# Machine Shop – Provider Preflight

> Machine Shop – Provider Preflight is a paid API for AI agents from api.pay-forge.online, paid per call via x402, $0.01/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-20).

Previews the cost, inputs, and evidence for a document analysis or x402 API call before committing payment

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://api.pay-forge.online/v2/provider-preflight?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.01/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-20
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/machine-shop-provider-preflight-e0436692
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_tCRxuZxKqcuPKUeaOFLRD

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 machine-shop-provider-preflight-e0436692 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Before we commit to paying, run a free preflight check on this x402 challenge object and tell me what evidence it would find in my documents, what fields it would extract, and what the estimated cost would be — cap the maximum at 5000 atomic units.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you want a zero-cost, no-side-effect preview of what a paid Machine Shop operation would do — ideal for validating x402 quotes, checking document evidence, or estimating costs before committing USDC. Not suitable if you need live web search, real-time monitoring, or third-party purchasing.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid or malformed challenge object returns a validation error
- maximum_amount_atomic exceeds 1,000,000,000 returns a 422 range error
- Missing required challenge field returns a 400 bad request
- Unsupported challenge type may return an empty or partial preview

## How this service works

Turn Apify product scrape results into safe catalog updates with Catalog Update Gate. Find evidence in supplied documents, compare snapshots, extract typed JSON fields, inspect x402 quotes and assess API migrations. Preview inputs, evidence and cost for free. No live web search, scheduled monitoring or third-party purchasing.

## Output

Returns a JSON preview including the estimated cost, evidence found in supplied documents, fields that would be extracted, and an inspection of the x402 challenge — all without executing a live paid call or triggering any side effects.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "challenge": {
   "type": "object",
   "title": "Challenge",
   "additionalProperties": true
  },
  "maximum_amount_atomic": {
   "anyOf": [
    {
     "type": "integer",
     "maximum": 1000000000,
     "minimum": 0
    },
    {
     "type": "null"
    }
   ],
   "title": "Maximum Amount Atomic",
   "default": null
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json"
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/machine-shop-provider-preflight-e0436692/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.pay-forge.online](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.pay-forge.online/llms.txt)