JavaScript API

This JavaScript browser API allows web monetized websites to request small payments from users. Payments are sent to the website by the user's Web Monetization provider.

No files are needed to use this API.

This API is injected by any browser or extension that supports Web Monetization.

This document represents the current API implementation. Note that a draft specification suitable for the W3C standards track is being developed which should NOT be used as a reference for current implementations.

Assumptions

• Your website is monetized.
• The user visiting your site has an account with a Web Monetization provider.
• The user's browser supports Web Monetization natively or through an extension.

Document.monetization

The browser exposes the document.monetization DOM object that implements EventTarget and has a read-only state property. The object allows you to track Web Monetization events and see whether the user visiting your page is web monetized.

document.monetization: EventTarget
document.monetization.state: 'stopped' | 'pending' | 'started'

States

Check the value of document.monetization.state to see if a user is web monetized.

undefined

Until Web Monetization is built into browsers, the state will be undefined unless a polyfill is installed (e.g. a Web Monetization provider's browser extension).

document.monetization === undefined

stopped

The extension is capable of Web Monetization but is not currently sending micropayments, nor trying to.

document.monetization && document.monetization.state === 'stopped'

If your site is adding a meta tag dynamically, then the state begins in stopped. It transitions to pending after the tag is added.

pending

The extension is trying to send payments but has yet to send the first non-zero micropayment.

document.monetization && document.monetization.state === 'pending'

If the extension recognizes your site's meta tag, then the state begins in pending.

started

The extension is currently sending micropayments.

document.monetization && document.monetization.state === 'started'

It can take a few seconds to change from pending to started. The events described below can be used to listen for a change in document.monetization.state.

Browser events

monetizationpending

Determine when Web Monetization is enabled by adding an event listener for monetizationpending to document.monetization.

Event listener

function pendingEventHandler (event) {
  console.log(event)
}

document
  .monetization
  .addEventListener('monetizationpending', pendingEventHandler)

Event object

Field	Value	Details
paymentPointer	String	Your payment account URL. The same value is used as the content in your <meta> tag.
requestId	String	This value is identical to the session ID/monetization ID (UUID v4) generated by the user agent (see Flow).

Example event object

{
  detail: {
    paymentPointer: "$wallet.example.com/alice",
    requestId: "ec4f9dec-0ba4-4029-8f6a-29dc21f2e0ce"
  }
}

monetizationstart

Determine when Web Monetization has started actively paying by adding an event listener for monetizationstart to document.monetization.

Event listener

function startEventHandler (event) {
  console.log(event)
}

document
  .monetization
  .addEventListener('monetizationstart', startEventHandler)

Event object

Field	Value	Details
paymentPointer	String	Your payment account URL. The same value is used as the content in your <meta> tag.
requestId	String	This value is identical to the session ID/monetization ID (UUID v4) generated by the user agent (see Flow).

Example event object

{
  detail: {
    paymentPointer: "$$wallet.example.com/alice",
    requestId: "ec4f9dec-0ba4-4029-8f6a-29dc21f2e0ce"
  }
}

monetizationstop

Determine when Web Monetization has stopped by adding an event listener for monetizationstop to document.monetization.

Event listener

function stopEventHandler (event) {
  console.log(event)
}

document
  .monetization
  .addEventListener('monetizationstop', stopEventHandler)

Event object

Field	Value	Details
paymentPointer	String	The payment account URL for the Web Monetization meta tag at the time when payment has stopped.
requestId	String	The session ID/monetization ID (UUID v4) generated by the browser for the Web Monetization meta tag at the time when payment has stopped.
finalized	Boolean	When true, the monetization tag has been removed or the paymentPointer changed. No more events with this requestId expected.

Example event object

{
  detail: {
    paymentPointer: "$$wallet.example.com/alice",
    requestId: "ec4f9dec-0ba4-4029-8f6a-29dc21f2e0ce",
    finalized: false
  }
}

monetizationprogress

Determine the current status of the payment stream by adding an event listener for monetizationprogress to document.monetization.

Event listener

function progressEventHandler (event) {
  console.log(event)
}

document
  .monetization
  .addEventListener('monetizationprogress', progressEventHandler)

Event object

Field	Value	Details
paymentPointer	String	Your payment account URL. The same value is used as the content in your <meta> tag.
requestId	String	This value is identical to the session ID/monetization ID (UUID v4) generated by the user agent (see Flow).
amount	String	The destination amount received as specified in the Interledger protocol (ILP) packet.
assetCode	String	The code (typically three characters) identifying the amount's unit. A unit, for example, could be a currency (USD, XRP).
assetScale	Number	The number of places past the decimal for the amount. For example, if you have USD with an asset scale of two, then the minimum divisible unit is cents.
receipt	String	base64-encoded STREAM receipt issued by the Web Monetization receiver to the Web Monetization provider as proof of the total amount received in the stream.

There may be multiple STREAM connections for a single requestId. Therefore, a receipt amount may not represent the total amount received for a given requestId.

Example event object

In this example, the total amount of USD received is equal to 7567 × 10^-2 (75.67).

{
  detail: {
    paymentPointer: "$wallet.example.com/alice",
    requestId: "ec4f9dec-0ba4-4029-8f6a-29dc21f2e0ce",
    amount: "7567",
    assetCode: "USD",
    assetScale: 2,
    receipt: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQAAAAAAAAPoAAAAAF5h2Mk="
  }
}

HTTP headers

Web-Monetization-Id

DEPRECATED: The Web-Monetization-Id header is deprecated in favor of receipts.

The Web-Monetization-Id header contains the monetization ID (UUID v4) generated by the browser. The monetization ID is identical to the session ID and the requestId in the monetizationstart browser event.

The header MAY be sent on SPSP queries for Web Monetization and MUST be a UUID v4.

Example header

Web-Monetization-Id: dcd479ad-7d8d-4210-956a-13c14b8c67eb

Iframes

You can monetize an iframe by adding monetization to the iframe's allow attribute. For example:

  <iframe src = "/wm/example.htm" width = "600" height = "800" allow="monetization">

The iframe must have the meta tag in its head in order to monetize. In the example above, example.htm contains the Web Monetization meta tag. No errors will occur from embedding a non-monetized iframe with allow="monetization".

The allow attribute continues to support multiple permissions when using monetization. For example, <...allow="monetization; fullscreen">.

If the parent page contains the Web Monetization meta tag and multiple monetized iframes, then payment is split between all monetized frames. Whether the payment is split evenly is a matter of payment rate. Coil, for example, had split payments evenly; however, the standard doesn't require providers to do so.