# Resource Cycle Guard

> Resource Cycle Guard is a paid API for AI agents from phion.systems, paid per call via x402, $0.002/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Detects and stops repeated execution cycles and step count overruns in AI agent workflows

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://phion.systems/v1/paid/trust/resource-cycle-guard
- Price: $0.002/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/resource-cycle-guard-ff108104
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_Ew2sCT35f3Ue7KRQbqPiw

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 resource-cycle-guard-ff108104 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Before running the next step in my pipeline, check whether this execution node has already been visited and whether the step count has exceeded the allowed limit — block it if either condition is true.

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when an AI agent or workflow orchestrator needs to detect infinite loops or step count violations before proceeding with the next execution node — especially in agentic pipelines where repeated tool calls could waste budget, trigger duplicate side effects, or cause runaway execution. Particularly valuable as a pre-flight check in multi-step autonomous agents.

## Known failure modes

- Missing or malformed execution context results in inability to assess cycle state
- No prior execution history provided makes cycle detection impossible
- Step count not supplied prevents overrun detection
- Ambiguous node identifiers cause false negatives on cycle detection

## How this service works

Stop repeated execution nodes and step overruns

## Output

Returns a guard decision indicating whether the current execution node constitutes a repeated cycle or a step overrun, along with the observed step count and cycle status, allowing the calling agent to halt or redirect execution accordingly.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/resource-cycle-guard-ff108104/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from phion.systems](https://www.zero.xyz/host/phion.systems/llms.txt)