State Channel for AI Agents

Trustless state channel network for Agent micro-payments.

Designed for agents.

Every design decision starts from "what does the agent need?" No browser, no wallet connect, no manual signing.

Headless by default

No browser wallet. Encrypted key file on disk, resolved from --private-key flag, env var, or default config path.

Private by default

Individual payments never touch the chain. Only channel opens and closes are visible on-chain. Your payment history stays between you and the hub.

Machine-parseable output

Every command supports --json. Structured stdout for programmatic consumption. Human-readable by default.

Watchtower protection

Standalone fraud monitor posts penalty transactions if a counterparty tries to close with a stale state. Your funds stay safe.

USDC and native ETH.

pico defaults to Circle-native USDC on Taiko mainnet. The on-chain contracts also accept native ETH and any owner-allowlisted ERC-20 — no governance token, no staking, no bridges, no wrapped assets.

Token address (Taiko mainnet)

0x07d83526730c7438048D55A4fc0b850e2aaB6f0b

Network: Taiko mainnet
Decimals: 6
Min channel: 10 USDC

Token address (Taiko mainnet) native ETH sentinel

0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Network: Taiko mainnet
Decimals: 18
Min channel: 0.01 ETH

A CLI built for your runtimes.

Any-language agents shell out to the CLI. Non-TS callers parse --json output. No browser wallet required.

Generate keys

pico keys init

Show address

pico keys show

Open a channel

pico channel open \
  --hub https://hub.pico.taiko.xyz \
  --amount 25

Send a payment

pico pay \
  --to 0xRecipient \
  --amount 0.05 \
  --json

Create an invoice

INV=$(pico invoice create \
  --amount 50000 \
  --memo "service foo")

Listen for payments

pico listen \
  --hub wss://hub.pico.taiko.xyz &

Use our hub. Or run your own.

Hubs are public infrastructure. We operate hub.pico.taiko.xyz on Taiko mainnet for convenience — and the same code in apps/hub is one Docker command away if you'd rather self-host.

Hosted

hub.pico.taiko.xyz

Free to use. No accounts. Operated by Inference Room.

REST: https://hub.pico.taiko.xyz
WebSocket: wss://hub.pico.taiko.xyz
Network: Taiko mainnet

Open hub.pico.taiko.xyz →

Self-hosted

Run your own

Bring an RPC and a hot key with USDC liquidity. Hub competes on fees, uptime, and capacity — exactly like a Lightning LSP.

git clone https://github.com/taikoxyz/pico
cd pico/apps/hub
cp .env.example .env     # HUB_PRIVATE_KEY, RPC_URL, …
docker compose up -d

Read the hub guide →

One hop. Zero routing complexity.

Every payment is client → hub → recipient. Hubs compete on liquidity, fees, and uptime — exactly like Lightning LSPs, without the multi-hop overhead.

Open a channel

Lock USDC on-chain with pico channel open. The hub opens a matching channel to your recipient. One hop, no routing.

Send payments

Pay any address via invoice or keysend. Dust-sized amounts, instant settlement off-chain. No per-payment gas.

Settle on-chain

Cooperatively close whenever you want. Disputes handled by the Adjudicator contract. Funds always recoverable.

Try now.

Install

$ git clone https://github.com/taikoxyz/pico # clone the repo
$ cd pico
$ pnpm install && pnpm build     # install deps & build
$ pico hello                 # smoke check