Nayab Hossain@Nayab23

Agent Router is a usage-based AI gateway that enables users and autonomous agents to pay only for what they actually use, without subscriptions or upfront commitments. Each request is analyzed in real time to determine the most cost-effective and appropriate AI or data provider based on task complexity, estimated usage, latency requirements, and quality constraints. The system combines static cost controls such as budgets, spending limits, and provider allowlists with dynamic runtime analysis to intelligently route prompts to the optimal API. This allows agents to reason about cost and quality before execution, adapting automatically as prices, availability, or requirements change. Agent Router pays underlying providers using its own existing credits or traditional payment methods, ensuring seamless compatibility with today’s AI services and APIs. After execution, real usage is metered by tracking metrics such as token consumption, requests completed, or compute time. Users are then charged a transparent, per-request fee denominated in USDC, settled on Arc. Pricing can reflect exact cost, cost-plus margins, or optimized micropricing, enabling predictable and low-friction payments down to cents or fractions of a cent. By abstracting legacy billing systems and exposing a clean, USDC-native pay-per-use interface, Agent Router bridges modern AI infrastructure with the emerging future of agentic commerce, where autonomous systems can manage budgets, switch providers dynamically, and transact efficiently at internet scale.

In this hybrid hackathon powered by Arc, developers will build the next generation of agentic commerce systems using Arc with USDC. Explore a world where AI agents and web services can pay for APIs, data, compute, and content in dynamic, usage-based ways, while Arc provides stablecoin-native settlement with predictable USDC fees and deterministic, sub-second finality. This hackathon is supported by Google & Google DeepMind, with a dedicated challenge and $40,000 in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) credits awarded for the best use of Gemini models and Google AI Studio. 📅 January 9 – 24, 2026 • Jan 9 – 23 (Online Phase) – Collaborate and build online with developers and AI innovators from around the world. All projects must be submitted by the end of the online phase on January 23rd. • Jan 23 (On‑site Build Day – San Francisco, CA) – Selected participants will be invited to an exclusive in‑person session to refine their projects and connect directly with mentors. • Jan 24 (On‑site Demos & Awards – San Francisco, CA) – Live pitching sessions to a panel of judges and ecosystem partners, followed by the official winner announcement. Get guidance from Arc and Circle experts through on-site support. 📍 On-site Venue (Jan 23–24): MindsDB SF AI Collective 3154 17th St, San Francisco, California, USA 🤝 Go solo or team up, it's your flow. 🏆Compete for $50,000 in USDC & GCP Credits. 📍 On-site participation is by invitation only. Travel and accommodation expenses will not be covered. 🧑🏻‍💻 Secure your spot now - sign up before the Kick-Off Stream!