Autonomous Agent API Key Creation

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Prerequisites

• An EVM wallet on Base controlled by the agent (private key in an env var or secret manager).
• A small amount of ETH on Base for gas (staking is two transactions: approve then stake).
• Any non-zero amount of VVV to stake. The minting endpoint requires only that the wallet has a non-zero sVVV balance, so 1 VVV is enough to mint a key. See Paying for inference for what you need to actually call paid endpoints.

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Steps

1

Acquire VVV

Send VVV to the agent’s wallet, or have the agent swap on a DEX such as Aerodrome or Uniswap.VVV token contract on Base: 0xacfE6019Ed1A7Dc6f7B508C02d1b04ec88cC21bf

2

Stake VVV with Venice

Stake the VVV in the Venice Staking Smart Contract at 0x321b7ff75154472B18EDb199033fF4D116F340Ff. This is two transactions:

1. approve(spender, amount) on the VVV token, where spender is the staking contract.
2. stake(amount) on the staking contract.

When the second transaction confirms, the wallet’s VVV balance decreases and its sVVV balance increases by the same amount. The minting endpoint reads the sVVV balance to confirm the wallet is staked.

3

Request a challenge for the wallet

Call GET /api/v1/api_keys/generate_web3_key?address=<wallet address> to get a short-lived EIP-4361 (Sign-In with Ethereum) challenge. The endpoint is unauthenticated, but the challenge is bound to the address you pass and can only be redeemed by that wallet.

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/api_keys/generate_web3_key?address=<wallet address>'

The response contains message, nonce, and expiresAt:

{
  "data": {
    "message": "api.venice.ai wants you to sign in with your Ethereum account:\n0x...\n\nAuthorize Venice API key creation. Only sign this on venice.ai — anyone holding this signature can create an API key on your Venice account.\n\nURI: https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/api_keys/generate_web3_key\nVersion: 1\nChain ID: 8453\nNonce: 9f2c1d6b4a8e05337c1b9d2e6f4a7c81\nIssued At: 2026-06-30T11:02:41.167Z\nExpiration Time: 2026-06-30T11:17:41.167Z\nResources:\n- urn:venice:api-key:create",
    "nonce": "9f2c1d6b4a8e05337c1b9d2e6f4a7c81",
    "expiresAt": "2026-06-30T11:17:41.167Z"
  },
  "success": true
}

The challenge expires 15 minutes after issuance and is single-use — it is consumed the first time a key is minted with it. Request a new one for every key.

4

Sign the challenge with the staking wallet

Sign the message string verbatim with the wallet that holds the staked VVV. This is a standard personal_sign. Both ethers.Wallet.signMessage(message) and viem’s account.signMessage({ message }) produce the correct signature.Do not reformat, re-wrap, or regenerate the message. Venice verifies the signature over the exact bytes it issued, and independently re-checks the domain, URI, Chain ID, statement, and address inside it.

5

Mint the API key

POST the address, signature, and message to the same endpoint, along with the type of key you want.

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/api_keys/generate_web3_key \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "address": "<wallet address>",
    "signature": "<signature of the challenge message>",
    "message": "<the unmodified challenge message>",
    "apiKeyType": "INFERENCE",
    "description": "Agent key minted on <date>"
  }'

Required fields: address, signature, message, apiKeyType (INFERENCE or ADMIN).Optional fields: description, expiresAt, consumptionLimit (caps total spend on this key, denominated in usd, vcu, or diem).On success the response contains the minted apiKey string. Store it in the agent’s secret store and use it as a normal Bearer token (Authorization: Bearer <key>).

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End-to-end example

import { ethers } from "ethers"

const wallet = new ethers.Wallet(process.env.WALLET_PRIVATE_KEY!)
const address = wallet.address

const challengeResponse = await fetch(
  `https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/api_keys/generate_web3_key?address=${address}`,
)
const { data: { message } } = await challengeResponse.json()

const signature = await wallet.signMessage(message)

const mintResponse = await fetch("https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/api_keys/generate_web3_key", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    address,
    signature,
    message,
    apiKeyType: "INFERENCE",
    description: "Agent key",
  }),
})

const result = await mintResponse.json()
if (!mintResponse.ok) {
  throw new Error(`Mint failed: ${result.error}`)
}

console.log("Minted key:", result.data.apiKey)

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Error reference

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Why the challenge is wallet-bound and single-use

• Address binding. The challenge names the wallet it was issued for. A challenge obtained by one party cannot be signed and redeemed by a different wallet.
• Single-use nonce. Venice tracks the nonce server-side and consumes it on the first successful mint. One signature mints exactly one key, so a captured signature cannot be replayed for additional keys.
• Readable statement. The message states plainly that signing authorizes Venice API key creation, so a wallet UI such as MetaMask shows the signer what they are approving instead of a binary blob.

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Paying for inference

1. Stake more VVV so the daily DIEM allocation covers the agent’s spend. The minted key picks this up automatically.
2. Use the x402 wallet flow instead of the API key. With x402 the agent signs a Sign-In-With-X message per request, tops up directly with USDC on Base or Solana via POST /api/v1/x402/top-up, and pays per request. The x402 USDC balance is wallet-bound, not user-bound, so it does not show up as balance for the minted Bearer key, but it does let the same wallet pay for inference programmatically.

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Related resources