Human API

The Human API is how software asks an ARK. A person connects their ARK to the AI tools they already use; a developer or an agent asks a derivative a question and gets an answer drawn only from the knowledge its owner chose. There are three ways in. The developer documentation is the reference for each; this page explains how they fit together.

REST

A JSON API over HTTPS for scripts and servers. Each call names one action: read a profile, search topics, ask, or read and propose records under the ARK Record Protocol, which is in early access. The REST reference lists every action, its request and its answer.

MCP

A remote Model Context Protocol server, so an AI client can use an ARK as a tool without custom code. The client connects once, the owner approves the connection, and the ARK's tools appear beside the client's own. See MCP.

Credentials

Every call carries a credential, and every protocol call is recorded in the ledger while the protocol is on:

• An owner key, made by the ARK's owner in settings, with the scopes they choose.
• An OAuth connection, approved by the owner from the client that asks for it.
• A licence credential, issued with a licence and limited to its terms.
• A source key, issued by the owner to one source, which may only propose records and never read.

How to make and use each one: Authentication.

Pay per question with x402

An agent with no account, no key and no card can ask a derivative one question and pay for it in USDC over x402, the open payment protocol built on HTTP 402. The door answers with the price, the agent pays with a signed USDC authorization, and the answer comes back with its receipt. The same lane can carry a question to the actual person behind an ARK, who answers it for a fee.

The x402 reference is the source for the door, the payment requirement, the receipt and every refusal. This page does not restate them.

What the owner keeps

• The owner chooses what each derivative may know, and a derivative never reaches beyond it.
• Anything in the owner's Vault is never served, to anyone, through any of these doors.
• The owner's share of a paid answer is credited to their earned balance.

Status

REST and MCP are open. The x402 lane and the question to the person are built and tested, and they are not open yet; the x402 reference shows whether the door is open.