| name | slow |
| description | Use when an agent needs to send, hold, or settle ETH or ERC-20 value on Ethereum mainnet with a safety delay — reversible payments, timelocked transfers, guardian co-signing, or sponsored (gasless) delivery. Covers the SLOW protocol at 0x000000000000888741B254d37e1b27128AfEAaBC via a JSON CLI. Also use to inspect pending/inbound/outbound SLOW transfers or reverse a mistaken send. |
SLOW — a safe, reversible value rail for agents
SLOW wraps ETH or any ERC-20 into an ERC-1155 position that adds two opt-in safety rails to every transfer:
- Timelock — the recipient must wait before extracting the underlying.
- Guardian — an optional cosigner who must approve every outflow.
Why this matters for agents: a delayed send is reversible. If you (or the human you act for) send to the wrong address or the wrong amount, you can reverse any time before the timelock expires. This makes SLOW an unusually safe rail for agent-initiated payments — send with a delay, and a mistake is recoverable instead of final.
Contract (Ethereum mainnet): 0x000000000000888741B254d37e1b27128AfEAaBC — no owner, no upgrades, no fees.
The tool
Everything is one zero-dependency CLI that speaks JSON in, JSON out. Run it with Node ≥18:
node sdk/skills/slow/slow.mjs help
Reads need only an RPC (a keyless public pool is used if RPC_URL is unset). Writes are safe by default: they PREPARE an unsigned transaction and print it — nothing is submitted unless you add --send.
Golden path — send reversibly
# 1. Resolve + preview the recipient (echoes the address you're about to pay)
node sdk/skills/slow/slow.mjs resolve alice.wei
# 2. Prepare a 0.1 ETH send with a 1-day timelock (prints an unsigned tx, sends nothing)
node sdk/skills/slow/slow.mjs send --to alice.wei --amount 0.1 --token ETH --delay 1d
# 3. Submit it (see "Signing" below)
node sdk/skills/slow/slow.mjs send --to alice.wei --amount 0.1 --delay 1d --send
# If you erred, reverse before the day is up:
node sdk/skills/slow/slow.mjs outbox <your-address> # find the transferId
node sdk/skills/slow/slow.mjs reverse <transferId> --send
What to run, by task
| Task | Command |
|---|
| Send value with a safety delay | send --to <addr|name> --amount <n> [--token ETH] [--delay 1d] |
| Undo a send before it matures | reverse <transferId> --send |
| Recover a never-claimed send (30d+) | clawback <transferId> --send |
| Recipient: settle a matured transfer | unlock <transferId> --send |
| Unwrap back to the underlying | withdraw --from <addr> --to <addr|name> --id <id> --amount <base> |
| See what's owed to me | inbox <addr|name> |
| See what I've sent (still pending) | outbox <addr|name> |
| Full status of one transfer | status <transferId> |
| Spendable vs locked balance | balance <owner> <token> <delaySpec> |
Resolve an ENS / .wei name | resolve <name> |
| Compute a token id | id <token> <delaySpec> |
| Set / use a guardian cosigner | guardian set <addr> · guardian approve <from> <transferId> |
| Sponsor gasless delivery (tip a keeper) | add --tip <wei> to send |
delaySpec is one of none 1h 1d 3d 7d 30d or raw seconds. --token is ETH, a known symbol (USDC, USDT, DAI, WETH, WBTC, wstETH, … run help for the list), or any ERC-20 address.
Signing (--send)
- Recommended for agents: set
SLOW_PRIVATE_KEY (a hot key funded for gas). The CLI signs locally via viem (npm i viem). The key is read from the env only — never pass it as an argument.
- Unlocked/keystore node: omit the key and pass
--from <addr> (or set SLOW_ACCOUNT); the CLI uses eth_sendTransaction.
- External signer / multisig / human approval: don't use
--send. Take the tx object the prepare step prints ({ to, data, value, chainId }) and hand it to your wallet, a Safe, or a human.
Safety checklist (do this before every --send)
Deeper details
Read reference.md for the id encoding, the full lifecycle (pending → reversed / unlocked / claimed / clawed-back), guardian rotation and its veto window, the tip/keeper flow, and error meanings. For programmatic integration (viem/wagmi, React, a keeper bot), use the SDK in ../../ directly.
