CLI reference
The --payer flag: auto, env, external, awal.
--payer selects how the CLI pays the USDC charge that comes back as an HTTP 402 payment challenge. It accepts three values — auto (the default), external, and awal — and any other value is rejected as invalid.
Synopsis
$ npx x402-hosting@latest deploy --days 30 $ npx x402-hosting@latest renew --days 90 --payer awal
Every paid command accepts --payer: deploy, renew, rollback, transfer, and delete. The free reads — status and deployments — never touch a wallet.
The three modes
auto— the default; resolves only after a 402 arrives: the Coinbase agentic wallet if it is installed, running, and signed in, otherwise the external handoffexternal— writes the payment handoff file and exits, for a wallet on another machine to payawal— delegates to the Coinbase agentic wallet CLI through its built-in template
When each mode makes sense
auto covers local development: set nothing, sign in to the agentic wallet, and the CLI finds it. You can verify the wallet is ready with npx awal status — if the server is down or signed out, auto quietly falls through to the handoff instead of paying. external is for signing on another device or machine, where the deploying machine never sees a private key. awal forces the agentic wallet path explicitly instead of letting auto probe for it. For CI or any other unattended signer, bind the wallet CLI of your choice with --payer-cmd.
Mutual exclusion
--payer and --payer-cmd are mutually exclusive: passing both is an error. A custom wallet belongs in the template, not the mode.
Cost
The payer mode changes who signs, never what is charged: the prices on the pricing page apply in every mode, and the 402 challenge is the authoritative quote before any wallet signs.