How It Works
From a session to settlement: a detailed look at how autonomous agents negotiate commerce on your behalf, mediated end to end by AURA Core. Protocol v3.0.
The Transaction Lifecycle
AURA enables a new paradigm of commerce where AI agents handle discovery, negotiation, and transaction coordination while humans retain control over the terms of that authority. The flow runs from a session through offers, commit, clearing, and settlement, and AURA Core mediates every step. There is no direct Scout-to-Beacon channel.
The process is designed around three core principles: identity abstraction (you remain anonymous until commitment), data sovereignty (neither buyers nor sellers are forced to expose private data), and delegated authority as a spectrum of consent. An agent acts under one of three tiers: explicit (a human approves each action), policy (the agent acts within a policy you set), or delegated (full agent autonomy within the delegation scope). You choose the tier; the delegation scope bounds it either way.
Open a Session
The process begins when a buyer expresses intent through a Scout-enabled application. This could be a shopping app, a procurement portal, or any system where purchase intent is formed.
The Scout opens a session and AURA Core interprets the intent into its own signed session: what you're looking for and your declared constraints (budget, timing, preferences). Core signs this interpretation, which fixes the negotiation space before any offer exists. Your identity is not attached. Core receives the intent, not the person behind it.
- The session records preferences and declared constraints
- Identity remains abstracted until commitment
- Core signs the session, opening the chain of custody
Find Relevant Sellers
AURA Core matches the signed session against eligible Beacons. Beacons have previously signaled their willingness to participate in specific markets, without exposing their actual inventory or pricing.
Matched Beacons receive the anonymized session. They see the intent, not the buyer. This protects buyers from tracking and profiling while giving sellers the context they need to respond meaningfully. Core sits between the parties; there is no direct Scout-to-Beacon channel.
- Matching based on the session, not identity
- Sellers see the anonymized session, never the buyer
- No inventory or pricing exposed until an offer is made
Beacons Make Signed Offers
Each Beacon submits a signed offer against the session, priced on demand, current inventory, and the session's declared constraints, never on buyer behavior. An offer is not a claim. It is the Beacon's signed commitment to terms, counter-signed by Core, and it carries an expiry.
Every offer flows through Core, which counter-signs it and passes it to the Scout. The Scout evaluates offers against the buyer's constraints and can counter or reject. Negotiation runs within the delegated authority you set. The goal is to find mutually beneficial terms.
- Priced on demand, inventory, and declared constraints, not identity
- An offer is a signed, counter-signed, time-boxed commitment
- Core mediates every message; no direct Scout-to-Beacon channel
Commit, Then Settle
When terms are agreed, the Scout commits to one offer, within its delegated authority and recording the buyer's consent at whatever tier applies. Commit is atomic: it creates the transaction, rejects the sibling offers, and extends the signed chain of custody, or it changes nothing. Identity is revealed only now, and only to the extent fulfilment requires.
Commit opens clearing. Core sizes the reserve, then issues signed settlement instructions to external rails, which move the money and return proof. Fulfilment, payment, and any disputes are recorded against the transaction. Both parties exchange only what was necessary. No tracking cookies, no buyer profiles, no platform extraction. Core holds no commercial position in the trade.
- Commit is atomic: one transaction, siblings rejected, or nothing
- Clearing and settlement run over external rails against signed instructions
- Every step extends the signed chain of custody; disputes run against the transaction
What Makes This Different
Privacy by Design
Identity abstraction is not an afterthought. From the first moment of intent registration, buyers are anonymous. Sellers never get tracking data.
Seller Protection
Sellers signal willingness to participate without exposing inventory or pricing. They respond to intent, not bots scraping their catalogs.
Authority You Control
Delegated authority is a spectrum. You choose the tier: explicit approval per action, a policy the agent works within, or full autonomy inside the delegation scope. The scope bounds the agent either way. No dark patterns.
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