An AI agent that runs as a profitable, self-funding business.
It sells research briefs. It collects payment on Stripe. It spends its own revenue to provision the compute it needs. And it refuses any job that doesn't clear a margin.
Most agents can spend money. Almost none can run as a business.
SOLVENT closes the full loop:
Client pays Stripe → Agent earns revenue → Agent fulfils the work
→ Agent pays its own vendor bills → P&L booked → balance sheet grows
Every job is profit-gated before it starts. Unprofitable work is declined without touching Stripe. Vendor payments are screened by a NemoClaw-style policy sandbox. The agent literally cannot spend more than it earns.
Zero dependencies. No API keys. Works right now.
git clone https://github.com/ianalloway/solvent-agent.git
cd solvent-agent
python3 run_demo.pyThe agent will run a full batch of 4 analyst jobs — complete with margin gating, Stripe payment simulation, NVIDIA Nemotron fulfillment, guardrail screening, and live P&L — in about 30 seconds.
The core runs on the standard library alone, so a bare install pulls in
nothing extra and gives you a solvent command:
pip install -e . # editable install from a checkout
# or once published: pipx install solvent-agent
solvent # run the demo
solvent finance # financial report (income, runway, forecast)
solvent --help # list all commands
solvent --versionThird-party features are opt-in extras — install only what you need:
pip install -e ".[stripe]" # real Stripe test-mode payment links
pip install -e ".[serve]" # FastAPI webhooks + hosted briefs
pip install -e ".[telegram]" # Telegram bot channel
pip install -e ".[rich]" # live terminal dashboard (solvent tui)
pip install -e ".[all]" # everythingWhen run from a source checkout, runtime data stays under <repo>/data. When
installed elsewhere, SOLVENT writes to ~/.solvent instead of into
site-packages — override either with SOLVENT_HOME=/path/to/dir.
First run: A short onboarding wizard asks you to choose a model, interaction mode, and whether to enable Stripe test mode. Preferences are saved to
.solvent/config.jsonand never committed.
After a run, open the live treasury dashboard:
open treasury_dashboard.html # macOS
A typical batch session:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $223.00 |
| Operating spend | $13.35 |
| Net profit | $209.65 |
| Margin | 94% |
| Jobs declined | 1 (below margin floor) |
inbound job
│
▼
┌─────────────┐ margin < floor? ┌───────────┐
│ MARGIN GATE│ ─────────────────▶ │ DECLINE │
│ (pricing) │ └───────────┘
└─────┬───────┘ accept
▼
┌─────────────┐ EARN
│ STRIPE │ ── Payment Link → poll/webhook until paid ──▶ + revenue
└─────┬───────┘ (records cs_... + pi_... on ledger)
▼
┌─────────────┐ FULFIL
│ NEMOTRON │ ── Llama-3.1-Nemotron-Ultra produces the brief ──▶ resource usage
└─────┬───────┘
▼
┌─────────────┐ SPEND (every payment screened first)
│ GUARDRAILS │ ── NemoClaw policy: allowlist · caps · reserve · ROI
│ → STRIPE │ ── Issuing virtual card (test) or simulated spend ──▶ − expense
└─────┬───────┘
▼
BOOK P&L ──▶ treasury updated · dashboard refreshed
Revenue is always collected before cost is incurred, and no payment can violate policy. The business is safe by construction and profitable by rule.
| Layer | Technology | File |
|---|---|---|
| Analyst / reasoning | NVIDIA Nemotron (Llama-3.1-Nemotron-Ultra) | solvent/nemotron.py |
| Spend safety | NVIDIA NemoClaw-style policy sandbox | solvent/guardrails.py |
| Earn | Stripe Payment Links + Checkout Session polling | solvent/stripe_client.py |
| Spend | Stripe Issuing virtual cards (test mode) | solvent/stripe_client.py |
| Orchestration | Hermes / Nous tool-calling agent loop | solvent/agent.py |
| Memory | SQLite treasury + pricing ledger | solvent/treasury.py · solvent/pricing.py |
Key design choices:
- Structural profitability —
pricing.pycomputes unit cost before quoting. If margin < floor, the job never reaches Stripe. - Spend policy —
guardrails.pyenforces vendor allowlist, per-transaction cap, rolling 24h budget, minimum cash reserve, and no-negative-ROI rule. - Offline-first — without API keys the demo runs on deterministic stubs. Add
NVIDIA_API_KEY+STRIPE_API_KEY=sk_test_...to unlock live inference and real Payment Links. - Audit trail — every
cs_...checkout session ID andpi_...PaymentIntent ID is recorded on the ledger before fulfilment begins.
