What is a Spending Receipt?

1 min read Updated

A verifiable record of an authorized agent transaction — policy evaluation result, parameters, approval status, blockchain confirmation. Proof of policy compliance.

WHY IT MATTERS

When agents spend, operators need proof: what, why allowed, which policies evaluated, whether successful on-chain.

Serves: operational visibility, compliance evidence, dispute resolution, debugging.

Good receipts are cryptographically signed by the policy engine, preventing retroactive claim changes.

HOW POLICYLAYER USES THIS

PolicyLayer generates receipts for every transaction — evaluation details, timestamp, on-chain reference for complete accountability.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What's in a receipt?
Transaction parameters, policy evaluation results, approval/denial decision, timestamp, evaluator signature, and (if approved) the on-chain transaction hash.
Machine-readable?
Yes — receipts are structured JSON with cryptographic signatures. They can be automatically processed by audit systems.
Storage?
PolicyLayer retains receipts per your retention policy. Critical receipts can be anchored on-chain for permanent, independent verification.

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 →
// GET IN TOUCH

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