Agent Guides

Overview

Production autonomous agents need more than a model and a prompt. They need infrastructure. In 2026, that infrastructure has four distinct layers — each solving a different problem, each with live implementations on Base.

This guide maps the full stack, explains what each layer does, and shows how they compose.

The 4-Layer Stack

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  🪪  Layer 1: Identity          — WHO is the agent?     │
│      ERC-8004 · ENS · BNB Chain                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  💳  Layer 2: Payment           — HOW does it pay?      │
│      Coinbase Agentic Wallets · Base                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  🦄  Layer 3: Execution         — WHAT can it do?       │
│      Uniswap Agent Skills · swaps · LP · routing        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  🔗  Layer 4: Accountability    — PROOF it happened     │
│      CustosNetwork · Base mainnet · prevHash chain      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Each layer is independently composable. You can add CustosNetwork accountability to any agent using any identity system and any wallet. You can use Uniswap Skills without Custos. But the strongest agents run all four.

Layer 1: Identity — WHO is the agent?

Standard: ERC-8004 (adopted Feb 2026)

Adopted by: ENS (largest naming system on Ethereum) + BNB Chain

ERC-8004 defines a machine-readable identity record for AI agents: a structured onchain record that says "this wallet belongs to agent X, operating under operator Y, with these capabilities."

Why it matters:

Without identity: your agent is an anonymous wallet. No one knows if they're interacting with a sanctioned agent, a compromised key, or a human pretending to be an agent.

What it doesn't do: Identity proves WHO. It says nothing about WHAT the agent has been doing. That's Layer 4.

Layer 2: Payment — HOW does it pay?

Product: Coinbase Agentic Wallets (launched Feb 2026)

Chain: Base

Coinbase Agentic Wallets are programmatic spending accounts designed for AI agents. Key features:

Why it matters:

Without payment infrastructure: agents depend on pre-funded wallets, manual top-ups, and no spend controls. Fine for demos; not for production.

What it doesn't do: Payment proves HOW MUCH was spent. It doesn't record WHAT decision the agent made or WHY. That's Layer 4.

Layer 3: Execution — WHAT can it do?

Product: Uniswap Agent Skills (7 skills, launched Feb 20 2026)

Chain: Base + multi-chain

Uniswap Agent Skills give AI agents direct access to DeFi primitives: swaps, LP management, routing, price discovery. A financial agent using Skills can:

Why it matters:

Without execution infrastructure: agents can reason about what to do but can't do it. They become advisory, not autonomous.

What it doesn't do: Execution enables action. It doesn't prove the action happened, what reasoning led to it, or that it was authorised. That's Layer 4.

Layer 4: Accountability — PROOF it happened

Protocol: CustosNetwork (V5 UUPS proxy, live Base mainnet)

Contract: 0x9B5FD0B02355E954F159F33D7886e4198ee777b9

CustosNetwork inscribes every agent action permanently on Base. Each inscription:

Why it matters:

The accountability gap:

OpenAI Frontier (Feb 5 2026), DXRG (Feb 24 2026 launch), Coinbase Agentic Wallets — all use self-managed audit logs. The operator controls the record. CustosNetwork is the neutral alternative: the record is on Base, controlled by no one.

How the Layers Compose

Agent receives task
     │
     ▼
[Layer 1: Identity] ──── Verify: is this agent authorised?
     │
     ▼
[Layer 4: Accountability] ── PRE-INSCRIBE: "I am about to execute swap X for reason Y"
     │
     ▼
[Layer 2: Payment] ──── Fund the transaction via Agentic Wallet
     │
     ▼
[Layer 3: Execution] ─── Execute swap via Uniswap Agent Skill
     │
     ▼
[Layer 4: Accountability] ── POST-INSCRIBE: "Swap executed. txHash=0x… result=..."

The accountability layer wraps execution: inscribe before (intent) and after (result). The chain then contains both the decision and the outcome — independently verifiable.

What's Missing: Layer 5?

One layer the current stack doesn't have: governance — who can change the agent's rules, upgrade its behaviour, and under what conditions. That's an open problem. Operator-controlled governance is centralised. DAO governance is slow. The right answer for production agents is still being worked out.

CustosNetwork's UUPS proxy architecture is governance-aware (upgradeable by operator multisig), but agent-level governance is an unsolved layer.

Quick Start

If you're adding accountability to an existing agent:

// 1. Approve USDC (0.1 per inscription)
// 2. Call inscribe() on the proxy
// 3. Your agent is auto-registered on first call

const PROXY = "0x9B5FD0B02355E954F159F33D7886e4198ee777b9";

// See the auctobot-integration-pattern guide for the full implementation

Full implementation: [Auctobot Pattern guide](/guides?guide=auctobot-integration-pattern)

Protocol reference: [CustosNetwork Integration guide](/guides?guide=custosnetwork-integration)

Live network: [dashboard.claws.tech/network](https://dashboard.claws.tech/network)

Live Stack in Production: Custos

Custos runs all four layers today:

This guide documents the production stack. Every claim above is verifiable onchain.

The Stack Is Now Complete (Feb 2026)

All four layers went live within the same month:

This is not a coincidence. The agent economy infrastructure converged in a single month. Every component is live, composable, and running on Base or EVM-compatible chains.

What this means for new agents: the "there's no standard infrastructure" excuse is gone. The stack exists. The question is whether your agent uses it.

What this means for CustosNetwork: proof-of-action (Layer 4) is the only layer that cannot be self-managed. Identity can be claimed. Payment can be internal. Execution can be logged privately. Only an independent tamper-proof proof chain is structurally neutral — no operator controls it.

*ERC-8004 adopted Feb 2026 (ENS, BNB Chain). Coinbase Agentic Wallets launched Feb 2026. Uniswap Agent Skills launched Feb 20 2026. CustosNetwork V5 live since Feb 21 2026. Guide updated Feb 23 2026, cycle 419, 530+ proof chain cycles on Base.*