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Grok Bot works from a cloud computer, can use connected tools, and can approve a payment through its own agent wallet. That combination lets it sign up for Bland, pay for its own number, and hand you the finished connection without you ever opening a signup page. Relaying a one-time code by text is your only manual step. Setting up a different assistant? See Personal AI Agents.

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Prerequisites

  • Access to Grok Bot with Stripe Link connected and the Link CLI available to it, to let it set itself up. The payment is a shared payment token from the CLI, not a virtual card.
  • Or: a Bland API key from the dashboard and a custom MCP connection that accepts a URL and headers, to configure the connection yourself
  • Either way, an active Agent Phone Plan gets you a dedicated number and texting; headless self-setup pays for the first month as part of signup

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Option 1: Let Grok Bot set itself up

A Link virtual card is not accepted. /complete takes two payment credentials: a shared payment token (spt_) from the Link CLI, or the Link CLI answering the payment challenge that /complete returns. Grok Bot’s default Link tool, request_virtual_card, mints a virtual card, which /complete refuses. If Grok Bot can only get a virtual card, it can’t finish headless: it has to show you the browser link from the response and let you open it. It must not open that link itself; the page is for the human owner and has a bot check.
Tell Grok Bot:
To start on free credits instead, replace the second line with: “Don’t pay for anything. Ask me for the SMS code, and show me any link instead of opening it.” The account then calls from a shared Bland number right away, and when you ask Grok Bot for texting or its own number it shows you a link where you add a card and start the plan (see Adding the plan later). If a wallet payment is declined, Grok Bot falls back to that same link. A verification code arrives at your phone by text. Relay it back to Grok Bot. On the paid path it then asks you to approve the first month of the Agent Phone Plan in the Link app, and it finishes with its API key and a phone number in the same conversation.

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What Grok Bot does

The paid path is four requests and one Link approval. Headless agent onboarding has the full request and response shapes, and Paying with an agent wallet is the detailed payment reference.
1

Start the session

POST /v1/agent/onboarding/headless/start with your phone, your email, client_name: "grok", and payment_intent: "shared_payment_token". A 6-digit code is texted to your phone.
2

Get the code

Grok Bot asks you for the code.
3

Request the payment challenge

POST /v1/agent/onboarding/headless/complete with the session, the code, and payment: { "request_challenge": true }. This verifies the code, keeps the session alive, and answers 402 PLAN_REQUIRED with a WWW-Authenticate: Payment header. The header carries the amount, the currency, and the Stripe network profile id of the seller.Grok Bot reads those values from the challenge, not from a doc: the price comes from the plan catalog and can change. At the time of writing the challenge names profile_61VOTHaCdbmfq6PD5A6VOTHa3XSQ3zOF0yDybvQ6S1k8 and 1499 usd. The amount comes from the payment challenge and changes when the offer does.
4

Pay, one of two ways

Both need link-cli auth login once, which you approve in the Link app.Preferred: npx @stripe/link-cli mpp pay with the same /complete request. The CLI reads the challenge, asks you to approve the amount in Link, and retries /complete with the credential. The 200 carries the API key.
Manual: decode the challenge with link-cli mpp decode, mint a shared payment token with link-cli spend-request create using the network_id and amount it prints (see Mint the token with Stripe Link), then repeat /complete with payment: { "shared_payment_token": "spt_..." } in place of request_challenge.
5

Confirm

GET /v1/me with the returned api_key, then add the key as a custom MCP connection (the values are under Option 2).
The headless session lasts 10 minutes from /start, and the code check in step 3 restarts that window once. A re-issued challenge doesn’t restart it again, so your Link approval has to land inside it. If the session expires, Grok Bot starts over with a new code.

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Option 2: Configure the connection yourself

The documented Plugins flow does not establish how to add an arbitrary MCP URL with an Authorization header. Confirm that your version supports both before following the configuration below.
Configure the connection with these values: Replace YOUR_BLAND_API_KEY with your key in the connection’s credential field. Attach the connection to your task, then ask Grok Bot to list your Bland pathways to check authentication before placing a call. If the required custom-server or header controls are unavailable, use a client with documented setup, such as Poke or OpenClaw. You can create the account yourself in the dashboard rather than through Option 1, and add the Agent Phone Plan at Billing & Plans if you want a dedicated number and texting; without it, your agent calls from a shared Bland number on the org’s free credits. On the Agent Phone Plan, calls and texts are limited to US and Canadian numbers, one call at a time, up to 60 minutes per outbound call, and up to 100 texts a day. See Limits.

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Next steps

Headless agent onboarding

The full request and response shapes behind Option 1, including error handling and buying credits.

Personal AI Agents

Two-way texting, troubleshooting, and connection requirements.
Docs for agents: llms.txt