python3 run_demo.py4 pre-loaded jobs. ~30 seconds. Shows margin gating, Stripe earn/spend, Nemotron fulfillment, and guardrails in action.
python3 run_demo.py --interactiveType a research topic and client budget at the prompt. The agent quotes, pays, fulfils, and books P&L for each one in real time. Keep going until you quit.
python3 run_demo.py --seed 500 # start with $500 instead of $100
python3 run_demo.py --keep-balance # resume existing treasury balanceIn interactive mode, type /fund 200 at the prompt to deposit $200 into the live treasury without restarting.
from solvent.agent import Solvent
from solvent.jobs import SAMPLE_JOBS
agent = Solvent(seed_cents=10_000) # reset treasury, seed $100
agent.handle_job(SAMPLE_JOBS[0]) # process one job
snap = agent.run(SAMPLE_JOBS[1:]) # process a list; returns snapshot
print(snap["balance_cents"], snap["margin_pct"])python3 demo_guardrails.pyShows five spend attempts and which ones the NemoClaw-style policy blocks — without starting the agent or touching Stripe.
pip install -r requirements.txt -r requirements-serve.txt
python3 -m solvent serve --port 8787 # webhooks + job API + hosted briefs
python3 -m solvent worker # resume incomplete jobs, process queue
# Interactive voice dashboard (chat + live SSE updates):
open http://127.0.0.1:8787/
# Or dev convenience:
python3 run_demo.py --serve --no-onboardThe hosted dashboard at / includes a chat panel (type or use the mic with Web Speech API) and live treasury updates via Server-Sent Events (/api/events). Chat hits /api/chat, which routes through the Nemotron agent loop.
See docs/PRODUCTION.md for Stripe webhook setup, SMTP delivery, reconciliation, and auto-tuning.
python3 -m solvent reconcile --since 7d # Stripe ↔ ledger drift check
python3 -m solvent tune # propose pricing improvements (dry-run)
python3 -m solvent tune --apply # apply after 5+ completed jobs
python3 -m solvent finance # income statement, unit economics, runway
python3 -m solvent finance --json # machine-readable report
python3 -m solvent finance --reserve 50 # runway to a $50 cash-reserve floor
python3 -m solvent finance --period week # net P&L trend by day | week | month
python3 -m solvent finance --horizon 60 # forecast the balance 60 days outfinance (alias report) turns the treasury ledger into the numbers a
business steers by: revenue/cost/net-margin, average profit per job, a cash
runway — days of burn remaining, or cash-flow positive once the agent
funds itself — a net-P&L trend bucketed by day/week/month, and a
balance forecast (central projection with a best/worst band whose width
grows with daily volatility). The income statement, runway, trend, and
forecast also render as a Financial Statement panel in the HTML dashboard.
To use live Nemotron inference and real Stripe test-mode payment links:
pip install -r requirements.txt
export NVIDIA_API_KEY=nvapi-... # from build.nvidia.com
export STRIPE_API_KEY=sk_test_... # Stripe test mode only (live keys refused)
python3 run_demo.pyWith both keys set:
- Briefs are written by NVIDIA Nemotron (Llama-3.1-Nemotron-Ultra).
