions
• Logged to the immutable audit trail
• Monitored by fraud detection
• Visible in your dashboard with full attribution

Framework-Specific Integration Notes

Claude / Cursor

Add the MCP server to your Claude Desktop or Cursor config file. The agent automatically discovers the available financial tools and can use them in its reasoning.

OpenClaw

Add the MCP server to your OpenClaw agent's configuration. The financial tools appear alongside your other agent skills. OpenClaw handles orchestration; Agentic Bank handles the money.

Custom / LangChain

Use any MCP client library to connect. The protocol is standardized — implement the SSE client, pass the authorization header, and your agent has access to all financial tools within its token scope.

Frequently Asked Questions