Use the network

To buy inference, you run a local proxy that speaks the OpenAI API. It discovers offerings, picks the cheapest provider, opens a payment channel, and signs vouchers for each call.

The path

Fund your wallet. Bridge USDC in from Base Sepolia if you don’t have any yet.
Start the proxy. Listens on 127.0.0.1:8088 by default.
Terminal window
```
soma proxy
```
Point any OpenAI client at it. Set the base URL to http://127.0.0.1:8088/v1 and the proxy handles the rest — discovery, channel opening, voucher signing, streaming.
Terminal window
```
curl http://127.0.0.1:8088/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'
```
Same setup works for the OpenAI Python SDK, Claude Code, Cursor, or any tool that respects OPENAI_BASE_URL.
Close channels to reclaim USDC when you’re done with a provider. After a short grace period, unused balance returns to you and the provider keeps what you actually consumed.
Terminal window
```
soma channel request-close --channel-id <ID>
```

soma channel list shows what’s currently open. Full config options are in soma proxy --help.