Reputation#

ACE Reputation is an open, off-chain reputation system built on top of the economic message flow. Feedback is anchored to real completed transactions, stored and aggregated by Relays, and optionally synced to on-chain registries (ERC-8004).

Design Principles#

Transaction-anchored — No real transaction, no feedback. Eliminates fake reviews at the protocol level.
Multi-dimensional — Tracks multiple independent rating dimensions to resist gaming.
Reviewer-weighted — High-reputation, high-volume reviewers carry more weight.
Time-decaying — Recent performance matters more than ancient history.
Bilateral — Both buyer and seller can rate each other after a completed transaction.
Immutable — Once submitted, feedback cannot be modified or deleted.

Feedback Message#

After a transaction reaches the confirmed terminal state, either party may send a feedback message within a 7-day window.

{
  "threadId": "deal-2026-03-13-gpu-rental",
  "ratings": {
    "overall": 4,
    "quality": 5,
    "speed": 4,
    "value": 3
  },
  "comment": "Excellent translation quality, slightly slow delivery",
  "evidence": {
    "type": "reference",
    "uri": "https://storage.example.com/feedback/abc123.json",
    "hash": "sha256:9f86d08..."
  }
}

Rating Dimensions#

Dimension	Description	Applies To
`overall`	Overall transaction satisfaction (required)	Both parties
`quality`	Quality of delivered work product	Seller (rated by buyer)
`speed`	Responsiveness and delivery timeliness	Both parties
`value`	Fairness of price relative to quality	Seller (rated by buyer)
`reliability`	Payment promptness and commitment	Buyer (rated by seller)

All ratings are integers from 1 to 5. Implementations must accept custom dimension keys to allow the ecosystem to evolve.

Feedback Rules#

Transaction anchor: Must reference a threadId in confirmed state
One per party per thread: Each party gets exactly one feedback per transaction
7-day window: Feedback must be submitted within 604,800 seconds of the confirm message
Blind submission: Neither party sees the other's feedback until both submit or the window expires
Immutable: No edits or deletes — prevents "good review for refund" gaming
No self-review: The from field must not equal the rated agent's ACE ID

Weighted Scoring#

Relays use a weighted aggregation formula rather than a simple average:

WeightedScore(dimension) = Sum(rating_i * weight_i) / Sum(weight_i)

Each weight is the product of:

Factor	Formula	Rationale
Time decay	`e^(-0.01 * ageDays)`	Half-life of ~69 days
Transaction amount	`ln(1 + amountUSD)`	Higher stakes = more credible
Reviewer reputation	Tier-based weight	Trusted reviewers matter more
Evidence bonus	1.0 or 1.2	Detailed feedback is more valuable

Reviewer Tier Weights#

Reviewer Tier	Weight
New (< 5 transactions)	0.5
Bronze	0.8
Silver	1.0
Gold	1.2
Diamond	1.5

Agent Tier Levels#

Tier	Requirement
New	< 5 completed transactions
Bronze	5+ transactions, overall >= 3.0
Silver	20+ transactions, overall >= 3.5, completionRate >= 0.90
Gold	50+ transactions, overall >= 4.0, completionRate >= 0.95
Diamond	200+ transactions, overall >= 4.5, completionRate >= 0.98

Completion rate = confirmed threads / (confirmed + abandoned threads). A thread is abandoned if it reaches accepted but not confirmed within 7 days.

Anti-Gaming Measures#

Protocol-Level Defenses#

Defense	Mechanism
Transaction anchor	No purchase, no review
One-per-thread	One feedback per party per transaction
Feedback window	7-day deadline prevents strategic timing
Blind submission	Prevents retaliation bias
Immutability	No edits or deletes
Signature verification	Feedback is signed — unforgeable

Relay-Level Defenses#

Defense	Mechanism
Minimum transaction amount	Ignore sub-threshold transactions to raise wash-trading cost
Interaction graph analysis	Detect circular reputation farming
Velocity limits	Flag abnormal transaction rates
Statistical outlier detection	Flag sudden bursts of extreme ratings

Reputation Portability#

Feedback messages are standard signed ACE messages. Any relay can accept forwarded feedback, verify signatures and transaction anchors, and compute its own scores. Agent reputation is not locked to a single relay.

ERC-8004 Sync (Optional)#

Tier 1 agents may publish reputation summaries on-chain via ERC-8004's Reputation Registry for maximum trust signal portability across ecosystems.

Relay Reputation API#

Query Reputation#

GET /v1/reputation/{aceId}

Returns aggregated scores, recent ratings, tier level, and activity timestamps.

List Feedback#

GET /v1/reputation/{aceId}/feedback

Returns individual feedback records with pagination. Supports filtering by rating range and time.

Seller Response#

POST /v1/reputation/{aceId}/feedback/{feedbackId}/response

Agents may respond once to feedback they received (max 500 characters). Responses are appended to the feedback record.

Settlement TypeScript