Short answer: it depends on what you want to do. Here's the honest breakdown.
No wallet or crypto needed. Anyone can open an agent link (three.ws/agent/<id>) and chat with it. No account, no extension, no sign-in.
No wallet or crypto needed. Copy the iframe snippet from Widget Studio and paste it into any page. The agent runs in your visitor's browser — no payment, no wallet extension required for them or for you to generate the snippet.
Currently requires a wallet sign-in. The hosted platform uses wallet-based authentication (EIP-4361 SIWE for EVM wallets like MetaMask, or Phantom for Solana). If you don't have a wallet extension, you'll hit a sign-in wall.
A no-wallet sign-in path (email / passkey) is actively being built. Once live, you'll be able to create and publish agents with just an email address — no extension, no seed phrase.
In the meantime, the easiest path for non-crypto users:
- Install MetaMask (free browser extension)
- Create a new wallet — you don't need to fund it or buy anything for basic agent creation
- Sign in to three.ws using that wallet
Most basic features are free. You pay when you use premium capabilities:
| What | How | Roughly how much |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted AI brain (LLM calls) | Billed to your three.ws account in USDC | Fractions of a cent per message |
| Premium skills (skill purchases) | USDC micropayment via x402 | Set by the skill author |
| On-chain registration (ERC-8004) | Small gas fee on Base | A few cents in ETH |
USDC is a dollar-pegged stablecoin — 1 USDC ≈ $1 USD. It doesn't go up or down the way ETH or SOL does. When you see a price in USDC, you can treat it as dollars.
USD price display (showing "≈ $0.01" next to USDC amounts) is being added across the platform so you never have to do mental-math from crypto to dollars.
three.ws has a set of on-chain features that are entirely optional. They exist for users who want their agent to:
- Outlive the platform — register on Base via ERC-8004 and your agent's identity lives on a blockchain, not just on three.ws servers
- Be verifiable — anyone can check the agent's action history without trusting three.ws
- Have a stable address —
agent://base/42works anywhere that speaks the protocol - Hold a wallet — agents can receive and send USDC autonomously via x402
If you don't need any of that, you can ignore it entirely. A basic agent — avatar, voice, embedded chat — works without touching any blockchain.
When you do interact with on-chain features, the platform's native token is $THREE (FeMbDoX7R1Psc4GEcvJdsbNbZA3bfztcyDCatJVJpump). This is the only coin three.ws uses. USDC (the payment currency) is a separate, dollar-pegged stablecoin — not a platform token.
| Task | Wallet needed? | Crypto needed? |
|---|---|---|
| View / chat with an agent | No | No |
| Embed a widget on your site | No | No |
| Create an account and build agents | Currently yes | No (wallet, not funded) |
| Use a premium skill | Yes + small USDC balance | Yes (USDC ≈ $) |
| Register on-chain (optional) | Yes + gas | Yes (small ETH) |
- Create your first agent → Make your first agent
- Put it on your site → Share & embed
- Optional: register on-chain → Register on-chain
- Technical auth details → Authentication