Manual NLA Arbitration

Manually arbitrate escrow fulfillments using the nla escrow:arbitrate CLI command, bypassing the automated oracle listener.

When to use this

• The user wants to manually review and decide on escrow fulfillments
• The user is the oracle (their wallet address was specified as the oracle when escrows were created)
• The automated oracle is not running, or the user wants more control over decisions

Step-by-step instructions

1. Verify oracle identity

The user's wallet must be the oracle address specified in the escrow:

nla wallet:show

2a. Arbitrate a specific escrow

To review fulfillments for a known escrow UID:

# Interactive mode - prompts for approve/reject
nla escrow:arbitrate --escrow-uid <uid>

# Auto mode - uses the LLM specified in the escrow's demand
nla escrow:arbitrate --escrow-uid <uid> --auto

2b. Scan for all pending requests

To find all unarbitrated fulfillments where the user is the oracle:

# Interactive mode
nla escrow:arbitrate --escrow-uid all

# Auto mode
nla escrow:arbitrate --escrow-uid all --auto

3. Review and decide

In interactive mode, the command displays each pending fulfillment with:

• Escrow UID and fulfillment UID
• The demand text
• The fulfillment text
• The arbitration provider/model specified

Then prompts for a decision: approve, reject, or skip.

In auto mode (--auto), the command uses the LLM provider/model specified in the escrow's demand to arbitrate automatically. Requires at least one LLM API key via environment variables or flags (--openai-api-key, --anthropic-api-key, --openrouter-api-key).

4. Verify

After arbitration, check the result:

nla escrow:status --escrow-uid <escrow_uid>

Key details

• The user's wallet address MUST match the oracle address in the escrow - otherwise the on-chain contract rejects the decision
• Each arbitration decision is recorded as a permanent on-chain attestation
• In interactive mode, type skip or s to skip a fulfillment without deciding
• Auto mode reads LLM API keys from environment variables (OPENAI_API_KEY, etc.) or CLI flags
• If no pending requests are found, the command explains possible reasons (no fulfillments yet, already arbitrated, or wrong oracle address)

Prerequisites

• nla CLI installed and configured
• Private key set via nla wallet:set, --private-key flag, or PRIVATE_KEY env var
• ETH in the oracle's account for gas (submitting decisions costs gas)
• For auto mode: at least one LLM provider API key

Examples

# Scan for all pending requests, decide interactively
nla escrow:arbitrate --escrow-uid all

# Auto-arbitrate a specific escrow using LLM
nla escrow:arbitrate --escrow-uid 0xabc123... --auto

# Auto-arbitrate all pending, with explicit API key
nla escrow:arbitrate --escrow-uid all --auto --openai-api-key sk-...