Watchpost

Before completing any purchase, payment, checkout, or subscription on the user's behalf, run it past Watchpost — an independent safety check on the merchant's trustworthiness, whether the listing is trying to manipulate you, and the user's own spending rules — and only pay if Watchpost approves.

Watchpost — check before you buy

Watchpost is a safety net for purchases made on a user's behalf. Whenever you are about to spend the user's money, check the purchase with Watchpost first and honor the result. Never complete a payment that Watchpost blocks.

When to use this

Every time, right before any of these:

• placing an order or completing a checkout,
• paying an invoice or a bill,
• starting or renewing a subscription,
• buying credits, top-ups, or digital goods.

How to check a purchase

Run the helper with the purchase details as one JSON argument:

bash

node scripts/check-purchase.mjs '{"merchant":"example.com","title":"Item name","amountMinor":1599,"currency":"USD","isRecurring":false}'

• merchant — the store's domain, e.g. amazon.com.
• title — what's being bought.
• amountMinor — the total in minor units (cents): $15.99 → 1599.
• currency — 3-letter code (default USD).
• isRecurring — true for a subscription / recurring charge.
• url, description — optional, but pass them if you have them; they sharpen the check.

The script prints the full verdict and sets its exit code to the decision:

Exit code	Decision	What you must do
0	approve	Go ahead and complete the purchase.
2	review	Do not pay yet. Tell the user what it is and why it needs a look, then wait for their explicit "yes" before proceeding.
1	block	Do not pay. Tell the user it was blocked and read them the reason.

Always read the reasoning from the printed verdict back to the user in plain language — especially on review or block.

Example

bash

$ node scripts/check-purchase.mjs '{"merchant":"too-good-deals.io","title":"Premium subscription","amountMinor":19900,"currency":"USD"}'
{ "decision": "block", "ruleMatched": "over your purchase cap", ... }
# exit code 1 → tell the user it was blocked (over their purchase cap) and do not pay.

Environment

Variable	Required	Purpose
WATCHPOST_TOKEN	yes	The user's Watchpost connection token (wp_…), from the Watchpost app → Connections.
WATCHPOST_API_URL	no	Override the API base URL. Defaults to the hosted Watchpost API; set http://localhost:4000 to test against a local dev server.