Developers building decentralized applications and platforms can find it difficult to create automated workflows across different networks and data sources. Ava Protocol’s decentralized automation framework offers a solution by simplifying onchain interactions, integrating verified external data, and streamlining task scheduling.
As highlighted by the team at Eigen Labs, Ava Protocol taps into “a unique design space for verified, event-based automation that empowers developers to keep pace with the increasingly fast-moving world of web3.”
The following technical overview explains the protocol’s core architecture. For more information, visit Ava Protocol's documentation and join our Discord.
What is Ava Protocol, and what does it offer developers?
Ava Protocol is a decentralized automation system that simplifies event-driven workflows for web3 developers. Its architecture is built around three core components:
- Event-Driven Execution: Our proprietary model allows developers to build workflows and DevOps triggered by conditions like time, price changes, and onchain or off-chain events, enabling highly customizable and automated actions.
- EigenLayer: As an EigenLayer AVS (Actively Validated Service), Ava Protocol leverages restaking to ensure decentralization, security, and trust in task execution.
- Smart Wallets: Powered by ERC-4337 and ERC-6900 standards, Ava Protocol’s smart wallets enable secure, composable automation, managing user permissions and task scheduling without storing private keys.
Ava Protocol reduces costs, shortens development cycles, and simplifies tasks like scheduled and streaming payments, auto-compounding rewards, DeFi trading strategies, NFT updates, and other automation-intensive use cases.
What infrastructure does Ava Protocol replace or simplify?
Ava Protocol eliminates the need for developers to build and maintain custom backend systems for dapp automation. This includes:
- Custom APIs: Developers no longer need to build bespoke solutions for cross-chain interactions or task management.
- Task Schedulers: The event-driven execution model natively handles task queuing, prioritization, and monitoring.
- Security Frameworks: The EigenLayer and smart wallet architecture ensure secure task execution without sensitive key management.
Developers can automate workflows without coding scripts or managing custom infrastructure, allowing them to quickly build and deploy.
How does Ava Protocol’s event-based execution model work?
Ava Protocol enables developers to define workflows triggered by specific conditions or events, with three main components to the process:
- Task Payload Aggregation: Developers define tasks — e.g., initiating payments or executing trades — via the smart account Controller. These tasks are aggregated into a secure payload that is managed by the AVS Aggregator.
- Event Registry: The protocol continuously monitors conditions such as market price changes, onchain events, or off-chain inputs (e.g., oracle data). It uses a priority queue to filter, batch, and organize tasks for execution based on user-defined parameters.
- Task Execution: Once conditions are met, operators verify them and submit tasks for execution as onchain transactions. Failed tasks can be retried or aborted, depending on user preferences.
The model streamlines task automation, enabling workflows to respond dynamically to onchain and off-chain signals reliably and efficiently.
What are the key features of Ava Protocol’s smart account Controller?
The smart account Controller is a critical component of Ava Protocol’s task management system. Key features include:
- Task Scheduling: The Controller aggregates tasks into secure queues and manages permissions through web3-native (e.g., wallet signatures) or web2-friendly (e.g., OAuth) methods.
- Granular Permissions: User-defined scopes enforce task-specific rules, such as token limits or transaction frequency. For example, permissions can restrict transfers to ETH and USDC with a monthly cap.
- Integration Ready: Developers can connect the Controller with existing dapps to enable advanced workflows without modifying core logic.
Developers can implement automation securely and flexibly, reducing the reliance on external infrastructure.
How does Ava Protocol ensure that tasks are executed efficiently?
Ava Protocol uses custom data structures to optimize task execution:
- Task Prioritization: Tasks are queued based on parameters like urgency or user-defined fees, ensuring the prompt execution of critical workflows.
- Batch Execution: Similar tasks are grouped to optimize gas fees and network resources.
- Filtering: Tasks that lack necessary permissions or meet rejection criteria (e.g., targeting blacklisted contracts) are filtered out before submission.
Ava Protocol helps minimize costs while ensuring that workflows remain reliable, even under high network load.
How does Ava Protocol integrate cross-chain and off-chain data?
Ava Protocol supports seamless integration with various data sources, expanding the design space for developers:
- Cross-Chain Interoperability: Developers can automate workflows across Ethereum and layer 2s for asset transfers, multi-chain subscriptions, cross-protocol triggers, and more.
- Off-Chain Data Verification: Developers can incorporate real-world data (e.g., financial indices, IoT events) into onchain workflows through verifiable off-chain data services like oracles.
- Custom Data Sources: Developers can integrate subgraph queries, oracle signals, and proprietary APIs. Future support for webhooks will allow direct triggering of workflows.
This flexibility enables developers to build applications that respond dynamically to both blockchain and external conditions.
What makes Ava Protocol’s automation secure?
Ava Protocol’s security is multi-faceted and integrated across its architecture:
- Smart Wallet Design: Our smart wallets use a dual-control structure, combining the user’s EOA and the smart account Controller to execute tasks. Tasks are scheduled without storing private keys, with user permissions assigned through web3-native authentication or OAuth (e.g., Google or Coinbase).
- EigenLayer Validation: All automations are verified by restaked validators in the EigenLayer network, ensuring a decentralized and tamper-resistant execution framework.
- Custom Data Structures: Ava Protocol uses priority queues to batch and filter tasks, mitigating risks like spam or malicious inputs. These structures enforce user-defined scopes, ensuring tasks adhere to permissions.
- MEV Protection: By using verified, event-driven automation in trusted execution environments, Ava Protocol reduces exposure to frontrunning and other exploit risks.
Together, these measures provide a secure and decentralized automation framework that protects workflows.
Whether managing recurring payments, integrating cross-chain interactions, or leveraging verified off-chain data, Ava Protocol reduces operational complexity and risk so that developers can focus on innovating.
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About Chris Li
Chris Li (LinkedIn) is the founder and CEO of Ava Protocol. Prior to establishing Ava Protocol, Chris gained valuable experience as a Messaging Protocol Engineer at Microsoft and as a successful serial entrepreneur. He is also a long-term EVM smart contract developer, Web3 Foundation grant recipient, and Polkadot core contributor.