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An agent is always in one of three states:
StateCan transact?Reversible?API key
activeYes, within policy—Active
pausedNo — every payment is auto-deniedYesKept
archivedNo — terminalNoRevoked

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Pause and resume

Pausing is the everyday stop: one click (or POST /v1/agents/:id/pause), takes effect immediately, and is fully reversible. While paused, the policy engine denies every transaction, but the agent keeps its API key and configuration — resume (POST /v1/agents/:id/resume) puts it right back to work. Pausing is deliberately friction-free: no re-authentication required, because it only ever reduces what the agent can do.

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Archive

Archiving (DELETE /v1/agents/:id) is the terminal state: the agent’s API key is revoked and its wallet policy is detached. Archived agents cannot be reactivated. Archiving requires step-up authentication.

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The emergency stop

For a suspected-compromise scenario, the hard stop is pause + revoke the API key: 
POST   /v1/agents/:id/pause    # stop all spending immediately
DELETE /v1/agents/:id/key      # cut the agent's access entirely
This halts everything while staying reversible — investigate, then either resume with a freshly minted key (POST /v1/agents/:id/key) or archive.

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API keys

  • Each agent has at most one active key at a time.
  • Keys are shown once at creation, then stored only as a hash — copy it immediately.
  • Keys don’t expire on a schedule; revocation is the kill mechanism, and it propagates within seconds.
  • Minting and revoking keys requires step-up authentication. Pausing does not touch the key.