Map every path a bid can take to one impression, price the fees on each hop, and model what consolidating costs in reach, not just fees — the programmatic lead approves every change.
A bid's path is pulled from the DSP log, every SSP report and each declared hop between them.
02
The schain object is read alongside it, as the payment path it shows and nothing more.
Reason
03
A curated deal is checked against its own terms and the curator's tie to each SSP inside it.
04
Every fee the path discloses is attributed to its hop; what isn't visible is marked, not estimated.
05
A proposed path change is modelled for the fee it moves and, separately, the reach it would cost.
Decide
06
A curator that is also the SSP running the auction is named, never modelled away.
07
Every proposed path change is routed to the named programmatic lead, never applied alone.
Out
08
The paths compared, the fees found and the buyer's decision are retained against the deal.
09
Execute write actions only inside the approval boundaries agreed during implementation.
→Product statement
The agent maps paths and prices what it can see; the programmatic lead decides what changes, and the agent never cuts a path or renegotiates a fee itself.
Example workflow
One path change, signal to approval
AgentHuman
1Signal receivedPath-performance report, a curator renewal, a consolidation request or a new deal ID
2Evidence assembledDSP logs, SSP reports, curator terms and schain data, each with its source
3Change draftedPath map, fee attribution, reach estimate and confidence
4Controls appliedFee-visibility checks, curator-conflict checks, reach modelling and confidence threshold
No human action required
Stages 1 to 4 run unaided, and no path changes at any of them — the agent models, and the buyer's lane opens at the confidence gate.
5DecisionBranches at the confidence threshold
High confidence
Goes to the programmatic lead to approve.
Low confidence
Adds a second desk review first.
Buyer approval
The change is held with its evidence, its reach estimate and the confidence.
Approve · Edit · Escalate
Approved — cut over live▼
6DSP and SSP settings updatedOnly where write access and approval policy allow it
7Outcome evaluatedFee accuracy, reach delta, curator performance and post-cutover corrections
Edits
Every buyer edit is counted in the evaluation.
What should not run autonomously
Human approval stays in control
Outside the boundary — human approval required8 items
Cutting a supply path or ending a curator relationship.
Changing a bid floor, deal ID or SSP fee arrangement.
Deciding a curator's fee is undisclosed or improper.
Negotiating terms with an SSP, exchange or curator.
Automation boundaryAgent acts unaided
✓Map every declared path a bid can take to one impression.
✓Attribute each visible fee to the hop it was charged on.
✓Model the reach a proposed path cut would cost, not only the fee.
✓Flag a curator's tie to the SSP it curates, and hold the change for the buyer.
Any write happens inside the boundaries agreed at implementation, never ahead of approval.
Asserting a partner took an undisclosed margin.
Presenting a modelled fee saving as money recovered.
Adding a new SSP or curator to the buy.
Changes to fee-visibility rules, reach models or approval thresholds.
Example output
One path map, annotated
Everything the agent models is attached to the deal it was drawn from.
Supply-path output · single dealIllustrative example
Deal
Finding
Fee status
Evidence source
Confidence
Attribution
Curated video deal
Curator fee bundled into the deal's CPM, not itemised on the terms
Fee not itemised
This week's DSP log
81%
Programmatic-lead name on file
As receivedTaken from this week's DSP log and the curator's published deal terms — nothing on this side is written by the agent.
Why it's flaggedThe CPM matches the insertion order, but the curator's own terms don't break out its fee.
ActionApproveEditEscalate
What the score decidesBelow the configured threshold the flag picks up a second desk review before it reaches.
Value
Where AI adds value
The same four claims, placed at the point in the workflow where each one applies.
Where the value landsValue 01 – 04
Every pathFrom the DSP and SSP feeds
03Mapping
Map every bid's path
Trace each hop a bid can take against the DSP log, the SSP report and the curator's terms.
01Approved path
A modelled saving is not a saving
Curated does not mean clean: the industry's own benchmark data still finds made-for-advertising inventory inside curated PMPs — smaller than the open exchange's rate, never zero.
02Human review
Send review to the costly paths
Undisclosed fees, conflicted curators and reach-losing cuts are marked, so the buyer's read starts where risk concentrates.
04Build an evidence trail
The path, the fees read against it and the buyer who cut it stay on the deal.
Integrations
Typical integrations
Five system groups connect to the same agent. Which of them are in scope is decided in discovery.
A blended fee number can look efficient while a handful of paths carry most of the rework. Nestack reports the path-rework rate by hop, not only in total Nestack reports it by slice rather than in aggregate..
