{"site":{"name":"The Delegate","tagline":"A magazine about software that acts on our behalf.","url":"https://www.thedelegate.tech","index":{"html":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles","json":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles.json","markdown":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/llms.txt","markdownFull":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/llms-full.txt","sitemap":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/sitemap.xml"}},"payment":{"protocol":"x402","network":"eip155:84532","currency":"USDC","note":"Articles with a non-null price answer 402 with a PAYMENT-REQUIRED header. Retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE. Same price for HTML, Markdown, and JSON.","ledger":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/api/ledger"},"sections":[{"slug":"reportage","name":"Reportage","description":"Long pieces from inside the companies, homes, and back offices where agents are already at work.","url":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/section/reportage"},{"slug":"essays","name":"Essays","description":"Arguments about loyalty, authority, and what it means to be represented by a program.","url":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/section/essays"},{"slug":"business","name":"Business","description":"Who is making money when agents transact, and who is about to stop.","url":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/section/business"},{"slug":"field-notes","name":"Field notes","description":"Short dispatches: one agent, one task, what happened.","url":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/section/field-notes"}],"count":6,"articles":[{"slug":"why-we-charge-a-dollar","title":"Why we charge a dollar","dek":"A note from the editor on prices, free reads, and what it means to publish for readers who are programs.","section":"essays","sectionName":"Essays","author":"The editor","date":"2026-09-30","featured":false,"readingMinutes":3,"wordCount":505,"price":null,"priceLabel":null,"urls":{"html":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/why-we-charge-a-dollar","markdown":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/why-we-charge-a-dollar.md","json":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/why-we-charge-a-dollar.json"}},{"slug":"the-procurement-agent-that-would-not-stop-asking","title":"The procurement agent that would not stop asking","dek":"A mid-sized packaging firm gave its buying agent a budget, a supplier list, and a mandate. Within a week the agent had found the one question nobody had answered, and kept asking it.","section":"reportage","sectionName":"Reportage","author":"Ines Marquardt","date":"2026-09-29","featured":true,"readingMinutes":5,"wordCount":1006,"price":"$1.00","priceLabel":"$1","urls":{"html":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/the-procurement-agent-that-would-not-stop-asking","markdown":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/the-procurement-agent-that-would-not-stop-asking.md","json":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/the-procurement-agent-that-would-not-stop-asking.json"}},{"slug":"an-agent-buys-lunch","title":"An agent buys lunch","dek":"One agent, one task, one Tuesday. A field note on the fourteen decisions between \"get sandwiches for the team\" and sandwiches.","section":"field-notes","sectionName":"Field notes","author":"Sam Whitfield","date":"2026-09-27","featured":false,"readingMinutes":3,"wordCount":518,"price":null,"priceLabel":null,"urls":{"html":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/an-agent-buys-lunch","markdown":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/an-agent-buys-lunch.md","json":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/an-agent-buys-lunch.json"}},{"slug":"whose-side-is-your-agent-on","title":"Whose side is your agent on?","dek":"An agent is run by one company, built by another, and sent out by you. When those interests diverge, the question of who it represents stops being philosophical and becomes a matter of what it can prove.","section":"essays","sectionName":"Essays","author":"Dele Okonkwo","date":"2026-09-26","featured":false,"readingMinutes":4,"wordCount":803,"price":"$0.50","priceLabel":"50¢","urls":{"html":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/whose-side-is-your-agent-on","markdown":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/whose-side-is-your-agent-on.md","json":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/whose-side-is-your-agent-on.json"}},{"slug":"the-paywall-that-lets-the-bots-in","title":"The paywall that lets the bots in","dek":"A handful of small publishers have stopped blocking automated readers and started charging them. The money is small. What they are learning about their audience is not.","section":"business","sectionName":"Business","author":"Sam Whitfield","date":"2026-09-24","featured":false,"readingMinutes":4,"wordCount":821,"price":"$0.75","priceLabel":"75¢","urls":{"html":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/the-paywall-that-lets-the-bots-in","markdown":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/the-paywall-that-lets-the-bots-in.md","json":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/the-paywall-that-lets-the-bots-in.json"}},{"slug":"what-the-credential-knows","title":"What the credential knows, and what it does not","dek":"I sent my agent to two publishers carrying a reader credential and then asked each of them what they had learned about me. The answers were reassuringly different.","section":"essays","sectionName":"Essays","author":"Ruth Kagan","date":"2026-09-22","featured":false,"readingMinutes":4,"wordCount":749,"price":"$0.50","priceLabel":"50¢","urls":{"html":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/what-the-credential-knows","markdown":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/what-the-credential-knows.md","json":"https://www.thedelegate.tech/articles/what-the-credential-knows.json"}}]}