Use Case: AI Discount Agent

How an AI pricing agent uses SpendGuard to control discounts and pricing adjustments.

The Scenario

You have an AI sales or pricing agent that applies discounts to deals. When a customer asks for a better price or a sales rep triggers a discount flow, the agent evaluates and applies it.

The problem: Without guardrails, the agent could give 90% discounts, apply discounts to enterprise contracts that require manual pricing, or stack multiple discounts on the same deal.

The solution: SpendGuard caps discount depth, blocks discounts on restricted deal types, and escalates large deals to a sales manager.

---

Step 1: Create Your Discount Policy

Start with the SaaS Discount Policy template and customize it:

curl -X POST https://spendguardapi.com/v1/policies \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $SPENDGUARD_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "policy_id": "saas_discount_policy",
    "name": "SaaS Discount Policy",
    "description": "Controls discounts applied by our pricing agent",
    "rules": [
      {
        "rule_id": "r1",
        "rule_type": "discount_cap",
        "description": "Max 20% discount",
        "parameters": { "max_percent": 20 }
      },
      {
        "rule_id": "r2",
        "rule_type": "max_amount",
        "description": "Max $5,000 discount value",
        "parameters": { "limit": 5000, "currency": "USD" }
      },
      {
        "rule_id": "r3",
        "rule_type": "escalate_if",
        "description": "Escalate discounts on deals over $10,000",
        "parameters": { "amount_above": 10000, "action_types": ["discount"] }
      },
      {
        "rule_id": "r4",
        "rule_type": "blocked_categories",
        "description": "No automated discounts on enterprise contracts",
        "parameters": { "categories": ["enterprise_contract", "government_contract"] }
      },
      {
        "rule_id": "r5",
        "rule_type": "duplicate_guard",
        "description": "Block duplicate discounts within 30 minutes",
        "parameters": { "window_minutes": 30 }
      }
    ]
  }'

---

Step 2: Wire the Agent to Check Before Discounting

def apply_discount(agent_id, customer_id, discount_amount, discount_percent, category=None):
    """Check with SpendGuard before applying a discount."""

    check = requests.post(
        f"{SPENDGUARD_URL}/v1/checks",
        headers={
            "X-API-Key": SPENDGUARD_KEY,
            "Content-Type": "application/json",
        },
        json={
            "agent_id": agent_id,
            "policy_id": "saas_discount_policy",
            "action_type": "discount",
            "amount": discount_amount,
            "currency": "USD",
            "counterparty": customer_id,
            "metadata": {
                "discount_percent": discount_percent,
                "category": category,
            },
        },
    ).json()

    decision = check["decision"]

    if decision == "allow":
        execute_discount(customer_id, discount_amount)
        return f"Discount of ${discount_amount} ({discount_percent}%) applied."

    elif decision == "escalate":
        notify_sales_manager(customer_id, discount_amount, check["message"])
        return f"This discount needs sales manager approval: {check['message']}"

    elif decision == "block":
        return f"Discount blocked: {check['message']}"

---

Step 3: See It In Action

15% discount on a $2,000 deal ($300 value) → Allow

Within the 20% cap, under the $5,000 value limit, under the$10,000 escalation threshold:

{ "decision": "allow", "message": "Action is within policy. Proceed." }

25% discount → Block

Exceeds the 20% cap:

{
  "decision": "block",
  "reason_code": "discount_cap_exceeded",
  "message": "Discount of 25% exceeds the policy cap of 20%."
}

15% discount on a $15,000 deal ($2,250 value) → Escalate

The deal size exceeds the $10,000 escalation threshold:

{
  "decision": "escalate",
  "reason_code": "escalation_threshold_exceeded",
  "message": "Discount of $2250.00 exceeds the escalation threshold of $10000.00."
}

Discount on enterprise contract → Block

The category is blocked:

{
  "decision": "block",
  "reason_code": "blocked_category",
  "message": "Category 'enterprise_contract' is blocked by policy."
}

---

Key Insight: Two Rules, Two Limits

Notice that the discount policy uses both discount_cap and max_amount:

• discount_cap controls the percentage (no more than 20% off)
• max_amount controls the dollar value (no more than $5,000 off)

This means a 10% discount on a $100,000 deal ($10,000 value) would pass the percentage check but fail the dollar value check. Both protections work together.