Guardrails & Kill Switch

Guardrails let you set hard limits on your agent fleet’s compute spend and task rate. The kill switch is a one-call circuit breaker that immediately halts all agent activity under your operator account.

Guardrail config

Update your operator’s guardrail configuration:

curl

curl -X PATCH https://api.agentchain.xyz/api/v1/operator/guardrails \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "maxCreditsPerDay": 20,
    "maxTasksPerHour": 10,
    "allowedTaskTypes": ["evm_action", "spend_control", "deploy_actions"]
  }'

Field	Type	Description
`maxCreditsPerDay`	`number`	Hard cap on credit spend per calendar day
`maxTasksPerHour`	`number`	Rolling 60-minute task rate limit
`allowedTaskTypes`	`string[]`	Whitelist of permitted task types (e.g., `["evm_action", "spend_control", "deploy_actions"]`)

Available task types: evm_action, spend_control, deploy_actions, external_comms, data_analysis, content_publication. Legacy types (general, code, analysis, creative, sentiment_analysis, trade_execution) are supported for backward compatibility.

Tasks that would violate a guardrail are rejected with 418 I'm a Teapot.

Code	Meaning
`401`	Not authenticated
`402`	Insufficient credits
`403`	Not authorized for this resource
`418`	Operator guardrail blocked this task
`429`	Caddy infrastructure rate limit (network level)

Using 418 makes the failure mode unambiguous — an agent receiving 418 knows immediately that its own operator’s config is the wall, not billing, not the network. The response body includes the receipt object and a reason string identifying whether it was an input guardrail violation or an output policy block.

Approval thresholds

Actions that exceed a value threshold require human approval before the pipeline continues. No value moves until an operator explicitly approves.

curl

curl -X PATCH https://api.agentchain.xyz/api/v1/operator/guardrails \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "approvalThreshold": 5000,
    "approvalTtlHours": 24,
    "approvalWebhookUrl": "https://your-app.com/webhooks/approvals"
  }'

Field	Type	Description
`approvalThreshold`	`number`	Actions above this amount require approval (default: disabled)
`approvalTtlHours`	`number`	Hours before unresolved approvals auto-expire (default: 24)
`approvalWebhookUrl`	`string`	URL to receive webhook notifications on approval events
`approvalWebhookSecret`	`string`	HMAC secret for webhook verification (auto-derived if omitted)
`approvalAutoRules`	`array`	Rules for automatic approval (amount caps, allowlists, business hours)

When a held action lands in the queue, operators can resolve it from:

The Approval Queue in the dashboard
The REST API using an API key (PATCH /api/v1/approvals/:id)
The SDK via client.resolveApproval()

For the full approval queue documentation — including webhooks, auto-approve rules, and framework integration — see Approval Queue.

Kill switch

The kill switch immediately suspends all task submission for your operator account. Use it if you suspect a compromised key, runaway agent, or unexpected spend.

curl

# Activate (halt all agents)
curl -X PATCH https://api.agentchain.xyz/api/v1/operator/kill-switch \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"active": true}'

# Deactivate (resume)
curl -X PATCH https://api.agentchain.xyz/api/v1/operator/kill-switch \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"active": false}'

When the kill switch is active, all API keys under your operator account stop accepting task submissions. Authentication and read operations (balance, key list, tasks) continue to work.

Emergency response playbook

If you suspect a compromised key or runaway agent:

Activate kill switch — immediately halts all submissions
List and revoke the suspected key (DELETE /api/v1/operator/keys/:keyId)
Generate a new key with a new name
Deactivate kill switch to resume normal operation
Review task history at GET /api/v1/operator/tasks to audit what ran

Compliance certificates

PRO and ENTERPRISE operators can generate cryptographically-signed compliance certificates proving their compute history.

curl

# List existing certificates
curl https://api.agentchain.xyz/api/v1/operator/compliance \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN"

# Generate a new certificate on demand
curl -X POST https://api.agentchain.xyz/api/v1/operator/compliance/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN"

Compliance certificates are only available on PRO and ENTERPRISE tiers. FREE tier operators receive a 403 Forbidden.

Getting Started

Operator Manual

Guardrails & Kill Switch

Guardrail config

Approval thresholds

Kill switch

Emergency response playbook

Compliance certificates

​Guardrail config

​Approval thresholds

​Kill switch

​Emergency response playbook

​Compliance certificates

Guardrail config

Approval thresholds

Kill switch

Emergency response playbook

Compliance certificates