Gasless Payments for AI Agents with EIP-712 Intents

AI agents can't hold ETH for gas. They shouldn't have to. Here's how to build a payment system where agents sign typed data and never touch gas or funds. The problem Your AI agent needs to pay for an API, buy data, or settle a trade. Traditional approach: give it a wallet with ETH + USDC. But then you're managing gas balances, handling failed transactions, and praying the agent doesn't get drained. The solution: EIP-712 payment intents Instead of executing transactions, agents sign intents - structured messages that say "I want to pay X to Y." A relayer picks up the intent, validates it against spending policies, and submits the on-chain transaction. The agent never needs ETH. Never submits a transaction. Never holds funds. Step 1: Define the intent structure struct PaymentIntent { address bot; // The agent's address address to; // Payment recipient address token; // ERC-20 token (e.g. USDC) uint256 amount; // Amount in token decimals uint256 deadline; // Expiry timestamp bytes32 ref;