ZeroDev FAQs: Account Abstraction, Kernel, ERC-4337 Q&A

Frequently Asked Questions

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Getting Started

Key Abstraction

Gas Abstraction

Transaction Abstraction

Chain Abstraction

Smart Routing Account

What is ZeroDev and what are its core advantages over traditional wallets?

ZeroDev is the most powerful smart account development platform, built by Offchain Labs. It eliminates major Web3 friction points through Key Abstraction (no seed phrases), Gas Abstraction (no native gas tokens needed), and Chain Abstraction (no manual bridging).

What is the ZeroDev Kernel and what Account Abstraction standards does it support?

The Kernel is our minimal, audited, and extensible smart contract account. It is fully compatible with ERC-4337 and natively supports EIP-7702 (Smart EOAs) and the modular ERC-7579 standard.

What networks and chains does ZeroDev support?

ZeroDev is a multi-chain solution that powers over 5 million smart accounts on 30+ EVM-compatible networks. This includes all major networks like Ethereum Mainnet, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, Avalanche, and BSC.

How does ZeroDev compare in performance to other ERC-4337 solutions?

ZeroDev pioneered an intent-based architecture (ERC-7683) and its own infrastructure, UltraRelay, which leads to transactions that are up to 20% cheaper in gas and have 25% less latency than traditional ERC-4337 bundlers.

How do I start building with the ZeroDev SDK?

To get started, install the appropriate SDK (e.g., @zerodev/sdk or @zerodev/waas for React) and obtain a Project ID from the ZeroDev dashboard. You initialize a Kernel client by linking an owner/signer (e.g., an EOA, Passkey, or Social Login) and specifying your Project ID.

Which ZeroDev SDK should I use for a DApp versus an embedded wallet?

For DApps: Use @zerodev/wallet to spin up a smart embedded wallet for users who don't have one, accessing smart features via the Capabilities API. For Wallets (Embedded/Standalone): Use @zerodev/core for fine-grained control or @zerodev/waas for a React-native integration.

Does ZeroDev's infrastructure have redundancy or is it centralized?

ZeroDev operates a Meta AA Infrastructure that ensures utmost reliability. Our RPCs proxy traffic across multiple underlying bundlers, including UltraRelay, Alchemy, Gelato, and Pimlico, to guarantee high uptime and performance through redundancy.

What are the pricing tiers for ZeroDev's services?

We offer four tiers: Pay as you Go ($\$0/mo$), Growth ($\$69/mo$ with 10k UserOps included), Scale ($\$399/mo$ with 100k UserOps included), and Enterprise (Custom pricing and support).

What is the cost of an additional UserOperation (UserOp) outside of my monthly plan?

For Growth and Scale plans, overages will be priced at:
Growth: $0.0020 per credit ($0.04 per UserOp)
Scale: $0.0010 per credit ($0.02 per UserOp)
Please contact our Sales team for Enterprise overage costs.

What is Key Abstraction and why is it ZeroDev's solution to seed phrases?

Key Abstraction separates the wallet address from the owner key, allowing flexible, non-seed-phrase authentication. ZeroDev implements this via custom validators for familiar login methods like Social Login and Passkeys, ensuring users can recover or upgrade their keys without changing their wallet address.

How do ZeroDev Passkeys work, and are they custodial?

Passkeys use the security features of the user's device (e.g., Face ID, Touch ID) to sign transactions. They are non-custodial; the private key is securely stored in the device's hardware enclave (e.g., Apple/Google Keychain) and never leaves it.

Is the Passkeys Validator EIP-4337 compliant, and what technology does it use?

Yes, the Passkeys Validator is a core plugin that provides signature verification logic called by the ERC-4337 EntryPoint. ZeroDev uses a progressive approach: prioritizing the highly gas-efficient ERC-7212 (if available) and falling back to a smart contract implementation otherwise.

How can users perform account recovery if they lose their key (e.g., a lost device or Passkey)?

ZeroDev supports a flexible Account Recovery mechanism. Users can set up a guardian (a separate key, another device, or the DApp itself) which can initiate a recovery action to change the sudo validator (owner key) of the smart account.

How do I implement Social Login with providers like Google or Facebook?

