How can an AI agent execute EVM transactions from a user's wallet without exposing the private key?

External question — Ethereum Stack Exchange Author: william yang Original post: https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/172414 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. How can an AI agent execute EVM transactions from a user's wallet without exposing the private key? I'm designing an AI agent that can help a user perform on-chain actions through natural language. For example: "Swap 100 USDC for ETH." "Send 20 USDC to this address." "Approve this contract, then execute the swap." "Execute my predefined trading strategy when the conditions are met." The challenge is that I do not want the AI agent to ever have access to the user's seed phrase or unrestricted private key. Instead, I want the user to give the agent limited execution permissions , such as: Only interact with specific contracts Only call specific functions Maximum amount per transaction Maximum daily spending limit Token-specific limits Expiration time Revocable permissions Replay protection Human approval for high-risk transactions For example, I would like to achieve something conceptually similar to: User's Wallet | | grants limited permission v AI Agent | | can execute: | USDC <= 100 USDC/day | only on approved contracts | no ETH transfers v Smart Contract / DEX