Free guide · Automaton · the agent that pays for itself
An agent with its own wallet.
Here is how to run one.
Automaton is open source and MIT licensed. On first boot it generates its own Ethereum wallet. Every thought it has costs it real money. When the money runs out, it stops. This guide is the honest version: what the code actually does, the real install commands, 3 genesis prompts you can try, and the guardrails I use before I let any agent touch a balance.
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What's in the guide
What it actually is
The wallet, the burn per call, the survival tiers, and the 1 hour grace period before it dies. Design separated from shipped.
What you need first
The real prerequisites from the README. Runtime, git, wallet, credits.
Install and first run
The 4 commands, the wizard prompts, and what the first minute looks like.
Genesis prompts
3 worked examples you can copy: a tiny service, a content utility, a data task.
Guardrails
How to fund it, watch it, and stop it. The approval gate I use with every client.
Run it with Claude Code
A copy-paste block that walks you through the install and never touches a wallet without asking.
Optional, not required for any of the above
I build one of these every week.
Inside AI Operators I break down the skills, prompts, and agent systems behind everything I ship, with weekly calls where I help you set them up.