ZeroDev supports social login natively via the @zerodev/waas or @zerodev/social-validator SDKs. For production, developers must configure their details (e.g., client ID) in the ZeroDev dashboard (Growth plan or higher), which utilizes Magic for secure underlying key management.

Can a user upgrade their signer (e.g., move from an EOA to a Passkey) on the same account?

Yes. The Kernel's modular design allows the existing owner (the sudo validator) to easily enable or install a new validator (e.g., the Passkeys Validator) as the new signing mechanism without changing the smart account address.

Can I use ZeroDev with custom or proprietary authentication systems (e.g., MPC)?

Yes. ZeroDev's Kernel is open and supports Custom Validator Plugins. Developers can implement a custom signer that conforms to the SmartAccountSigner interface and install it on the Kernel, allowing integration with any signing mechanism, including custom MPC setups or custodial key providers like Turnkey.

Does ZeroDev support Multi-signature (Multisig) or Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?

Yes. Multisig is supported via a specialized Multisig Validator plugin. MFA can be implemented by setting multiple validators with policies that require more than one key or condition to execute a transaction.

What is the difference between a sudo validator and a regular validator?

The sudo validator is the owner of the account with ultimate control, capable of installing or revoking other plugins. Regular validators (like a Session Key or a Guardian) have limited, non-sudo access based on defined policies.

Can I still use an existing EOA wallet (like MetaMask) as a signer with ZeroDev?

Yes, ZeroDev supports this via an ECDSA Validator. The EOA does not act as the wallet, but as the master key (signer) for the ZeroDev smart account, granting it AA superpowers.

What is Gas Abstraction and how does it solve the gas friction problem?

Gas Abstraction removes the requirement for users to hold native gas tokens (like ETH). ZeroDev enables this by allowing DApps to sponsor gas fees (gasless transactions) or by letting users pay for gas with ERC-20 tokens (e.g., USDC).

How does ZeroDev enable DApps to sponsor gas (Gasless Transactions)?

Developers fund their ZeroDev project account and define a Gas Policy via the dashboard or API. The ZeroDev paymaster checks the policy, fronts the native gas fee, and the developer is charged later (via credit card or gas credits).

What is the ZeroDev UltraRelay and how does it improve gas efficiency?

UltraRelay is ZeroDev's proprietary bundler and relayer infrastructure. It is optimized for sponsored transactions, using an intent-based architecture (ERC-7683) to achieve up to 30% less gas cost and 20% lower latency than standard ERC-4337 bundlers.

What types of custom Gas Policies and limits can I set for sponsorship?

ZeroDev allows highly granular control using four Policy Types (Project, Contract, Wallet, Custom Webhook) and four Rate Limit Types. You can limit sponsorship by the total Amount of gas, the number of Requests per interval, the current Gas Price, or the Amount per Transaction.

Can users pay for gas with stablecoins like USDC, and what chains support this?

Yes. ZeroDev supports payment in ERC-20 tokens via its ERC-20 Paymaster. Our managed paymaster currently supports USDC on major L2s/chains including Ethereum Mainnet, Polygon, Base, Optimism, and Arbitrum.

Is there a premium fee for using ZeroDev's gas sponsorship service?

Yes, a Gas Sponsorship Premium is applied to cover infrastructure costs and network volatility. This premium is 8% for Growth and Scale. Please contact us for customer enterprise level premiums.

Can I deploy my own self-funded ERC-20 Paymaster for custom tokens?

Yes. Developers on the ZeroDev dashboard can deploy a Self-Funded ERC-20 Paymaster contract, fund it with native gas tokens, and then set their own exchange rate to support custom ERC-20 tokens (e.g., a project token or USDe).

How does ZeroDev prevent abuse or denial-of-service attacks on sponsored transactions?

Abuse is prevented primarily through the mandatory Gas Policy system. By setting precise limits on the total gas amount, request rate, and allowed contract interactions, developers ensure sponsorship is limited to legitimate user activity.

How does the SDK simplify the process of approving ERC-20 tokens for gas payment?

ZeroDev's SDK allows developers to batch the ERC-20 approval for the paymaster along with the initial UserOp. This means a user only signs once to approve the tokens and execute the transaction, eliminating a separate gas-consuming approval step.

Can I use a completely custom logic for gas sponsorship approval?

Yes. The Custom Gas Policy feature allows you to connect a webhook URL. ZeroDev's paymaster will send the UserOp details to your custom server, and your server returns a boolean (proceed: true/false) to determine if the transaction should be sponsored.

