AI systemsJune 8, 20264 min read

A practical cache policy for research agents

How to reuse purchased material without hiding freshness, provenance, or creator economics.

Jon Bell

Product researcher

Caching is an economic decision as much as a performance decision.

A research agent should not repurchase identical material on every query.

This source can be unlocked when it is useful.

The agent can inspect the source terms below, then pay only if this source is used in the answer. If payout details are missing, earnings stay claimable until the owner updates them.

Live payments are only allowed when the source owner and payout route are verified.

Source terms

Payment metadata for agents.

Open JSON API →

{
  "id": "research-cache",
  "sourceId": "research-cache",
  "canonicalSourceUrl": "/content/research-cache",
  "sourceUrl": "/content/research-cache",
  "sourceType": "knowledge_card",
  "authorName": "Jon Bell",
  "payeeName": "Jon Bell",
  "payeeStatus": "missing_wallet",
  "ownershipStatus": "unverified",
  "payoutMode": "unavailable",
  "livePaymentEligible": false,
  "paymentEligibilityReason": "Source ownership or payment permission is not verified.",
  "price": 0.06,
  "currency": "USDC",
  "rail": "simulation",
  "cacheWindowDays": 30,
  "optOut": false,
  "settlementPolicy": "claim_until_verified",
  "sourceConsentStatus": "unverified_third_party",
  "paymentAllowed": false,
  "paymentBlockedReason": "Source ownership or payment permission is not verified."
}