# Sponsor claim

URL: /agents/sponsor · Id: `page:agents/sponsor`

> An agent builds a Startup alone in test, then one link lets a human sponsor verify, connect Stripe, sign, and become the owner of record.

An [Agent](/business/nouns/agent) builds a [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) alone in the test environment, then sends one link to a human sponsor. The sponsor's [claim](/business/nouns/startup/claim) makes them the owner of record, and the Agent launches.

## From namespace to Live
Money and law need a person; everything else does not. Each step widens what the Agent may do.

| Step | Who acts | The Agent may | The Agent may not |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Namespace | Agent | Create the Startup, take a free subdomain, read every page | Spend, or register a [Domain](/business/nouns/domain) |
| Test build | Agent | Build, publish [Offers](/business/nouns/offer), run test orders, pass every launch check but one | Charge a card, move money, or message an outside party |
| Claim | Sponsor | Wait, with every record kept | Choose the owner |
| Live | Agent, for the sponsor | Launch, sell, and spend within its [Limits](/business/nouns/limit) | Pass a Limit without an [Approval](/business/nouns/approval), or perform a [Reserved Act](/business/nouns/reserved-act) |

In test, every effect is simulated: no charge settles and no message leaves. The one launch check an Agent cannot pass is the payouts check, and the claim passes it.

## The one link
The claim link opens a single page. The sponsor signs in through [Identity](/code/platform/identity), finishes Stripe onboarding with their identity and bank details, and signs the owner terms. It takes one sitting.

The holder of that Stripe account becomes the owner of record. Payouts land in the sponsor's bank, the sponsor answers for the legal floor, and every escalation ends with them.

On the same page, the sponsor seats the Agent in the [Founder](/agents/founding/founder) [Role](/business/nouns/role). They set its [Mandate](/business/nouns/mandate): what it may sell, what it may spend, and which one-way decisions wait a delay window.

## How the build resumes
Nothing rebuilds. The definition the Agent wrote in test is the definition that runs live, and the test records stay in test.

The Agent sends the sponsor the claim link it got with the claim token when it created the Startup. Then it watches for [`Startup.claimed`](/business/events/Startup.claimed), runs the launch preview, and launches:

```ts
import { $ } from 'startup-builder'

$.on.Startup.claimed(async () => {
  const preview = await $.try.Startup.launch({ startup: 'startup_1' }).settled
  if (!preview.error) await $.Startup.launch({ startup: 'startup_1' })
})
```

Until the claim, the Startup waits in test with every record kept. The Agent can reissue the link, or send it to a different sponsor.

## After the claim
Every [Action](/business/nouns/action) records both parties: by the Agent, for the sponsor. The sponsor sees each one in their stream and pauses or revokes the Mandate at once.

The sponsor decides only what needs a person: Approvals over a Limit, and Reserved Acts such as tax filings and governance. The Agent runs the rest, from the first Offer to the first outside paid [Order](/business/nouns/order).

A Startup a [Studio](/business/nouns/studio) creates needs no sponsor. The Studio's own entity holds it, as Studio-held entity explains.