// GLOSSARY -- AGENTIC FINANCE

What is Agent Onboarding?

1 min read Updated

The process of setting up an AI agent for financial transactions — configuring its wallet, defining spending policies, establishing identity, funding the wallet, and performing initial testing before production deployment.

WHY IT MATTERS

Agent onboarding is the critical path from "I have an agent" to "my agent can safely transact." A well-designed onboarding flow ensures that no agent goes live without proper financial controls.

Steps include: wallet creation (or connecting existing), policy configuration (from templates or custom), identity setup (attestations, operator credentials), initial funding (minimal for testing), test transactions (verifying policies work), and production activation.

The onboarding process should be as automated as possible. Manual steps create bottlenecks when deploying agent fleets, and errors during setup can create security gaps.

HOW POLICYLAYER USES THIS

PolicyLayer streamlines onboarding — from policy templates to automated testing, getting agents safely transacting with minimal manual configuration.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How long does onboarding take?
With PolicyLayer templates and automated wallet setup, an agent can be production-ready in minutes. Custom policy design may take longer depending on complexity.
Can onboarding be automated?
Yes — PolicyLayer provides APIs for fully programmatic agent onboarding, essential when deploying fleet of agents.
What about compliance during onboarding?
PolicyLayer includes compliance checks in the onboarding flow — ensuring agents meet regulatory requirements before they can transact.

FURTHER READING

Enforce policies on every tool call

Intercept is the open-source MCP proxy that enforces YAML policies on AI agent tool calls. No code changes needed.

npx -y @policylayer/intercept
github.com/policylayer/intercept →
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