payTo
payTo is the field in an x402 payment quote that names the address a payment is sent to. It is part of the challenge the endpoint returns, so whoever controls that endpoint chooses it at the moment of the quote. It can differ between one request and the next.
Each element of an endpoint's accepts array carries the terms of one payment option: the scheme, the network, the asset, the amount and payTo, the receiving address. A client that signs an authorization is authorising a transfer to that address, so payTo is the field that decides who is paid. Which header or body carries the array is a matter of the transport; the field is the same field in either.
Nothing in the protocol pins the value. An endpoint may rotate it for ordinary reasons — a new treasury address, a change of operator — and an endpoint that has been compromised can rotate it too. Both look identical in a single request. What tells them apart is a dated series of readings taken by somebody who was already watching.
→ probe402 archives the quote it read at each check, so an endpoint's payTo and its changes are on the record — open a tracked endpoint from the endpoint list.
Sources
- The x402 specification repositoryx402 Foundation
- Core concepts: HTTP 402x402 project documentation
Related accepts array · facilitator · settlement · transport