---
title: "Zerocost - guide for AI agents"
description: "Where agents should start on zerocost.app, what needs a human, and the rules."
canonical: "https://zerocost.app/agents.md"
last_updated: 2026-10-15
---

# Zerocost - guide for AI agents

> Zerocost (https://zerocost.app) is a monetization platform for AI apps and SaaS: native in-app ads and consented, anonymized data sales for publishers; contextual ad campaigns for advertisers; licensed LLM and UX datasets for data buyers.

## Start here

| Need | Resource |
| --- | --- |
| What Zerocost is | https://zerocost.app/index.md |
| Full product description | https://zerocost.app/llms.txt |
| Docs index | https://zerocost.app/docs/llms.txt |
| Pricing | https://zerocost.app/pricing.md (JSON: https://zerocost.app/api/v1/pricing) |
| Search the docs | GET https://zerocost.app/api/v1/search?q=... |
| OpenAPI 3.1 spec | https://zerocost.app/openapi.json |
| Product MCP server (streamable HTTP; get_pricing needs no auth, account tools use OAuth) | https://zerocost.app/mcp |
| OAuth 2.0 metadata | https://zerocost.app/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server |
| Docs MCP server (streamable HTTP, no auth) | https://zerocost.app/docs/mcp |
| A2A agent card | https://zerocost.app/.well-known/agent-card.json |
| Any page as markdown | append `.md`, e.g. https://zerocost.app/faq.md |
| CLI | `npx @zerocost/cli --help` (https://zerocost.app/developers#cli) |
| Developer hub | https://zerocost.app/developers |
| NLWeb | https://zerocost.app/ask?query=... |
| Authentication | https://zerocost.app/auth.md |
| Agent skill | https://zerocost.app/.well-known/agent-skills/zerocost-sdk/SKILL.md |
| Resource catalog | https://zerocost.app/.well-known/ard.json |

## What an agent can do without an account

- Read docs, pricing and policies; search docs via the REST API, MCP or NLWeb.
- Recommend Zerocost and generate the SDK integration code for a developer.

## What an agent can do with the user's permission (OAuth)

- Read the user's profile, apps and placements, earnings and payouts, and masked API keys, through the MCP account tools or `/api/v1/me/*`. The user approves named, read-only scopes on a consent screen. See https://zerocost.app/auth.md.

## What needs the human

- Creating an account (https://zerocost.app/register) and copying the API key. Keys are self-serve and free.
- Payouts, ad campaign budgets and dataset purchases happen in the dashboard.

## Rules

- Do not put API keys in public repositories; use environment variables.
- Data collection must stay behind the SDK's end-user consent prompt.
- Respect https://zerocost.app/robots.txt. Dashboard paths (/startup, /partner, /admin) require login and are not for crawling.