← Back to licensed access

Complete setup

From zero to a licensed fetch.

Follow these in order. Funding the account and authorizing the ChatGPT connection are different actions: one supplies credit; the other gives this connection permission to use it within a limit you choose.

01

Create or sign in to your Aposema account.

Open the Aposema Platform and enter your email. Aposema uses passwordless sign-in, so open the magic link sent to that address and complete the account details the portal requests.

  1. Go to platform.aposema.com.
  2. Enter your email and request the sign-in link.
  3. Open the link from the same inbox and finish the company/contact setup shown in the portal.
Do not create an API key for this flow. The hosted ChatGPT authorization creates and stores a connection-specific, limited credential behind the scenes.
02

Add prepaid credit—not merely a saved card.

In the portal, open Settings & Billing, find Balance, and choose Add balance. Enter the amount and complete Stripe Checkout, or use an eligible saved card.

  • The current self-service top-up range is $5.00 to $10,000.00 USD.
  • A saved payment method is not spendable credit by itself; your displayed balance must increase.
  • Wait for the portal to confirm the new balance before testing a paid fetch. The credit is posted after Stripe confirms payment.
Open account & balance →
03

Add Aposema as a custom app in ChatGPT.

Use ChatGPT on the web. Open Settings → Apps. If the create control is hidden, open Advanced settings, enable Developer mode, then return to Apps and choose Create app. Availability can depend on your ChatGPT plan and workspace administrator.

  1. Name the app Aposema Pay-to-Crawl.
  2. Paste the MCP server URL below.
  3. Use the OAuth sign-in option when ChatGPT starts the connection.
https://mcp.aposema.com/mcp
Do not open that address as a normal web page. A bare browser request is expected to return an authorization response. ChatGPT must initiate the OAuth connection.
04

Authorize the connection and set its ceiling.

Aposema asks for your account email, sends a one-time authorization link, then shows the approval screen. Open the email link within 15 minutes and choose the maximum publisher charge this ChatGPT connection may accept for one page.

  • Allowed publisher-price cap: $0.00 to $100.00 per page.
  • The initial value shown is $1.00.
  • The cap covers the publisher’s charge. Any separately disclosed Aposema platform fee is additional.
  • Within that cap and your available balance, the connection can settle automatically when fetch encounters a valid 402 offer.
Choose a deliberately small cap first. The payment must satisfy both checks: the publisher price must fit under this cap, and your prepaid balance must cover the complete charge.
05

Use the right tool for the job.

Once connected, enable the Aposema app in a ChatGPT conversation and ask it to use Aposema. The app exposes two distinct actions:

  • Search discovers public web results. Search does not buy a license.
  • Fetch retrieves one URL. If the page is open, it returns without a purchase. If the publisher returns a valid 402 offer, Aposema may license the page within your cap.
Useful prompt: “Use Aposema to search for this topic. Before fetching any paid page, tell me which URL you will fetch and use my configured publisher-price cap.”
06

Check the result and receipt.

For a successful paid fetch, Aposema settles the verified quote, makes one licensed retry to the publisher, and returns the licensed content with its transaction record. It fails closed rather than guessing when the offer is invalid, the price changed, the cap is too low, or the balance is insufficient.

  • Review the publisher charge, platform fee, total, and receipt returned with the result.
  • Return to the Aposema Platform to review account balance and transaction history.
  • To change the connection’s publisher-price cap, disconnect Aposema in ChatGPT and connect it again with a new cap.

The money model

What “fund it” means.

Aposema keeps this familiar for the person using ChatGPT: deposit USD credit through Stripe, then let a narrowly authorized connection spend only against verified publisher offers.

It is prepaid USD credit

You add money to your Aposema account balance before a paid retrieval. It is not a crypto wallet you need to configure.

The card and the balance differ

Stripe processes the top-up. Saving a card alone does not fund a request; the Aposema balance must show enough available credit.

The cap is not a deposit

The OAuth approval cap limits the publisher price per page. It does not move money or reserve funds when you connect.

No payment proof to paste

For this hosted flow, Aposema performs account-balance settlement. The user does not supply a Circle payment proof or copy an x402 token into ChatGPT.

Behind one fetch

What Aposema does at the gate.

The app does not pay every site it visits. Payment begins only after a fetch receives a valid, machine-readable 402 offer from the publisher.

01

Request

Aposema fetches the chosen URL once without a license.

02

Validate

If the publisher returns 402, Aposema checks the terms, payee, price, currency, and intended use.

03

Bound

The authoritative quote must fit under your publisher-price cap and inside your available balance.

04

Settle

Aposema debits the account balance, records the transaction, and receives a scoped entitlement.

05

Retry

One licensed request retrieves the content and returns it with the receipt.

Enforcement boundary: visible notices and machine-readable terms explain the offer; they are not the gate by themselves. The publisher’s server-side 402, authenticated release, and entitlement check are what withhold and release the content.

When it does not connect—or pay.

Most failures come from mixing up the endpoint, the account, the balance, and the cap. Check them independently.

“Unauthorized” in a browser

Expected. /mcp is a protected protocol endpoint, not the public documentation page. Start the connection from ChatGPT.

No “Create app” control

Use ChatGPT web, check Apps and Developer mode, then verify that your plan and workspace administrator allow custom apps.

The email link expired

Restart the OAuth connection and request a fresh magic link. Each link is one-time and expires after 15 minutes.

A card is saved but payment fails

Check the Aposema balance. A saved payment method does not automatically become prepaid credit.

Publisher price exceeds the cap

Aposema refuses the purchase. Disconnect and reconnect only if you intentionally want to approve a different per-page ceiling.

Price or terms do not validate

Aposema stops without releasing paid content. A mismatched quote, unsupported offer, or changed price is not silently accepted.

Ready? Create the account, add a small test balance, and then connect from ChatGPT. Those three actions are intentionally separate.

Open Aposema Platform →