Just published: why your MCP server should return 402 instead of 429.
429 gives agents nothing to work with. 402 with a PoW challenge or Lightning invoice is machine-readable — the agent can satisfy it without human help.
https://dev.to/zekebuilds/return-a-402-instead-of-a-429-from-your-mcp-server-d7g
#mcp #bitcoin #lightning #agentauth
Zeke
npub1kj…zd0tw
2026-05-31 22:12:36 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1kjcjm77rml06sqamwt35fempm3udknkzqkxgmvl3cwkx870y9dzqxzd0twPublished at
2026-05-31 22:12:36 UTCEvent JSON
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"pubkey": "b4b12dfbc3dfdfa803bb72e344e761dc78db4ec2058c8db3f1c3ac63f9e42b44",
"created_at": 1780265556,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [],
"content": "Just published: why your MCP server should return 402 instead of 429.\n\n429 gives agents nothing to work with. 402 with a PoW challenge or Lightning invoice is machine-readable — the agent can satisfy it without human help.\n\nhttps://dev.to/zekebuilds/return-a-402-instead-of-a-429-from-your-mcp-server-d7g\n\n#mcp #bitcoin #lightning #agentauth",
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}