VAUBAN PLATE I · GENERAL PLAN

A fortification for autonomous agents

The fort you build
around an agent
before you hand it a key.

Autonomous agents run unattended and sign their own transactions. Vauban is the earthwork between the agent and its wallet — four ramparts a transaction must cross before it reaches the chain. Drawn once. Held by you.

Walk the ramparts Read the drawing
Fig. 1 — general plan. A transaction approaches from open ground and is tested at each rampart. Illustrative.
IVramparts, every tx crosses all
0approval prompts
Ikill switch, owner-held
∞runs unattended

The siege

An agent with a raw key holds no ground. It simply has the key.

i.

It never sleeps

Cron keeps the agent working through the night. A single bad instruction repeats on every tick until a human happens to look.

ii.

A key is total

Hand over a private key and the agent can do anything the key can — drain, grant infinite approval, bridge the balance out.

iii.

Asking defeats it

Signing every move by hand turns autonomy back into a chat window. The answer is standing walls, not a sentry you have to wake.

Four ramparts

A transaction crosses every one, or it never lands.

  1. 01

    The ditch — spend caps

    Per-transaction, per-hour and per-day ceilings. A runaway loop fills the ditch and goes no further.

  2. 02

    The curtain — contract allowlist

    Only named contracts and functions pass. Unknown targets and infinite approvals are turned back.

  3. 03

    The gate — time-lock

    Large moves wait in the gatehouse. You have a window to drop the portcullis.

  4. 04

    The keep — kill switch

    One owner-only command seals the works. The agent cannot open it from inside.

The sheets

Five sheets make up the full set of drawings.