LeptonStream

Get paid by the second on the live stream you already run.

LeptonStream is a per-second support layer for Owncast, the open-source self-hosted live-streaming server. Viewers stream value to a creator continuously while they watch — metered and settled in real time by an autonomous payment agent — instead of dropping the occasional lump-sum tip. Creators keep their existing Owncast instance; there's no platform to move to.

It's built on Circle Gateway nanopayments and x402 on Arc, but a creator never has to care about that — they paste one snippet and start getting paid.

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How it works

1. A creator adds LeptonStream to their Owncast page — either a one-line overlay snippet, or by sharing a support link. Their payee address is their own connected wallet (self-custody; no account to create).
2. A viewer connects their wallet and funds a capped session with one signature. Because gasless per-second payment signs an authorization every few seconds — far too often for a human to approve each time — the real wallet delegates to a session key that signs autonomously, but can never spend past the ceiling the viewer sets.
3. The payment agent meters per second while the viewer watches. It reads real playback health: if the stream buffers, stalls, or the viewer tabs away, the agent throttles spending; when playback recovers, it resumes.
4. Value settles on Arc in tiny batches (~$0.005 each) via Circle Gateway — gasless for the viewer, verifiable on testnet.arcscan.app.
5. The creator withdraws their Gateway balance back to their wallet.

The agent's spending logic is deterministic code with a hard ceiling — never an LLM — so it cannot overspend.

Architecture

• core/ — the payment agent (per-second metering, hysteresis throttle, hard ceiling, batched settlement) and settlement adapters. Engine-agnostic.
• lib/connect.ts — connected (injected) wallet: identity, Arc add/switch, key-free balance reads, session funding, two-step withdrawal.
• lib/wallet.ts — the capped session signer (autonomous per-second signing).
• lib/owncast.ts — reads an Owncast instance's public status / HLS feed.
• app/api/pay/[stream] — the x402 facilitator; settles signed batches via Circle's BatchFacilitatorClient.
• app/api/balance/[addr] — public, CORS-enabled "received" lookup for the embed.
• public/embed.js — the drop-in Owncast overlay.
• app/watch/[creator] — the viewer experience (embeds the creator's live feed).
• app/studio — the creator setup + earnings dashboard.

The EIP-712 signing schema and Gateway Wallet ABI are derived directly from the @circle-fin/x402-batching SDK, so authorizations and contract calls match Circle's own client exactly.

Run locally

npm install --legacy-peer-deps
npm run dev

Deployment and the live testnet walkthrough are in DEPLOY.md.