Governance

AgentChain’s contract system is upgradeable via UUPS proxies, governed by the AgentChainHelm governance primitive. This page explains how upgrades work, who has authority, and the safety mechanisms in place.

The Helm

AgentChainHelm is a 5-slot governance contract that controls all UUPS proxy upgrades. It has two upgrade paths:

Path	Function	Who	Delay	Use Case
Standard	`executeUpgrade(proxy, newImpl)`	ACFL337Command	48 hours	Feature additions, optimizations
Emergency	`emergencyUpgrade(proxy, newImpl)`	ChiefOperator	None	CVE-grade security patches

Standard Upgrade Flow

1. ChiefOperator calls queueAction(target, data, eta)
   → Action queued with 48h delay

2. Wait 48 hours...

3. ChiefOperator calls executeUpgrade(proxy, newImpl)
   → Proxy's implementation is updated via UUPS upgradeToAndCall
   → All storage is preserved (proxy pattern)

Emergency Upgrade Flow

1. ChiefOperator calls emergencyUpgrade(proxy, newImpl)
   → Immediate upgrade, no timelock
   → Only callable by ChiefOperator (single key)

Emergency upgrades bypass the 48h timelock. This path exists for critical vulnerabilities only. The ChiefOperator key is the single point of trust for this capability.

Governance Roles

Role	Address	Power
ChiefOperator	`0x2a8C31c6705677c04649458AbCcBd82B53CfDf16`	Queue actions, execute upgrades, emergency bypass
ACFL337Command	Same (will migrate to multi-sig)	Execute queued actions after timelock

Roadmap: ACFL337Command will migrate to a Gnosis Safe multi-sig before mainnet deployment. The ChiefOperator role will be retained for emergency-only access.

What The Helm Controls

Proxy	Address	Helm Can
AgentPolicy	`0xbccb85e016350d3439c794a7903e3fd224c1be3c`	Upgrade implementation
ActionVerifier	`0x4336b5612c8fe693de64debe491a43fb894410b4`	Upgrade implementation
BisectionCourtV3	`0xe6a487e32dcea696536b42326b904e77adb221be`	Upgrade implementation

The Helm does not control:

TaskMarket — standalone, no proxy
WatchtowerRegistry — standalone
EAS — Base L2 predeploy, immutable

Upgrade Safety

Storage Preservation

UUPS upgrades only change the implementation contract. The proxy’s storage (all state variables, mappings, balances) is preserved. This means:

Registered policies survive upgrades
Verification history is retained
Dispute state is preserved

Timelock Protection

The 48h timelock gives the community time to review queued upgrades before execution. If a malicious upgrade is queued, users have 48 hours to:

Withdraw funds from ShadowVault
Revoke delegations
Alert watchtowers

Contract Details

Property	Value
AgentChainHelm V2	`0x4f9890506Dd7AE325EBB2188610ef32dD312485e`
Network	Base Sepolia (84532)
Timelock	48 hours (standard path)
Emergency delay	None (ChiefOperator only)
Proxy standard	ERC1967 + UUPS

Getting Started

Core Protocol

Infrastructure

The Helm

Standard Upgrade Flow

Emergency Upgrade Flow

Governance Roles

What The Helm Controls

Upgrade Safety

Storage Preservation

Timelock Protection

Contract Details

​The Helm

​Standard Upgrade Flow

​Emergency Upgrade Flow

​Governance Roles

​What The Helm Controls

​Upgrade Safety

​Storage Preservation

​Timelock Protection

​Contract Details

The Helm

Standard Upgrade Flow

Emergency Upgrade Flow

Governance Roles

What The Helm Controls

Upgrade Safety

Storage Preservation

Timelock Protection

Contract Details