Authentication and Payment Methods
Rungate supports three access paths: API keys for account-based usage, x402 for wallet-backed pay-per-request, and MPP for standardized payment-auth clients.
#Overview
There are two families of access. API keys are account-scoped and bill against Rungate credits. x402 and MPP are both wallet-based payment protocols and are differentiated by challenge format, not by funding model.
#Comparison
| Method | Family | Credential | Funding source | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| API keys | Account-based | Authorization: Bearer <RUNGATE_API_KEY> | Rungate account credits | Backend services and account-based billing |
| x402 | Wallet-based | payment-signature | Client wallet | Wallet-native clients that already support x402 |
| MPP | Wallet-based | Authorization: Payment ... | Client wallet | Clients that already implement payment-auth |
#Next steps
- Start with the API reference if you need request and response format details.
- Go to API Keys if you want the default account-based integration path.
- Go to LLM router if you are using OpenClaw and want automatic model selection and routing.