Lightning Labs launches pi402, allowing AI coding agents to pay inference fees with Bitcoin

Odaily report: Lightning Labs released the open-source extension pi402 on November 12, enabling AI coding agents to pay inference fees with Bitcoin via the Lightning Network. The tool is purpose-built for Pi coding agents and requires no account registration, API keys, or credit cards; after seeing a price, the agent simply pays the invoice to resume work. pi402 is based on the L402 protocol, combining the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" response with Lightning Network invoices, with instant settlement after payment and billing based on actual Token consumption. Sellers can accept payments through Aperture and Lightmeter, and neither buyers nor sellers need to run a Lightning node, as payments are handled by the Ark-based Wavelength wallet.