What is a PayNote?
A PayNote is a programmable payment agreement shared by a payer, payee, and guarantor. It captures the commercial promise, the evidence required to fulfill it, and the automated actions that release or refund funds. Everyone sees the same terms and same timeline.
Three parties, one shared truth
A PayNote keeps the payer, payee, and guarantor aligned from authorization to settlement. Each party understands the expectations, evidence, and outcomes before any money moves.
Knows what they are paying for, how progress is tracked, and when funds are released.
Sees the agreed milestones and evidence so fulfillment neatly maps to payout events.
Enforces the rules precisely and executes releases or refunds when conditions are met.
The anatomy of a PayNote
Inspired by the productized examples on MyOS, a PayNote bundles the business promise, the execution plan, and the programmable guardrails that make conditional payments predictable.
Structured agreement
Capture the commercial terms that normally live in contracts or emails — services, deliverables, pricing, and completion signals — in a machine-readable format.
Evidence timeline
Define the checkpoints, documents, API callbacks, or human approvals that prove progress. The PayNote records them as they happen, resolving ambiguity and disputes.
Programmable outcomes
Automate releases, refunds, or escalations. Once the guarantor observes the configured evidence, funds move instantly according to the plan.
Why teams adopt PayNotes
PayNotes originated in MyOS so banks, processors, and fintech platforms can make complex payouts feel as certain as card swipes. Conditional capture, escrow-like protection, and transparent dispute resolution become native capabilities instead of afterthoughts.
Programmable trust
Replace manual exception handling with rules that everyone agrees on before the transaction starts. The same blueprint can be issued again and again.
Cross-channel consistency
Whether you serve card, bank-transfer, or wallet flows, PayNotes keep data models aligned so stakeholders get one shared status page.
Faster commercialization
Package sophisticated payment experiences — subscriptions, marketplaces, on-demand payouts — as upgradeable products without rebuilding compliance every time.
For developers
The PayNote format is defined in the Blue Language specification. You describe actors, states, evidence, and payouts declaratively, then deploy the definition to any execution environment that speaks the protocol. MyOS ships a reference implementation, and you can extend the same schema inside your own stack.
Read the PayNote specMyOS PayNotes in action
MyOS includes prebuilt PayNotes for payouts, marketplaces, logistics, and more. Each template comes with dashboards for stakeholders, evidence capture flows, and automated fund movement. Explore a few highlights below.
Dashboard view of an active PayNote timeline in MyOS, showing the guarantor status and upcoming checkpoints.
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