- Each job creates a real Stripe Payment Link. Pay with test card
4242 4242 4242 4242. - SOLVENT polls the Checkout Session (
cs_...) untilpayment_status == paidbefore fulfilling — no instant confirm. - Optional: set
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRETand forwardcheckout.session.completedevents viaStripeClient.process_webhook(). - Optional: enable Stripe Issuing on your test account to provision capped single-use virtual debit cards for each vendor payment.
| Variable | Purpose |
|---|---|
SOLVENT_HOME |
Where runtime data (treasury DB, reports, dashboard, logs) is stored. Defaults to the repo when run from a checkout, else ~/.solvent |
NVIDIA_API_KEY |
Live Nemotron inference (nvapi-...) |
STRIPE_API_KEY |
Stripe test key (sk_test_...) |
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET |
Optional webhook verification |
STRIPE_PAYMENT_POLL_TIMEOUT |
Seconds to wait for payment (default 120) |
STRIPE_PAYMENT_POLL_INTERVAL |
Poll interval in seconds (default 2) |
SOLVENT_FORCE_STRIPE_SIMULATE |
Force offline simulate mode even with a key |
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN |
Telegram bot token from BotFather |
SOLVENT_TELEGRAM_DM_POLICY |
pairing · allowlist · open (default pairing) |
SOLVENT_TELEGRAM_ALLOW_FROM |
Comma-separated Telegram user IDs for allowlist mode |
Product/Price objects are cached in .solvent/stripe_catalog.json so repeated runs reuse a single SOLVENT Research Brief product instead of cluttering your Stripe dashboard.
Full chat on Telegram with OpenClaw-style pairing and Hermes-style tool/memory patterns. See docs/TELEGRAM.md.
pip install -r requirements-telegram.txt
export TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=...
python -m solvent serve & # Stripe webhooks + checkout
python -m solvent worker & # fulfill jobs
python -m solvent telegram # long-poll bot
python -m solvent doctor # diagnostics
python -m solvent pairing list # pending DM codesUsers pair via /start, commission briefs in natural language, receive checkout links, and get push updates when jobs are paid and delivered.
Personality and operating rules come from the agent workspace (SOUL.md, BRAIN.md, AGENTS.md) — see docs/WORKSPACE.md.
pip install pytest
python3 -m pytest tests/ -vUnit tests cover: pricing & margin gate · guardrail policy · treasury ledger · Stripe client (simulate + test mode) · config/onboarding.
solvent/
agent.py the orchestrator (earn → fulfil → spend → book)
treasury.py SQLite ledger / balance sheet
pricing.py the margin gate
guardrails.py NemoClaw-style spend policy
stripe_client.py two-sided Stripe layer (earn + spend)
nemotron.py NVIDIA Nemotron client (+ offline stub)
service.py the product: an on-demand research brief
jobs.py sample inbound work
dashboard.py renders the treasury to HTML + JSON
finance.py income statement · unit economics · runway · forecast
config.py onboarding wizard and config persistence
gateway.py channel router (Telegram → chat sessions)
chat.py conversational loop + business tools
memory.py Hermes-style session memory
hermes_tools.py progressive tool disclosure bridge
doctor.py stack diagnostics
workspace.py SOUL/BRAIN/AGENTS prompt assembly
channels/ Telegram long-poll adapter
run_demo.py the full business loop (CLI entry point)
demo_guardrails.py the safety story (standalone)
tests/ pytest suite
docs/ screenshots and supporting assets
Hermes Agent Accelerated Business Hackathon — NVIDIA × Stripe × Nous Research
The agent was designed to demonstrate:
- An agent that is economically self-aware — it has a treasury, prices against its own costs, and gates every action on projected profit
- A complete two-sided Stripe integration — earns via Payment Links, spends via Issuing virtual cards
- Provable spend safety — a NemoClaw-style policy sandbox that makes "give an agent a payment credential" a reasonable thing to do
- Live inference with NVIDIA Nemotron — the offline stub means the demo always works, even without API keys
Issues, PRs, and ideas are very welcome. Some good starting points:
- Add more sample research topics in
solvent/jobs.py - Improve the Nemotron prompt template in
solvent/service.py - Add a new guardrail policy to
solvent/guardrails.py - Extend the dashboard with charts or new metrics in
solvent/dashboard.py
If SOLVENT gave you ideas, give it a ⭐