What is Transaction Abstraction and what features does it enable for DApps?

Transaction Abstraction simplifies multi-step or time-sensitive on-chain operations. Key features include Batching (atomic multi-step transactions), Session Keys (transaction automation), Multisig, and Parallel Transactions (2D Nonces).

How does Transaction Batching work, and what is its main benefit in DeFi?

Batching combines multiple contract calls (e.g., approve, swap, stake) into a single UserOperation. The main benefit is achieving atomicity—the entire sequence executes successfully or fails entirely—and simplifying user flow, like enabling "Approve & Swap in one click".

What are ZeroDev Session Keys, and what are their primary use cases?

Session Keys are temporary, dedicated signing keys with granular, revocable permissions. Use cases include transaction automation for bots or AI agents, pre-authorizing actions like limit orders or dollar-cost averaging (DCA), or enabling gasless gameplay in Web3 games.

How do Session Keys maintain security and prevent wallet draining?

Session Keys are implemented as "Regular Validators" with non-sudo access. Security is maintained through granular Policies (e.g., Call Policy, Gas Policy) that restrict the key to only specific contracts (e.g., Uniswap), functions, and spending limits, making it impossible to drain the entire wallet.

What kinds of permissions can I define using Session Key Policies?

You can define composite rules using multiple policy types: Call Policy (target contract/function), Gas Policy (max total gas spend), Rate Limit Policy (max number of requests per interval), and Timestamp Policy (valid time window).

Can a developer use a Session Key on their server (backend) for automation?

Yes. This architecture is designed for "Owner" (user) and "Agent" (server) interaction. The user pre-approves the session key off-chain, and the developer's server uses the key's private key to programmatically sign and submit transactions from the backend.

How does ZeroDev enable Parallel Transactions?

ZeroDev enables parallel UserOps via 2D Nonces. Instead of a single sequential counter, the nonce is split into a nonce key and a nonce value. By assigning a different nonce key to unrelated transactions (e.g., "Uniswap" vs. "AAVE"), they can be processed by the network simultaneously.

How is Multisig implemented using the ZeroDev Kernel?

Multisig is implemented using a specialized Multisig Validator plugin. This plugin defines the multi-signer configuration (e.g., 2-of-3 signers required) using any combination of signers (EOAs, Passkeys, etc.) that must collectively validate a UserOp before it can be executed.

Is Transaction Abstraction compatible with EIP-7702 accounts?

Yes. ZeroDev is built to support both standard ERC-4337 smart accounts and EIP-7702 Smart EOAs, allowing both account types to benefit from Transaction Abstraction features like Batching and Session Keys.

Does ZeroDev support the ERC-5792 Capabilities API?

Yes. ZeroDev supports the ERC-5792 Capabilities API, which allows DApps to interact with any ERC-4337 smart wallet in a standardized way. This ensures that DApps built with ZeroDev are compatible with the wider smart wallet ecosystem.

What is Chain Abstraction and how does it eliminate the need for bridging?

Chain Abstraction allows users to spend tokens on any chain as if they were on one unified network. ZeroDev is the first to natively support this by abstracting the complexities of cross-chain execution and bridging via Intents.

What is a Chain-Abstracted Balance (CAB) and how is it calculated?

CAB is a unified, aggregated balance of a single token (e.g., USDC) held by the user across multiple different chains. The total CAB is available for spending on any chain, regardless of where the physical tokens are located.

How does Chain Abstraction achieve near-instantaneous cross-chain spending?

It uses an Intent-based architecture (ERC-7683). When a user signs an intent, a decentralized network of solvers/fillers (powered by protocols like Across) immediately front the funds on the destination chain, eliminating the typical bridging latency.

Can Chain Abstraction be used to pay gas fees on a chain where the user has no native tokens?

Yes. This is a core use case. ZeroDev's Chain Abstraction can execute a transaction on Chain B (the destination chain) while settling the gas fees using a token balance (or the CAB balance) held on Chain A (the source chain).

What is the role of ERC-7683 (Intents) and Across Protocol in ZeroDev's solution?

ERC-7683 is the standardized framework for expressing cross-chain desired outcomes (Intents). ZeroDev integrates with Across Protocol's relayer network to serve as the highly liquid and competitive engine that resolves and fulfills the user's intent.

