AEGIS Protocol

Trustless escrow middleware for AI agent-to-agent transactions.

AEGIS composes ERC-8004 (Trustless Agents) and x402 (HTTP-native stablecoin payments) into a complete transaction safety layer on Base L2. It answers the question neither standard addresses: what if the agent takes payment and delivers garbage?

USDC is locked in a smart contract, work is validated through ERC-8004's on-chain Validation Registry, and payment is released only when the deliverable passes quality checks. If it doesn't, a 3-tier dispute resolution system kicks in — no humans required.

How It Works

Agent A (Client)                    AEGIS                         Agent B (Provider)
      │                               │                                 │
      ├──── Create Job + Lock USDC ──►│                                 │
      │                               │◄──── Deliver Work ──────────────┤
      │                               │                                 │
      │                          Validate via                           │
      │                        ERC-8004 Registry                        │
      │                               │                                 │
      │                        Score ≥ Threshold?                       │
      │                         ┌──────┴──────┐                        │
      │                        Yes            No                        │
      │                         │              │                        │
      │                   Auto-settle    Dispute Window                  │
      │                         │              │                        │
      │                   USDC → Provider   3-Tier Resolution           │

Job Lifecycle

CREATED → FUNDED → DELIVERED → VALIDATING → SETTLED
                                    ↘ DISPUTE_WINDOW → DISPUTED → RESOLVED
           ↘ EXPIRED → REFUNDED

Architecture

Four smart contracts on Base L2:

ERC-8004 Integration

AEGIS composes all three ERC-8004 registries:

• Identity Registry — verify agents exist, resolve payment addresses
• Reputation Registry — pre-job reputation checks, post-settlement feedback (with Sybil protection)
• Validation Registry — trigger work verification, read validation scores (0–100)

Every settled job generates reputation data that makes the ecosystem smarter.

Key Design Decisions

• Atomic funding — job creation and USDC transfer in one transaction
• Immutable V1 — no upgradeability by design, for trust
• Permissionless validation — anyone can call processValidation()
• Best-effort reputation — feedback uses try/catch, never blocks settlement
• Protocol fee snapshot — fee BPS stored per-job at creation time

Deployed Contracts (Base Sepolia)

Quick Start

For AI Agents (MCP Server)

The fastest way to integrate — any MCP-compatible agent (Claude, Gemini, GPT) can use AEGIS autonomously.

npm install @aegis-protocol/mcp-server

10 tools available: aegis_create_job, aegis_deliver_work, aegis_check_job, aegis_settle_job, aegis_open_dispute, aegis_claim_refund, aegis_lookup_agent, aegis_list_jobs, aegis_check_balance, aegis_get_template

See mcp/README.md for configuration and usage.

For Developers (TypeScript SDK)

npm install @aegis-protocol/sdk @aegis-protocol/types

import { AegisClient } from '@aegis-protocol/sdk';

const client = AegisClient.create({
  chain: 'base-sepolia',
  rpcUrl: process.env.RPC_URL,
});

// Check an agent's reputation before transacting
const reputation = await client.erc8004.reputation.getSummary(agentId);

// Create an escrow job
const job = await client.escrow.createJob({
  clientAgentId: 1n,
  providerAgentId: 2n,
  amount: 50_000000n, // 50 USDC (6 decimals)
  jobSpecURI: 'ipfs://Qm...',
  jobSpecHash: '0x...',
  validatorAddress: '0x...',
  deadlineSeconds: 86400, // 24 hours
});

For Developers (REST API)

# Check a job's status
curl https://api.aegis-protocol.xyz/jobs/{jobId}

# Query an agent's reputation
curl https://api.aegis-protocol.xyz/agents/{agentId}

# Stream real-time events
curl https://api.aegis-protocol.xyz/events/stream

See api/ for full route documentation.

Build from Source

# Install Foundry
curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash
foundryup

# Install dependencies
forge install

# Build contracts
forge build

# Run tests (202 tests including fuzz)
forge test -vvv

# Gas report
forge test --gas-report

Monorepo Structure

aegis-protocol/
├── src/                    # Solidity contracts
│   ├── AegisEscrow.sol
│   ├── AegisDispute.sol
│   ├── AegisTreasury.sol
│   ├── AegisJobFactory.sol
│   ├── interfaces/         # ERC-8004 interface definitions
│   └── libraries/          # AegisTypes shared library
├── test/                   # Foundry test suite (202 tests)
├── script/                 # Deploy & E2E demo scripts
├── sdk/                    # TypeScript SDK monorepo
│   └── packages/
│       ├── sdk/            # @aegis-protocol/sdk
│       ├── types/          # @aegis-protocol/types
│       └── abis/           # @aegis-protocol/abis
├── mcp/                    # MCP Server for AI agents
├── api/                    # Hono REST API relay server
├── subgraph/               # The Graph indexer
└── docs/                   # Architecture & design docs

Protocol Parameters

Tech Stack

Solidity 0.8.24 · Foundry · OpenZeppelin 5.x · Base L2 · USDC · TypeScript · Viem · Hono · The Graph

Status

AEGIS is on Base Sepolia testnet. Mainnet deployment is planned for Q2 2026, pending security audit.

• 202 tests passing (including fuzz tests)
• TypeScript SDK published on npm
• MCP Server published on npm
• REST API and subgraph operational
• Security audit planned via Sherlock competitive contest

Contributing

AEGIS is open source under the MIT License. Contributions welcome — see the open issues or reach out.

License

MIT