A machine-to-machine (M2M) transaction is an automated commercial exchange conducted between two software systems ... most commonly AI agents ... without requiring human approval or intervention at each individual step. One system identifies a need, queries a catalog, evaluates offerings, executes a transaction, and delivers or consumes the purchased asset.

M2M transactions are the technical foundation of agent-to-agent commerce. As AI agents become more capable of autonomous decision-making, M2M transactions will expand from API calls and data enrichment purchases to complex multi-asset licensing deals executed entirely between systems.