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How Circle’s scores are calculated

The full audit trail, recomputed from the verdict data at build time through the same code that produced the leaderboard: verdict × quality × story weight per cell, cells sum to dimension scores, dimensions blend into the PA Score. Every number on the product page is reproducible from this page alone; for why the formula looks like this, see the methodology.

verdict factors: full ×1.0 · partial ×0.6 · disputed ×0.3 · none ×0.0 · n/a excluded from both sides · cell points = weight × quality × factor · cell max = weight × 10

PA Score25/100

Agent-ready 58.9 × 0.30 = 17.67

API quality 0.0 × 0.20 = 0.00

Openness 15.0 × 0.20 = 3.00

Built-in AI 17.1 × 0.15 = 2.56

Automation 12.9 × 0.15 = 1.94

(17.67 + 0.00 + 3.00 + 2.56 + 1.94) ÷ (0.30 + 0.20 + 0.20 + 0.15 + 0.15) = 25.17 ÷ 1.00 = 25.2

Scores are stored to 1 decimal; the product page’s pills round to whole numbers for display. Each dimension below shows the stories, verdicts, and cited evidence behind its number.

Agent-ready58.9/100×0.30 of the PA blend

Outside-in: can YOUR agent reach and drive this product — API, MCP, CLI, headless runs, agent docs.

Point an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docsweight 2

2 (weight) × 8 (quality) × 1.0 (full) = 16.0 of 20 max

  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt“PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt # Circle Developer Platform > Circle builds infrastructure for digital dollars. USDC is the world's > leading regulated”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp.md“Integrate Circle's MCP server to let your LLM or AI-assisted IDE generate and fix code for crypto apps using Circle's offerings, including Wallets, Contracts, CCTP, and Gateway.”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp“official MCP server documented at https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp”

Run the product headlessly / in CI for automationweight 2

2 (weight) × 6 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 7.2 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli“official CLI documented at https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/api-reference/webhooks.md“When a resource changes state, Circle sends an HTTP POST to the endpoint you configure so your application can react.”

Plug MCP servers into this product so it can use their toolsweight 3

n/a — not applicable to this product: excluded from numerator and denominator

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp.md“Integrate Circle's MCP server to let your LLM or AI-assisted IDE generate and fix code for crypto apps using Circle's offerings, including Wallets, Contracts, CCTP, and Gateway.”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp“official MCP server documented at https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp”

Connect an agent via an official MCP serverweight 3

3 (weight) × 8 (quality) × 1.0 (full) = 24.0 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp.md“Integrate Circle's MCP server to let your LLM or AI-assisted IDE generate and fix code for crypto apps using Circle's offerings, including Wallets, Contracts, CCTP, and Gateway.”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp“official MCP server documented at https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp”

Use an official CLIweight 2

2 (weight) × 8 (quality) × 1.0 (full) = 16.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli“official CLI documented at https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli”

Drive the product through a documented public APIweight 3

3 (weight) × 8 (quality) × 1.0 (full) = 24.0 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/wallets.md“Sponsor network fees so your users don't need to hold native tokens. Set policies and pay gas with your credit card.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/wallets.md“Let users pay gas fees with USDC instead of native tokens using Circle's permissionless ERC-4337 paymaster contracts.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/cctp.md“CCTP natively transfers USDC across blockchains using burn-and-mint, and extends to EURC and registered third-party assets... all without traditional bridge liquidity pools.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp.md“Integrate Circle's MCP server to let your LLM or AI-assisted IDE generate and fix code for crypto apps using Circle's offerings, including Wallets, Contracts, CCTP, and Gateway.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/api-reference/webhooks.md“When a resource changes state, Circle sends an HTTP POST to the endpoint you configure so your application can react.”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt“PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt # Circle Developer Platform > Circle builds infrastructure for digital dollars. USDC is the world's > leading regulated”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/swagger.json, https://developers.circle.com/api/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli“official CLI documented at https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli”

Issue scoped/least-privilege API credentials for an agentweight 2

2 (weight) × 4 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 4.8 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack.md“Use Agent wallets to hold and spend USDC and other tokens with customizable spending controls and built-in compliance guardrails.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”

Build against official SDKsweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/swagger.json, https://developers.circle.com/api/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp.md“Integrate Circle's MCP server to let your LLM or AI-assisted IDE generate and fix code for crypto apps using Circle's offerings, including Wallets, Contracts, CCTP, and Gateway.”

Subscribe to events via webhooksweight 2

2 (weight) × 7 (quality) × 1.0 (full) = 14.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/api-reference/webhooks.md“When a resource changes state, Circle sends an HTTP POST to the endpoint you configure so your application can react.”

Agent-ready = 106.0 ÷ 180 × 100 = 58.9

API quality0.0/100×0.20 of the PA blend

The programmable surface once an agent is there — machine-readable spec, interactive docs, sandbox, versioning discipline.

