01Name the evidence
For research, identify the data sources and the date of the information. For a payment, establish which invoice or request is valid and verify its recipient through a trusted channel.
Give AI a separate wallet, a defined balance and the permissions it needs. Make its activity useful, visible and limited by your choices.

Start with the result you need. Research, execution and payments involve different work, so they should not begin with the same level of access.
| Task | Access it needs | A boundary to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Research a portfolio | Read the selected balances and public market information. | Research alone does not require spending access or a recovery phrase. |
| Execute a bounded trade | Use an allocated balance with an approved trading service. | Specify assets, spending limits, acceptable execution terms and access duration. |
| Pay a known recipient | Send a defined asset to an approved destination. | Treat a new recipient or a larger payment as a separate approval. |
An instruction such as “manage my portfolio” leaves too much unresolved. Describe a result that you can check and the circumstances that need your attention.
For research, identify the data sources and the date of the information. For a payment, establish which invoice or request is valid and verify its recipient through a trusted channel.
A research task can end with a comparison and its sources. A payment task needs a transfer that matches the approved request. Specify whether the job is a one-off or something you will review again.
Missing information, a changed invoice or a result that cannot be verified should bring the decision back to you. Include that handoff in the brief instead of leaving the agent to fill the gap.
The account, network and service need to support the same action. Being able to connect a wallet does not establish support for delegated execution.
Check which permission types the wallet can grant. Advanced permissions can depend on smart-account capabilities; a normal token approval does not provide the same set of rules.
A permission applies to specified chains and accounts. Support on one network does not establish support on another, even when the asset and service names match.
The application must understand and use the granted permission. Review the authority that was actually granted: it can differ from what the application originally requested.
Technical background: ERC-7715 execution permissions and MetaMask’s advanced-permissions explanation. Capabilities depend on the particular wallet and service.
An automated task can meet a different situation from the one you reviewed. Define what needs checking before another attempt.
For a swap, compare the current quote and minimum received with the accepted terms. A larger slippage tolerance allows a worse execution price; it should not be widened just to force a trade through.
A timeout from a service is not proof that a payment failed. Check the submitted transaction before repeating the instruction, so an uncertain response does not become a second payment.
Decide whether the task should wait, stop or ask for help. Moving to another provider, token or network changes the assignment and needs its own review.
Execution reference: Uniswap on slippage tolerance.
A useful task report connects the original request to evidence of its result. Keep these details with the assignment so someone else can follow the same trail.
Keep the invoice, research question or trade instruction that prompted the action. Record changes to that request, rather than relying on the latest chat message alone.
For an onchain action, keep the network and transaction identifier. Check the recipient, transferred asset, amount and charged fee against the request; a transaction can include more than one token movement.
A confirmed transfer proves a network action, not that a service fulfilled an order. Reconcile the invoice or service receipt separately. For research, keep the cited material so conclusions can be checked.
For reading the underlying record, see Ethereum’s transaction documentation.
Allocation, daily limits, access duration and revocation each have a distinct role.
Understand agent permissions