CrewAI

Microtoll + CrewAI

Pay-per-use APIs for your CrewAI agents

CrewAI is a multi-agent orchestration framework. Microtoll gives your crews access to paid APIs (web search, transcription, image generation...) with automatic pay-per-use billing — no API keys, no subscriptions.

What is Microtoll?

Microtoll is a pay-per-use API gateway for AI agents. Instead of managing separate API keys and subscriptions for every service, your agent accesses paid APIs through a single MCP server — web search, transcription, image generation, LLMs, and more.

You only pay for what you use. No monthly subscriptions, no per-API signups. One wallet, all APIs.

Step 1: Set up your wallet

Microtoll payments use Spark — a Bitcoin layer that enables instant, near-zero-fee micropayments. Think of it like a prepaid balance: you load funds once, and your agent spends fractions of a cent per API call.

Quick setup (2 minutes)

Run

pip install microtoll && microtoll setup

Choose option 1 (Spark wallet) — the wizard generates a wallet for you

Add funds (see below), then set your secret key:

export SPARK_MNEMONIC="your 24 words here"

How to fund your wallet

Your wallet needs a small amount of funds (a few cents to a few dollars) to start calling APIs. Choose the option that matches your situation:

I've never used crypto before

No problem. Buy a small amount of Bitcoin on a service that supports Lightning withdrawals, then pay a Lightning invoice generated by your wallet. First-time setup requires identity verification (KYC) — allow 15-30 minutes. Once verified, future top-ups take under 2 minutes.

Run:

microtoll fund --lightning 5000

(generates a Lightning invoice for 5000 sats ≈ $5)

•

Strike

— US, EU, UK, 65+ countries — credit/debit card

•

Cash App

— US only — debit card

•

Mt Pelerin

— 171 countries, no KYC under $200 — credit/debit card

•

Coinbase

— 100+ countries — credit/debit card

In the app, go to Send/Withdraw → paste the Lightning invoice from step 1 → confirm — done!

I have USDC (Solana, Base, or Arbitrum)

Bridge your USDC to Spark in one step:

Get your Spark address:

microtoll fund --show-address

Go to

joltz.io

— paste your address and send USDC

I already have a Lightning wallet (Phoenix, Alby, Strike, Cash App...)

Send sats directly to your Microtoll wallet:

Run:

microtoll fund --lightning 1000

(to receive 1000 sats)

Pay the displayed invoice from your wallet — done!

New to this? A quick glossary:

Wallet = a small program that holds your funds (like a prepaid account). Mnemonic = 24 secret words that are your wallet's password — keep them safe, never share them. Sats = the smallest unit of Bitcoin (1 sat = 0.00000001 BTC). Spark = the payment network Microtoll uses for instant transfers.

Alternative backends: LNbits (cloud Lightning wallet), NWC (Alby Hub), Phoenixd (self-hosted). Run microtoll setup to see all options.

Step 2: Install microtoll-mcp

pip install microtoll-mcp

Or use uvx (no install needed): uvx microtoll-mcp

Step 3: Configure MCP in CrewAI

CrewAI supports MCP tools natively since v0.100+.

Add Microtoll as an MCP server in your crew configuration.

# crewai.yaml or in Python:
from crewai import Agent, Crew, Task
from crewai.tools import MCPServerAdapter

microtoll = MCPServerAdapter(
    server_params={
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": ["microtoll-mcp"],
        "env": {
            "SPARK_MNEMONIC": "your-24-word-mnemonic",
            "MICROTOLL_CONSUMER_TOKEN": "mct_...",  # optional, for Travel Rule services
        },
    }
)

researcher = Agent(
    role="Web Researcher",
    goal="Find accurate, up-to-date information",
    tools=[microtoll],
)

task = Task(
    description="Search for the latest AI agent frameworks in 2026",
    agent=researcher,
)

crew = Crew(agents=[researcher], tasks=[task])
result = crew.kickoff()

Available tools

Once configured, your agent has access to these MCP tools:

search_apis

Discover APIs with pricing and health status

estimate_cost

Check the price before paying

call_api

Call any API — payment is automatic

get_wallet_status

Check wallet balance and credits

get_spending_history

View spending history and summary

check_health

Check API health before calling (free)

request_api

Request a new API to be added

identify_consumer

Step 4: Verify it works

Ask your agent to search for something. It should:

Call search_apis to find the right API

Call estimate_cost to check the price

Call call_api to get results (payment is automatic)

Not using MCP? See SDK & direct integration options →