Slice performance — reported separately, not only in aggregateIllustrative example
Slice
Failure rate
Lift
Lift vs. threshold
Status
Impressions reachable on one path only
7.7%
4.0×
Review
Curated deals built by a third party
5.3%
2.8×
Review
Long-tail and open-exchange supply
3.6%
1.9×
Watch
Direct SSP paths to major publishers
1.9%
0.7×
Normal
Bar: path-rework rate lift vs. the direct-SSP baseline · scale 0–4.0× · tick marks the 2.0× review threshold2 of 4 slices over threshold
Evidence-linked improvement
The loop closes on a path, not a projection
A cycle is done when the lost reach has become a case the next release must pass. That suite is what the next path cut is measured against.
Improvement cycle · five stagesSwitchback — the path turns at Improve and returns at Learn
01Detect
Path-rework rate rises in a supply slice.
02Diagnose
The path that was cut and took reach with it is checked against every hop and deal until one cause explains it.
03Improve
Version-stamp the change and attach the paths that exposed it.
04Verify
The affected cases run again, and a failure stops the release.
05Learn
It becomes a standing test, and the path rules change with it.
Learn → DetectThe return edge. The next model runs against a suite one case longer.
Typical build scope
Twelve workstreams across six weeks
The build scope read against the delivery timeline. Week structure follows the six-week plan — discovery, sources, path-mapping workflow, evaluation, integration, then production validation and handover.
WorkstreamWeek 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
01Desk discovery and boundary definition and it is logged..
02DSP, SSP and curator source assessment.
03Fee and curator-conflict rule mapping and rule mapping.
04Path intake and deal-ID normalisation.
05Path-mapping logic and fee attribution.
06Confidence scoring and reach routing.
07Buyer approval workflow.
08DSP and SSP integration.
09Path and reach regression cases.
10Guardrails and cutover controls.
11Deal-trail instrumentation.
12Deployment, documentation and Agent Care handover.
12 workstreams · 6 weeks · bar shows the weeks a workstream is active — several run in parallelFinal scope and sequence confirmed in discovery
Engagement tiers
What each tier includes
Rows are the capabilities named in each tier's scope. Higher tiers include everything below them.
Capability✓ in scope · — not at this tierPilotOne desk, one DSP seatProductionProduction DSP and SSP accessAdvancedMultiple markets / brands
Introduced at Pilot
Path mapping to your rules✓✓✓
Buyer approval✓✓✓
Fee-visibility baseline✓✓✓
Introduced at Production
Reporting by supply path—✓✓
Escalation workflow in your tools—✓✓
Approved cutover actions—✓✓
DSP and SSP integration—✓✓
Introduced at Advanced
Multi-market curator rules——✓
Multi-stage desk approvals——✓
High path volume——✓
Multi-market path controls——✓
Build priceFrom $5,000From $8,000Custom quote
Final build priceConfirmed after discovery based on integrations, workflow complexity, transaction volume, approval controls and deployment requirements.
Separate from buildBuild pricing is separate from recurring Agent Care, which covers managed monitoring, evaluations, incidents and verified improvements after launch.
What we need from you
What you bring, and what we build with it
Each input maps to a piece of build scope and a week in the delivery timeline.
You bringWe build with it
01Your DSP seat list and current SSP / curator setup→Path ingestion and deal-ID mappingWeek 1
02Representative path and fee history→Path-mapping baseline and fee attributionWeek 2
03Your fee-visibility and curator-conflict rules→Fee-visibility and approval-boundary mappingWeek 1
04Access to relevant APIs, feeds or exports→DSP and SSP assessment, then integration setupWeek 2
05Paths you would not want cut→Reach cases and the evaluation suiteWeek 4
06What no path may be cut without→Confidence scoring, reach routing, guardrails and approval controlsWeek 3
07Named buyers to review path changes→Buyer approval workflow, then pilot and production validationWeeks 5–6
Nothing else is requiredDeployment, documentation and Agent Care handover are ours.
Delivery timeline
Four phases across six weeks
The phases are drawn on the weeks they occupy, so week 5 genuinely doubles rather than padding the plan.
PhaseW1W2W3W4W5W6
DiscoveryW1
BuildW2 – W3
EvaluateW4 – W5
Pilot & LaunchW5 – W6
Week focusW1Desk discovery, fee-rule mapping and the automation boundaryW2Source integration and the path-mapping baselineW3Path-mapping workflow, confidence logic and approval controlsW4Evaluation suite, guardrails and failure-mode testingW5DSP and SSP integration, pilot paths and targeted correctionsW6One buying cycle run under the programmatic lead, then Agent Care handover
Reading the bandA bar covers only the weeks its work is named in — the week 5 overlap is real, not padding.
At the end of W6The final checks clear on live paths and monitoring moves to Agent Care.
DurationSix-week plan shown · typical delivery 4–6 weeks depending on scope confirmed in discovery.
Next step · Advertising AI agent
Build a supply-path agent around your trading desk's approval chain.
Show us your DSP seats, your SSP and curator list, and who signs off on a cut. Not a lower blended number. A mapped path, its visible fees and the reach a cut would cost — named before the buyer approves it.
