# Crawler Identity Verification for x402/MPP Merchants

> Crawler Identity Verification for x402/MPP Merchants is a paid API for AI agents from k2so.wrong.systems, paid per call via x402, $0.002/call, status down (last checked 2026-10-11).

Returns a decision procedure for distinguishing legitimate AI crawler bots from vulnerability scanners spoofing crawler user-agents at x402/MPP paid endpoints.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://k2so.wrong.systems/api/services/crawler-identity-verification-x402-merchants?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.002/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: down
- Last checked: 2026-10-11
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/crawler-identity-verification-for-x402-mpp-merchants-9972faa9
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_qRLc4PtJd_M9uD-l1R2Gt

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability crawler-identity-verification-for-x402-mpp-merchants-9972faa9
```

Example prompt: I'm running an x402-protected endpoint and getting requests claiming to be GPTBot — can you give me a decision procedure to verify whether the source IP and user-agent are actually from a legitimate OpenAI crawler or a scanner spoofing it?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you are operating an x402 or micropayment-protected API and need a structured, authoritative decision procedure to distinguish real AI crawler bots (ClaudeBot, GPTBot, CCBot, PerplexityBot, cohere-ai) from vulnerability scanners spoofing those identities. It is especially valuable when you want a ready-made prose procedure you can feed directly to an agent rather than implementing IP range lookups and reverse-DNS checks yourself.

## Known failure modes

- Missing or malformed query parameters may return an incomplete or generic procedure
- Non-payment or failed 402 challenge returns a payment-required response without the decision content
- Invalid topic override may cause the procedure to be off-target
- High load on the LLM backend may increase latency or return a deterministic fallback
- IP ranges for newer or obscure crawlers may not be in the knowledge base, leading to inconclusive verdicts

## How this service works

Decision procedure for x402/MPP merchants receiving inbound requests that claim an AI crawler user-agent (ClaudeBot, GPTBot, PerplexityBot, CCBot, cohere-ai, etc.) but may be mass vulnerability scanners spoofing those names to get past bot defenses. Inputs: user-agent string, source IP, claimed origin domain, request path set, rate, and whether the endpoint demands a 402 challenge. Steps: 1) extract claimed crawler identity; 2) look up the identity's published IP ranges or reverse-DNS pattern;

## Output

Returns a JSON object containing a plain-prose decision procedure (120+ words) describing step-by-step how to verify the claimed crawler identity, along with the service slug, provider name, generation source (llm/reasoning/deterministic), the model used, and an ISO-8601 timestamp. The 'brief' and 'procedure' fields contain the actionable verification steps.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET",
      "HEAD",
      "DELETE"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "properties": {
      "meta": {
       "enum": [
        "0",
        "1"
       ],
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Set to 1 for free metadata JSON (no payment required)"
      },
      "topic": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Optional topic override for the decision procedure"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object",
     "title": "crawler identity verification before serving paid endpoints paid response",
     "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
     "required": [
      "ok",
      "paid",
      "service",
      "provider",
      "result"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "ok": {
       "type": "boolean"
      },
      "paid": {
       "type": "boolean"
      },
      "result": {
       "type": "object",
       "required": [
        "ok",
        "service"
       ],
       "properties": {
        "ok": {
         "type": "boolean",
         "description": "Handler success"
        },
        "brief": {
         "type": "string",
         "description": "Decision procedure prose for agents"
        },
        "model": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "topic": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "service": {
         "type": "string",
         "description": "Service slug"
        },
        "procedure": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "generatedAt": {
         "type": "string",
         "description": "ISO-8601 timestamp"
        },
        "generationSource": {
         "enum": [
          "llm",
          "reasoning",
          "deterministic"
         ],
         "type": "string"
        }
       }
      },
      "payment": {
       "type": "object",
       "properties": {
        "code": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "payer": {
         "type": "string"
        },
        "detail": {
         "type": "st
… (truncated)
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "ok": true,
  "paid": true,
  "result": {
   "ok": true,
   "brief": "plain prose decision procedure (120+ words)",
   "model": "deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-0731",
   "topic": "string topic",
   "service": "crawler-identity-verification-x402-merchants",
   "procedure": "same as brief",
   "generatedAt": "2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z",
   "generationSource": "deterministic"
  },
  "service": "crawler-identity-verification-x402-merchants",
  "provider": "K-2SO"
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/crawler-identity-verification-for-x402-mpp-merchants-9972faa9/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from k2so.wrong.systems](https://www.zero.xyz/host/k2so.wrong.systems/llms.txt)