Upstream
PayPal AI Hackathon · runs on the PayPal sandbox

Your AI coding agent pays back the open source it builds with.

Agents install, import and read open-source packages all day, but they never sponsor anyone. In January 2026, Tailwind Labs laid off 75% of its engineers after AI tools sent people around the docs that used to sell its paid product.

How it works

Or install it in Claude Code: npx upstream-pay init

01
Your agent codes
A Claude Code session installs and imports packages.
02
AI weighs the work
Gemini judges how much each package mattered.
03
Maintainers get paid
Your budget goes out through PayPal Payouts.
Agent usage vs funding
The packages that did the most work in real Claude Code sessions, set against their share of the money Upstream has set aside so far.
Agent work: each package's average share of the work across 15 real Claude Code sessions, scored from what the agent installed, imported and wrote. Money: $4.34 set aside on this sandbox so far.

How it works

You stay in charge of every dollar. The agent can only propose a payment.

  1. Step 1
    Install once
    A Claude Code plugin links your machine to your Upstream account.
  2. Step 2
    Set a budget
    Give $5, $15 or $50 a month with PayPal, or add money once.
  3. Step 3
    Code as usual
    When a session ends, the plugin writes a receipt on your machine. Only package names and counts leave it, never your code.
  4. Step 4
    AI weighs the work
    Gemini judges how much the session depended on each package, inside fixed limits it can't break.
  5. Step 5
    You approve
    Approve the receipt in your agent or here, or let a rule approve it while you have money in your budget.
  6. Step 6
    Maintainers get paid
    Your budget is split across your receipts and each package's maintainers, to the cent, and paid through PayPal.
Safeguards built in
  • No payout ever goes to a developer's own PayPal account.
  • At most $100 a month from one developer to one maintainer.
  • A new maintainer's first payout waits a week (an hour on this sandbox demo).
  • Money nobody claims in 90 days goes back to the developer's budget.
  • Money follows the GitHub account, so a renamed or reused username can't redirect it.
Maintain open source?
Sign in with GitHub to see what developers' agents have set aside for you, then link PayPal to be paid. There's nothing else to do.
Get paid for your packages