What tokens are currently supported for Chain-Abstracted Balance (CAB) spending?

Currently, the CAB solution is built around major stablecoins and core assets. It supports USDC for aggregation and spending, with built-in functionality to swap CAB balances into USDT, DAI, WETH, and WBTC for use on the destination chain.

How is a ZeroDev smart account set up to enable CAB features?

For optimal experience, the Kernel account must be set up with a Multi-chain Validator (which signs for all chains with one signature). Developers then use the SDK to wrap the client with createKernelCABClient and explicitly enable CAB for the desired tokens and networks.

How can developers query a user's total Chain-Abstracted Balance?

The SDK provides a dedicated function, intentClient.getCAB(), which aggregates the token balances across all supported networks and presents them as a single unified balance. It can also return a detailed breakdown of where those funds reside.

Is Chain Abstraction compatible with EIP-7702 Smart EOAs?

Yes. ZeroDev's implementation is designed to be fully compatible with EIP-7702, allowing Smart EOAs to declare and fulfill cross-chain intents and benefit from the unified balance model.

Is there a cost for DApps to use the Chain Abstraction feature in production?

For production-level use, Chain Abstraction is only available to projects on the Scale or Enterprise plans. While the core transaction cost is managed by the solver network (built into the execution rate), production access is gated by the higher ZeroDev tiers.

What is the ZeroDev Smart Routing Address (SRA) and how does it solve onboarding friction?

The SRA is a unique, multi-chain deposit address that enables users to deposit funds to a target L2/L3 from any CEX, fiat onramp, or blockchain. It eliminates the major hurdle of navigating bridges and managing chain-specific deposit addresses.

How does the Smart Routing Address work under the hood?

The SRA is technically an address that encodes a cross-chain intent. When funds arrive on the source chain, an automated process triggers the execution of that intent, which uses underlying bridge protocols to ensure the funds arrive on the developer's specified destination chain.

How do users transfer funds from a CEX (like Coinbase or Binance) to their L2 Smart Account using the SRA?

The user simply withdraws funds (e.g., USDC or ETH) from the CEX and pastes the SRA as the destination address. They can choose the cheapest withdrawal network (e.g., Base), and the SRA automatically routes the funds to their smart account on the desired final chain.

Can I execute a contract action immediately upon a deposit to the Smart Routing Address?

Yes. The SRA is highly programmable. Developers define an action to be triggered when the address receives a supported token. For example, a deposit of USDC could automatically execute a call to stake those funds or purchase an NFT on the destination chain.

What tokens and source chains are supported for deposits to the SRA?

The Smart Routing Address can be configured to accept a customizable list of srcTokens (Source Tokens). This allows it to receive assets like USDC, USDT, ETH, and WRAPPED_NATIVE on a wide range of source chains that ZeroDev supports.

What is the user-paid cost (Usage Pricing) for using the Smart Routing Address?

The user is charged a Usage Fee, which is a small basis point percentage of the transfer value, on top of any underlying bridge fees. This fee is generally lower for larger transfers: for example, 0.20% for transfers below $\$500$ and 0.10% for those above.

What is the developer-paid cost (Base Pricing) for using the SRA in production?

To use the Smart Routing Address API in production, developers must subscribe to a Base Pricing tier, starting at $\$500$ per month or a discounted $\$4,000$ per year. This covers the infrastructure required to listen for and process the cross-chain intents.

Can a developer sponsor the usage fees for the Smart Routing Address for their users?

Yes. By configuring the SRA with your ZeroDev Project ID, you can enable Fee Sponsorship. This ensures users receive the full deposited amount on the destination chain, while the developer's ZeroDev account is billed for the usage fees separately.

What safety mechanism is in place if the cross-chain intent fails to execute?

When creating an SRA, an owner address must be specified. If the SRA fails to execute the designated target action (e.g., due to an error or slippage beyond tolerance), the owner is authorized to manually recover the stuck funds, ensuring capital safety.

What happens if a user sends an unsupported token to the Smart Routing Address?

If the user sends a token that is not listed in the srcTokens during the SRA's creation, the transfer will not automatically trigger the defined cross-chain action. Those unsupported tokens will be held in the SRA and can only be accessed or moved via manual recovery by the specified owner.