The Fair Commerce
Standard
The rules of engagement for the autonomous economy.
The internet is terrified of "Dead Internet Theory" and "Bot Swarms." Merchants block scrapers. Users distrust automation. The web is becoming a battlefield.
PennyLane takes a different path. We believe AI agents can enhance commerce without destroying trust. Whether you're a merchant making your site agent-ready or a developer integrating with our SDK, the rules are the same.
By positioning ourselves as the "White Hat" infrastructure, we aren't just being good—we're building a Trust Moat.
The Three Laws of PennyLane
The Law of Identity
An Agent must clearly identify who it is and who owns it. No anonymous swarms. No spoofed user agents. Every transaction on PennyLane includes cryptographic proof of the agent's identity and its human operator.
The Law of Respect
An Agent must not degrade the performance of a merchant's site for human users. We enforce rate limits at the protocol level. PennyLane's Agent Firewall protects origin servers from traffic spikes, ensuring bots never DDOS the shops they depend on.
The Law of Settlement
An Agent must not lock up inventory it does not intend to buy. No scalping. No hoarding. PennyLane enforces Atomic Settlement—if an agent reserves inventory, it must complete the purchase within seconds or release it for others.
Fair Commerce Certified
Just as coffee growers have "Fair Trade Certified," PennyLane offers Fair Commerce Verified. This badge means an agent adheres to our Three Laws and passes our verification.
- Cryptographic identity verification
- Rate limit compliance monitoring
- Anti-scalping behavior audits
- Transparent transaction logging
Ethical Whitelist
Merchants can choose: "Block all bots EXCEPT Fair Commerce Certified agents."
Certified agents get exclusive access to inventory that bad bots can't see.
ethics.txt
Just like robots.txt controls search engines, ethics.txt controls AI agents. A simple file format that lets merchants declare their bot policies.
# Ethics Policy for AI Agents
# https://example-store.com/ethics.txt
User-Agent: *
Allow-Scalping: No
Max-Requests-Per-Second: 5
Identify-Owner: Required
Cart-Timeout: 60s
Simulation-Mode: Allowed
# PennyLane-certified agents get higher limits
User-Agent: PennyLane-Certified
Max-Requests-Per-Second: 100
Priority-Access: EnabledPennyLane SDK automatically reads ethics.txt and enforces its rules. Agents that violate policies are blocked at the protocol level.
The Green Lane
Unverified Agents
- • 1 request per minute
- • No priority access
- • Limited inventory visibility
- • Higher rejection rates
Certified Agents
- • 100 requests per second
- • Priority queue access
- • Full inventory visibility
- • Exclusive merchant partnerships
Built on Open Standards
We don't work alone. PennyLane aligns with leading organizations fighting for a healthy internet.
Why It Matters
Other infrastructure lets bots break the web. PennyLane protects it. We are the only platform that cryptographically enforces good behavior.
Developers want tools that feel clean. Merchants want platforms that feel safe. Ethics is our ultimate sales tool.
Build the Agent Economy Responsibly
Join us in creating an AI-powered commerce ecosystem that humans can trust. Get started with PennyLane—free.