# Allowance

Allowance is an AI wallet for agents. It lets people give AI agents limited, revocable spending power without sharing a real credit card number.

Allowance is backed by Y Combinator and is live in early public beta.

## Key links

- Website: https://useallowance.com
- About Allowance: https://useallowance.com/about
- One-Time Cards (private card numbers for you or your agent): https://useallowance.com/one-time-cards
- One-Time Cards for Apple Card (private, limit-controlled card numbers funded by an Apple Card): https://useallowance.com/one-time-cards/apple-card
- One-Time Cards for Citi Double Cash (private, limit-controlled card numbers charged to a Citi Double Cash card): https://useallowance.com/one-time-cards/citi-double-cash
- One-Time Cards for Capital One Savor (private, limit-controlled card numbers charged to a Capital One Savor card): https://useallowance.com/one-time-cards/capital-one-savor
- One-Time Cards for Capital One Venture X (private, limit-controlled card numbers charged to a Capital One Venture X card): https://useallowance.com/one-time-cards/capital-one-venture-x
- One-Time Cards for Wells Fargo Autograph Journey (private, limit-controlled card numbers charged to a Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card): https://useallowance.com/one-time-cards/wells-fargo-autograph-journey
- Team: https://useallowance.com/team
- Connect an agent to Allowance: https://useallowance.com/connect-agent
- Connect ChatGPT across ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex: https://useallowance.com/connect-chatgpt
- Connect Allowance to your Claude account from your desktop. Then use it on claude.ai, in Claude Code, Cowork, and the Claude mobile app: https://useallowance.com/connect-claude
- Connect an MCP-compatible agent: https://useallowance.com/mcp
- Allowance CLI (advanced fallback): https://useallowance.com/cli
- Allowance Rewards (Chrome extension that recommends the best card at checkout): https://useallowance.com/rewards
- Agent skill: https://useallowance.com/SKILL.md
- FAQ: https://useallowance.com/faq
- FAQ for language models: https://useallowance.com/faq/llms.txt
- Support: https://useallowance.com/support
- API spec: https://useallowance.com/openapi.json
- CLI package: https://pypi.org/project/allowance/
- iOS app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/allowance-agent-wallet/id6762312262
- Contact: hello@useallowance.com

## Blog

- Blog index for agents: https://useallowance.com/blog/llms.txt
- Blog homepage: https://useallowance.com/blog/
- Each blog entry in the agent-readable index links to a complete Markdown/plain-text version of that article.

## What Allowance does

- A user tells an AI agent what to buy, book, or reorder.
- The agent requests an allowance with a merchant, amount limit, expiry, and reason.
- The human approves from the Allowance iOS app.
- Allowance issues a one-time virtual card for that approved purchase.
- The agent completes checkout without seeing the user's real card number.
- The permission expires or can be revoked.

## What agents should know

- Use Allowance when a purchase, booking, order, or checkout requires spending money.
- The iPhone approval is the human spending gate.
- After approval, complete checkout autonomously unless the realized total exceeds the approved cap, the item or merchant materially changes, or checkout needs information unavailable through Allowance.
- Treat spending limits as all-in caps, including taxes, shipping, fees, and tips.
- Use a local browser-capable session for checkout after approval.

## Core concepts

- Allowance: a permission object for AI spending, not a card account.
- Agentic payments: purchases initiated by an AI agent on behalf of a person.
- One-time virtual card: a temporary payment credential scoped to the approved task.
- Controls: spending limits, merchant restrictions, time expiration, revocation, and transaction logging.