{"uid":"cap_ESpKivLgQ9qpPca7BMu6q","slug":"how-is-url-preflight-safety-check-1a917030","name":"how.is URL Preflight Safety Check","description":"Check whether a URL is safe to fetch, read, sign in to or pay before you do: domain age, look-alike, blocklists, HTTPS, robots.txt for your agent and the site's own x402 price.","url":"https://how.is/v1/url/preflight?utm_source=zero.xyz","method":"POST","headers":{},"bodySchema":{"type":"object","properties":{"ua":{"type":"string","maxLength":512,"description":"The user agent you will fetch with; robots.txt and our bot policy are judged for it. Defaults to the User-Agent of this request."},"url":{"type":"string","format":"uri","maxLength":2000,"description":"The http(s) URL you are about to fetch"}}},"responseSchema":{"type":"json","example":{"data":{"_shape":"data: verdict (likely_safe/caution/high_risk/inconclusive), risk_score, safe_to{fetch,read,sign_in,pay} each yes/caution/no/unknown, actions{...: {answer, why}}, reasons[{risk, why}], domain_age_days, newborn, lookalike, https_valid, robots{allowed, token, status}, http{status, content_type, redirects}, x402{offers[{price_usd, network, pay_to}]}, bot_policy, not_checked[]."},"result":"URL pre-flight for the requested subject","receipt":{"rail":"x402","tool":"preflight","charge_usd":0.005,"settlement_tx":"0x…"}}},"example":null,"exampleRequest":null,"tags":["x402"],"displayCostAmount":"0.005","displayCostAsset":"USDC","priceDynamic":false,"priceHint":null,"priceStatus":"priced","priceSource":"probe","requiresHandshake":false,"reviewCount":0,"rating":{"score":"0.00","successRate":"0.00","reviews":0,"stars":null,"state":"unrated"},"availabilityStatus":"unknown","priceObserved":null,"sessionDeposit":null,"pricing":{"kind":"static","summary":"$0.005/call","primary":{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.005","per":"call","confidence":"exact"},"accepted":[{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.005","per":"call","confidence":"exact"}]},"paymentMethods":[{"uid":"pm_S74_b6Uh_8uj-ZoKgC7lD","protocol":"x402","methodType":"crypto","chain":"base","mode":"charge","costAmount":"0.005","costPer":"request","priority":0,"asset":"0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913","unit":"request","depositMicros":null,"planRef":null}],"brandName":null,"brandSlug":null,"brandBaseUrl":null,"brandDocsUrl":null,"whatItDoes":"Runs a multi-signal safety pre-flight check on a URL before an agent fetches, reads, signs in, or pays — returning a verdict, risk score, robots.txt compliance, HTTPS validity, blocklist hits, domain age, lookalike detection, and x402 pricing.","exampleAgentPrompt":"Before you fetch anything from https://checkout.acme-store.io and potentially sign in or pay, run a preflight safety check — I want to know the verdict, risk score, whether it's safe to pay, and whether your bot is allowed by robots.txt.","exampleUseCases":[{"title":"Safe-to-pay check before checkout","prompt":"I'm about to send payment to https://shop.nikke-shoes.com — before you do anything, check if that URL is safe to pay on, look for lookalike or phishing signals, and tell me the risk verdict."},{"title":"Agent fetch permission verification","prompt":"Check whether https://data.competitor-tracker.io is safe for you to fetch with your GPTBot user agent — I need to know if robots.txt allows it and whether the domain has any blocklist or newborn-domain red flags."},{"title":"Pre-login safety screening","prompt":"Before I log in to https://mybank-secure-portal.net, run a safety preflight on that URL and tell me if it's really safe to sign in — domain age, HTTPS validity, lookalike warnings, and the overall risk score."}],"resultDescription":"A JSON object containing: a top-level verdict (likely_safe / caution / high_risk / inconclusive), numeric risk_score, per-action safe_to flags (fetch / read / sign_in / pay each as yes/caution/no/unknown), per-action reasons with explanations, domain_age_days, newborn flag, lookalike flag, https_valid, robots.txt compliance and token for the given user agent, HTTP status and redirect chain, x402 payment offers (price_usd, network, pay_to) if present, bot policy details, and a list of checks that were not performed. Also includes a payment receipt confirming the $0.005 USDC charge.","failureModes":["Invalid or malformed URL returns a 4xx error","Private/localhost URLs may be rejected or return inconclusive","Some signals (blocklist, domain age) may be unavailable, listed in not_checked[]","robots.txt unreachable results in unknown robots status","DNS resolution failure for the target domain yields inconclusive verdict","Payment failure (insufficient x402 balance) prevents the check from completing"],"whenToPreferThis":"Use this endpoint whenever an AI agent is about to interact with an unknown or user-supplied URL — especially before fetching content, following redirects, authenticating, or making payments. It is the right choice when you need a single consolidated safety signal rather than calling separate blocklist, WHOIS, HTTPS, and robots.txt services individually. Particularly valuable in agentic workflows where acting on a malicious URL could cause financial loss or security compromise.","instructions":null,"reviewSummary":null,"reviewSummaryHighlights":null,"reviewSummaryConcerns":null,"reviewSummaryGeneratedAt":null,"activationCount":0,"lastUsedAt":null,"lastSuccessfullyRanAt":null,"lastHealthCheckAt":"2026-10-31T18:35:49.820Z","isFirstParty":false,"canonicalSlug":"how-is-url-preflight-safety-check-1a917030"}