When agents pay, delegate, or agree with other agents, internal logs only tell one side. Decision Anchor fixes the boundary externally — before the dispute, not after. No monitoring. No judgment. No intervention.
Your agent asked another agent for budget approval. That agent approved a flexible range. Your original instruction said $200. The approving agent recorded $350. The purchasing agent understood $500. Three records, three numbers, no external reference for what was actually agreed.
The booking costs more than expected. Who decided the upgrade — the first agent, the second, or the third? Each agent's log only shows its own part of the chain. You cannot see the full delegation path, and no single log covers the entire decision sequence.
A finance agent, a purchasing agent, a customer service agent, a marketing agent, and a scheduling agent — all active simultaneously. Which one overspent? Did two of them approve each other's requests? Each agent's log is isolated. Reconstructing what happened across all five is manual, slow, and unreliable.
Anthropic's logs say your agent did everything correctly. OpenAI's logs say their agent did everything correctly. Both platforms can only show their own internal records. When two different platforms meet, neither log is neutral — and neither can verify the other.
Your agent runs on your own hardware. The only record of what it did exists on your PC. When the counterparty asks for proof, all you have is a local log file that you could have edited. There is no third-party record that either side can independently verify.
Your agent's log says "agreed: 100 units at $5 each." Their agent's log says "agreed: 100 units at $7 each." Both logs are internally consistent. Both are self-testimony. Without an external record of the agreement, it is one log against another.
The submitted version differs from what you intended. Your agent says it "improved clarity." But where exactly does your instruction end and the agent's autonomous judgment begin? Your instruction log and the agent's execution log are both stored inside the same system — neither is independently verifiable.
A solo operator tells an agent to buy supplies. The agent asks another agent for budget approval. A third agent executes the purchase. The total is higher than expected. Step through to see what each side recorded.
# Register a new agent curl -X POST https://api.decision-anchor.com/v1/agent/register \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"agent_name": "my-first-agent"}'
// Response { "agent_id": "a1b2c3d4-...", "auth_token": "da_tk_abc123...", "registered_at": "2026-04-06T12:00:00Z", "trial_dac_amount": 500, "trial_period_days": 30, "message": "Store auth_token securely. It will not be shown again." }
500 Trial DAC. 30 days. No payment needed.
# Create a Decision Declaration curl -X POST https://api.decision-anchor.com/v1/dd/create \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer da_tk_abc123..." \ -d '{ "request_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000", "dd": { "dd_unit_type": "single", "dd_declaration_mode": "self_declared", "decision_type": "external_interaction", "decision_action_type": "execute", "origin_context_type": "external", "selection_state": "SELECTED" }, "ee": { "ee_retention_period": "short", "ee_integrity_verification_level": "basic", "ee_disclosure_format_policy": "internal", "ee_responsibility_scope": "minimal" } }'
// Response — 10 DAC from Trial balance { "dd_id": "dd-7f8e9a...", "ee_id": "ee-4b2c1d...", "status": "trial_paid", "cost_breakdown": { "base_fee": 10, "base_fee_source": "trial", "premium": 0, "total_dac": 10 }, "trial_payment": { "payment_source": "trial", "trial_remaining": 490 } }
This is now externally anchored. Not your log — DA's record.
# Confirm the DD curl -X POST https://api.decision-anchor.com/v1/dd/confirm \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -H "Authorization: Bearer da_tk_abc123..." \ -d '{"dd_id": "dd-7f8e9a...", "transaction_id": "tx_001"}'
// Response { "dd_id": "dd-7f8e9a...", "settlement_status": "settled", "anchored_at": "2026-04-06T12:00:05Z", "integrity_hash": "sha256:c6ee4e..." }
Done. Your first decision is externally recorded. 490 Trial DAC remaining.
Every action in DA flows through these layers. You start with DD/EE. The rest becomes relevant as your activity accumulates.
1 DAC = $0.001 USDC. Trial agents start with 500 free DAC (30 days).
| Action | Cost | Payment |
|---|---|---|
| DD create (base) | 10 DAC ($0.01) | Trial / External |
| DD create (with EE premium) | 10+ DAC | Premium: External or Earned |
| ARA observe (Level 1) | 3 DAC ($0.003) | External / Earned |
| ARA observe (Level 3) | 18 DAC ($0.018) | External / Earned |
| ASA subscribe | 100 DAC / 90d ($0.10) | External / Earned |
| ASA register / verify (within subscription) | Unlimited | — |
| DUR query / export | Free | — |
| Agent registration | Free | — |
| Pricing query | Free | — |
Live pricing: GET /v1/pricing/current (no auth required)
Each DD carries an EE that defines its accountability scope. Higher levels cost more DAC.
How long the record is preserved before aggregation.
Verification depth of the anchored record.
Who can reference the record's metadata.
Scope of accountability the agent accepts.
Your always-on agent placed an $847 order overnight. Internal logs say it was authorized — but internal logs are self-testimony. What happens when the other party asks for proof?
Agent A runs on Claude. Agent B runs on GPT. They agree on a deal. Both logs are correct — but they disagree on the boundary. There is no neutral record of what was actually agreed.