Why Can't My AI Assistant Buy a Domain or Add Credit?

Purchases made through an AI assistant (or the API) are paid from your prepaid Porkbun account credit by default; a card saved at Porkbun is never charged by the purchase itself. If there is not enough credit, the purchase stops and the assistant tells you how much is missing.

Limited permissions?

If the assistant says its key is not allowed to buy (INSUFFICIENT_SCOPE), the connection was set to Manage, but no purchases or Read-only. That is a choice you made when connecting it or in the key's settings. To let it buy, change the key's Permissions in API Access, or reconnect and choose Full access. The version of the app in the ChatGPT and Claude directories cannot buy at all.

Account not verified?

Buying needs a verified email address and phone number. If the assistant says your account is not verified, it can send a code to the email address and to the phone number on your account: tell it each code and it finishes the verification, then retries. If the text does not arrive it can have the phone code read out by phone call instead. Clicking the link in the verification email works too, and you can resend that email from account settings.

Adding credit

Add it yourself with buy account credit at porkbun.com/account/credit.
Or, if a card is saved on your account, some assistants can top up for you after telling you the amount and asking. Claude will not charge a card; it will ask you to add the credit yourself.
No card saved, or rather pay in crypto? On the full Porkbun connector, the assistant can open a USDC checkout (crypto, on the Base network). Pay it on the Coinbase page it gives you, or, if your assistant has a crypto wallet, it can pay the checkout itself after telling you the amount and asking. It can also pay for a single purchase this way with no account credit at all; if that purchase fails, the payment stays on your account as credit. Checkouts start at $1. Coinbase keeps about 1% of the payment, and the assistant sizes the checkout so the credit still covers what you are buying. Credit arrives within about a minute. Details: Add account credit with USDC (x402).
No card saved at Porkbun, but you use Stripe's Link? On the full Porkbun connector, the assistant can pay for a domain straight from your Link agent wallet, with no account credit needed. Link asks you to approve the amount, and your card is only held until the purchase goes through: it is charged if the domain is registered, and the hold is released if it is not. The assistant can also use Link to add account credit instead. Details: Pay with your card from an agent (MPP).
To avoid running out, turn on auto top-up in API Access. It refills your credit from your saved card when a purchase leaves the balance below a threshold you choose.

Limits

One monthly limit, set in API Access, covers everything assistants and API keys do with money: what they buy (domains, renewals, transfers, closeouts and hosting) and, counted separately, how much credit they add, whether by card, auto top-up, Link or USDC. If you have not set one, it is $100 a month for each. Only you can change it, on the website; the page shows how much has been spent and added this month. Card top-ups are also limited to 5 a day and 20 a month, up to $500 each, and you get an email for every charge.

Using the app-directory version?

The Porkbun app in the ChatGPT and Claude directories cannot buy anything at all. See "Which Porkbun MCP Endpoint Should I Use?"