How to use Argent for social recovery? (Smart Contract Wallets)

Understanding Social Recovery in Argent Wallet

1. Social recovery is a security mechanism built into Argent’s smart contract wallet that allows users to regain access without traditional seed phrases.

2. Instead of relying on mnemonic backups, Argent delegates recovery authority to trusted contacts known as guardians.
3. Guardians can be friends, family members, or even hardware wallets—any Ethereum address the user selects and approves.
4. The wallet enforces multi-signature logic: recovery requires approval from a predefined number of guardians, typically two out of three.
5. This model eliminates single points of failure while preserving self-custody principles inherent to non-custodial wallets.

Setting Up Guardians During Wallet Initialization

1. Upon creating a new Argent wallet, users are prompted to add at least one guardian before finalizing setup.

2. Adding a guardian involves entering their Ethereum address and confirming the action via transaction.
3. Each guardian must interact with the wallet once—by signing a small transaction—to activate their role.
4. Users may add up to five guardians, but must specify the minimum threshold required for recovery actions.
5. Guardian addresses are stored on-chain within the wallet’s smart contract, making them immutable unless updated through a secure governance flow.

Initiating a Recovery Flow

1. If a user loses device access or forgets biometric credentials, they launch the Argent app and select “Recover Wallet.”

2. The app displays active guardians and initiates a request broadcast to their Ethereum addresses.
3. Guardians receive notifications either through Argent’s push system or by checking their own wallet activity.
4. Each guardian signs an off-chain message using their connected wallet, which Argent verifies against the on-chain contract rules.
5. Once the required quorum is met, the wallet reinitializes session keys and restores full control to the original owner.

Updating or Removing Guardians

1. Guardian lists can be modified only when the wallet is fully accessible—no recovery flow permits edits during compromised states.

2. To replace a guardian, the user submits a transaction specifying the old and new addresses, subject to time-locked confirmation.
3. Changes require confirmation from existing guardians if the threshold policy mandates it, ensuring continuity of trust.
4. A 24-hour delay is enforced after proposing changes, preventing rushed or coerced modifications.
5. Revoking a guardian does not affect past recovery events but invalidates their future participation unless re-added.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can a guardian steal my funds?A: No. Guardians hold no spending authority. Their sole permission is to approve recovery requests under strict contract-enforced conditions.

Q: What happens if all my guardians go offline permanently?A: Argent does not provide custodial fallbacks. Users are advised to include at least one guardian with predictable availability—such as a Ledger device or a trusted DAO multisig.

Q: Is social recovery compatible with EIP-4337 account abstraction?A: Yes. Argent v6 integrates ERC-4337 natively, allowing gas sponsorship and signature aggregation while preserving guardian-based recovery semantics.

Q: Do guardians need to hold ETH to approve recovery?A: Yes. Guardians must pay nominal gas fees to sign the recovery confirmation. This prevents spam and ensures intentional participation.