# Payment paths Canonical HTML: https://spoolis.com/docs/payment-paths. This page is also available in machine-readable Markdown. How Spoolis chooses or refuses a payment path and separates verification from settlement. ## How a path is chosen The referee validates amount and currency, then considers actor, configured adapters, adapter readiness, demo mode, and declared machine capabilities. Demo mode uses simulated settlement. Demo is a mode, not a rail, and no money moves. ## Honest refusal When no compatible production path qualifies, the referee returns a refusal with reasons. It does not switch actors, custody models, environments, or silently use simulation. ## Payment authority boundary Spoolis determines earned value and signs the Outcome Receipt. A wallet, marketplace, payment system, or configured integration may verify and consume it, then act under its own authorization and settlement policy. Spoolis signs verdicts; buyers/payment authorities sign payments. ## The payment layer model Outcome Receipt: the signed Spoolis record of what was earned. Authorization: the buyer or payment authority decides what may be spent. Execution: the buyer's wallet, marketplace, payment rail, or configured adapter moves or records value according to its own rules. The lower-level in-band attestation is an implementation detail that supports the Outcome Receipt. Spoolis is non-custodial. It does not hold funds or become the wallet, payment provider, or settlement network. ## How payment acts on the result External systems can verify or read the Outcome Receipt and act on the result themselves. Where supported, configured adapters may automate execution. Unsupported flows fail closed, with no silent substitution of another payment rail. ## Current status / Demo boundary The current default adapter is simulated, and demo Spools cannot move money. Simulated settlement never substitutes for production.