An API for AI agents to order physical work

Try it, with no key

A job an agent might get: a sample kit to each buyer on a list. The agent sends the request as the person put it:

curl -sX POST https://api.etabli.io/v1/quotes/preview \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -d '{"request":"Pack a sample kit for each of the 150 buyers on our list: three of our hot sauces, a printed card and a gift box. Ship one to each buyer within 3 weeks. Up to $28 a kit."}'

const response = await fetch("https://api.etabli.io/v1/quotes/preview", {  method: "POST",  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },  body: JSON.stringify({    request: "Pack a sample kit for each of the 150 buyers on our list: three of our hot sauces, a printed card and a gift box. Ship one to each buyer within 3 weeks. Up to $28 a kit.",  }),});const plan = await response.json();for (const leg of plan.legs) {  console.log(leg.key, leg.title, `${leg.questions.length} open questions`);}

import requests plan = requests.post(    "https://api.etabli.io/v1/quotes/preview",    json={"request": "Pack a sample kit for each of the 150 buyers on our list: three of our hot sauces, a printed card and a gift box. Ship one to each buyer within 3 weeks. Up to $28 a kit."},    timeout=120,).json()for leg in plan["legs"]:    print(leg["key"], leg["title"], len(leg["questions"]), "open questions")

When the person wants workshops to bid, draft it, still with no key: POST /v1/projects with the same request and answers returns a line to show them, with a claim link. They check the plan and publish it on etabli.io. Draft and claim has the calls.

The plan it returns

The agent's loop

1. Preview the request, with no key. Read the legs and their open questions.
2. Ask the person the questions (this plan has 5 open questions); each comes with a suggested answer they can take. Preview again with their answers.
3. Draft it with no key, and show the person the claim line it returns, word for word. Keep the project key: nothing goes to workshops until the person claims and publishes the project on etabli.io.
4. Follow it with the project key: next says what to do now, and Retry-After when to look again. Bids take days; the person gets a status link, and Établi contacts them to confirm the offers they choose and arrange payment. (A company with a buyer key can run this part itself: publish, compare offers and award a contract per leg.)
5. Place orders against each contract. Here, that's one per buyer on the list, each with that buyer's address and an idempotency key, so a retry never sends a second kit.

# One kit to one buyer on the list. One call per buyer.curl -sX POST https://api.etabli.io/v1/contracts/$CONTRACT_ID/orders \  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ETABLI_API_KEY" \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -H "Idempotency-Key: kit-buyer-0042" \  -d '{    "quantity": 1,    "reference": "buyer-0042",    "address": { "name": "Alex Kim", "line1": "100 Main St", "city": "Springfield", "region": "IL", "postalCode": "62701" }  }'

// One kit to one buyer on the list. One call per buyer.const order = await fetch(`https://api.etabli.io/v1/contracts/${contractId}/orders`, {  method: "POST",  headers: {    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ETABLI_API_KEY}`,    "Content-Type": "application/json",    "Idempotency-Key": "kit-buyer-0042", // a retry never orders twice  },  body: JSON.stringify({    "quantity": 1,    "reference": "buyer-0042",    "address": {      "name": "Alex Kim",      "line1": "100 Main St",      "city": "Springfield",      "region": "IL",      "postalCode": "62701"    }  }),}).then((response) => response.json());

Four ways in

Rules for agents

• Show the person the claim line word for word, and never claim a project for them: only they can publish it.
• Ask the person before sending their name and email anywhere (a draft's contact, POST /v1/quote-requests, or the request_firm_prices tool).
• Confirm with the person before awarding a contract or placing an order: both commit real money.
• Don't quote a price before the bids are in. Établi has no price list, and a preview has no price of its own.
• Send an Idempotency-Key with every order.
• Money is integer US cents. Errors are {"error": {"code", "message", "details"}}; a 429 says when to retry in Retry-After; a 422 policy_violation is work Établi won't take.
• Allow up to a minute for a preview: Établi writes the plan when you ask.

Use it from your agent

Add Établi's MCP server (https://api.etabli.io/mcp, no key) and the same steps become tools: preview_quote, create_project (a draft the person claims on etabli.io) and get_project; with a buyer key, awarding and ordering. Or install the skill, which tells an agent when Établi fits.

• Claude Code

  claude mcp add --transport http etabli https://api.etabli.io/mcp

• Codex

  codex mcp add etabli --url https://api.etabli.io/mcp

  Or add it to ~/.codex/config.toml, which the Codex CLI, the IDE extension and the ChatGPT desktop app share:

  ~/.codex/config.toml

  [mcp_servers.etabli]url = "https://api.etabli.io/mcp"

• Cursor

  Add to Cursor

  Or open cursor.com/install-mcp in a browser.

• VS Code (Copilot)

  Add to VS Code

  Or run code --add-mcp '{"name":"etabli","type":"http","url":"https://api.etabli.io/mcp"}'.

• Gemini CLI

  gemini mcp add --transport http etabli https://api.etabli.io/mcp

• Skill (70+ agents)

  npx skills add https://etabli.io

  Installs Établi's skill, order-physical-work, into the agents on your machine: when to use Établi and how to order with it.

Every other client, and the tools: the MCP server. The API: docs.

Use something else when…

• The thing is already for sale. Buy it: through the store's own API, or agentic checkout (OpenAI and Stripe's ACP, Google's UCP).
• It's a gift and you don't have the addresses. A gifting API such as Goody sends a gift that the recipient accepts and addresses themselves.
• It's your design on a stock product, made one at a time. Print-on-demand (Printful, Printify) has fixed products and prices and ships each order as it comes.
• It's a letter or a postcard. Print-and-mail APIs such as Lob are built for that.

Choosing between these? Three ways an AI agent can buy physical goods.

Good to know

• Orders go to US addresses and are priced in US dollars. Workshops can be in any country a leg allows.
• Prices come from workshops' bids, with Établi's fee included in each offer. Établi has no price list; the most you say you'd pay caps the bids. Pricing.
• When no workshop on Établi fits a leg yet, Établi finds suitable ones and asks them to bid, which can take a few days. A person at Établi approves every message first.
• An agent needs no account: it previews the plan and drafts the project, and the person claims and publishes it on etabli.io. Buyer keys are for companies that run the whole loop through the API themselves: request API access.
• Online payment isn't live yet: while Établi is in early access, it arranges payment with each buyer and workshop directly.

More guides

• Dropship houseplants in your own pots
• Printed packaging, split across warehouses
• Get products manufactured
• Three ways agents buy physical goods

The API, auth and every endpoint: docs. For agents, everything in one file: llms-full.txt.