Explore an interactive API reference with runnable examplesweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt“PROBE llms.txt: HTTP 200 at https://developers.circle.com/llms.txt # Circle Developer Platform > Circle builds infrastructure for digital dollars. USDC is the world's > leading regulated”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/swagger.json, https://developers.circle.com/api/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”

Download a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent)weight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/swagger.json, https://developers.circle.com/api/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”

Test against a sandbox environment without touching production dataweight 1

1 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 10 max

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Rely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policyweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/swagger.json, https://developers.circle.com/api/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”

API quality = 0.0 ÷ 70 × 100 = 0.0

Openness15.0/100×0.20 of the PA blend

Can you leave, inspect, or self-host — data export, open source, portability.

Do everything through the API that I can do in the UIweight 2

2 (weight) × 5 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 6.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp.md“Integrate Circle's MCP server to let your LLM or AI-assisted IDE generate and fix code for crypto apps using Circle's offerings, including Wallets, Contracts, CCTP, and Gateway.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/api-reference/webhooks.md“When a resource changes state, Circle sends an HTTP POST to the endpoint you configure so your application can react.”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json“PROBE openapi: all candidate paths 404 (https://developers.circle.com/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/swagger.json, https://developers.circle.com/api/openapi.json, https://developers.circle.com/.well-known/openapi.json)”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli“official CLI documented at https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli”

Export all of my data in open formats and leaveweight 3

n/a — not applicable to this product: excluded from numerator and denominator

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Read the product's source under an open licenseweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Self-host the core productweight 3

n/a — not applicable to this product: excluded from numerator and denominator

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Openness = 6.0 ÷ 40 × 100 = 15.0

Built-in AI17.1/100×0.15 of the PA blend

Inside-out: how agentic the product itself is for its users — built-in assistants, autonomous features.

Get AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the productweight 2

n/a — not applicable to this product: excluded from numerator and denominator

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Set up automations that run autonomously in the backgroundweight 2

2 (weight) × 5 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 6.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/cctp.md“Trigger automated actions on the destination blockchain after assets arrive”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack.md“Use Agent wallets to hold and spend USDC and other tokens with customizable spending controls and built-in compliance guardrails.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/api-reference/webhooks.md“When a resource changes state, Circle sends an HTTP POST to the endpoint you configure so your application can react.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp“official MCP server documented at https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp”

Delegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the productweight 3

3 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack.md“Use Agent wallets to hold and spend USDC and other tokens with customizable spending controls and built-in compliance guardrails.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack.md“Search x402-compatible APIs and pay per request, without subscriptions or API keys.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp.md“Integrate Circle's MCP server to let your LLM or AI-assisted IDE generate and fix code for crypto apps using Circle's offerings, including Wallets, Contracts, CCTP, and Gateway.”

Operate the product with natural-language commandsweight 2

2 (weight) × 5 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 6.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp.md“Integrate Circle's MCP server to let your LLM or AI-assisted IDE generate and fix code for crypto apps using Circle's offerings, including Wallets, Contracts, CCTP, and Gateway.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack.md“Use Agent wallets to hold and spend USDC and other tokens with customizable spending controls and built-in compliance guardrails.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp“official MCP server documented at https://developers.circle.com/ai/mcp”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli“official CLI documented at https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli”

Built-in AI = 12.0 ÷ 70 × 100 = 17.1

Automation12.9/100×0.15 of the PA blend

Depth of automation primitives — rules, scheduling, bulk operations, webhooks.

Perform bulk operations across many items at onceweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/cpn.md“Send cross-border fiat payouts through a network of payout partners. Request real-time FX quotes, settle in USDC onchain, and let partners deliver local fiat to the receiver.”
  • [probe] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli“official CLI documented at https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli”

Define rules that trigger actions automatically on eventsweight 3

3 (weight) × 5 (quality) × 0.6 (partial) = 9.0 of 30 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/cctp.md“Trigger automated actions on the destination blockchain after assets arrive”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack.md“Use Agent wallets to hold and spend USDC and other tokens with customizable spending controls and built-in compliance guardrails.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/api-reference/webhooks.md“When a resource changes state, Circle sends an HTTP POST to the endpoint you configure so your application can react.”

Schedule recurring jobs or workflowsweight 2

2 (weight) × 0 (quality) × 0.0 (none) = 0.0 of 20 max

  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/api-reference/webhooks.md“When a resource changes state, Circle sends an HTTP POST to the endpoint you configure so your application can react.”
  • [claimed-docs] https://developers.circle.com/agent-stack/circle-cli.md“Create and manage wallets, transfer, swap, and bridge USDC across blockchains, execute smart contracts, and discover or pay for services. All through a single command interface”

Version, review, and roll back my automationsweight 1

n/a — not applicable to this product: excluded from numerator and denominator

no evidence cited — the verdict rests on absence of evidence, re-checked on refresh

Automation = 9.0 ÷ 70 × 100 = 12.9