Agentic payments for marketplaces: How a smart fridge can shop safely

Stripe's smart-fridge example separates choosing groceries from authorizing payment. In its fictional marketplace, a shopping agent assembles a basket, then a companion app checks the final checkout against household rules covering items, substitutions, delivery and spending. A rules engine produces an approval, escalation or denial before the app requests payment authority. The architecture makes the final merchant total the basis for that decision.

An AI model may help translate a household's wishes into proposed rules, but the household confirms them and deterministic software applies them. An over-budget substitution can therefore trigger a request for approval. The accompanying implementation uses simulated fridge inventory; it illustrates a control boundary for autonomous shopping rather than documenting a deployed household service.