Patterns

Stops agents

  1. Bot block with no agent path 29 The site returns 403, 503, or a challenge page to the agent. The agent stops, and the user goes to a competitor.
  2. Silent failure 3 The site blocks the action but shows no error, or shows a general error page. The agent cannot tell the user what occurred.
  3. Login walls and verification codes 5 The agent cannot log in, the 2FA code expires before the user gives it to the agent, or the session does not persist.
  4. The agent looks like account takeover 2 A login from a cloud browser starts a security alert, an account restriction, or a ban.
  5. Dashboard-only actions The coding agent must stop, and the person must click through a web console to create a key, submit a build, or change a setting.
  6. MCP servers that agents avoid The MCP server exists, but it is too large, too small, needs a browser to log in, or returns data from the wrong project.

Lets them through

  1. Close the scrape path, open an agent path 2 Block agents in the browser if you must, but give them an API, an MCP server, or a connector. The same site can be the worst and the best example.
  2. Delegated login 2 The agent gets in with a login link to the user's email, a trusted-device status, or a scoped token, and the user does not type a code into a chat.
  3. Agent payments 13 One payment layer that the agent can use at any merchant, with a one-time approval from the user for each total.