> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://shinkalabs.gitbook.io/hub/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://shinkalabs.gitbook.io/hub/andromeda/why.md).

# Why Andromeda

Andromeda exists because four things are still painfully hard to ship.

## Multi-chain is mostly glue code

Every team that needs to operate wallets on more than one chain rebuilds the same plumbing: key management, per-chain signing, recovery, session handling. Andromeda is one API for all of it. You request a signature; you get a raw signature back; you assemble and broadcast the transaction on the destination chain. The underlying threshold-signing network (Ika on Solana) supports Ed25519, SECP256K1, SECP256R1 and Ristretto, which together cover EVM, Bitcoin, Solana, Cosmos, NEAR, Aptos and Substrate.

## "Smart wallet" usually means "trust our backend"

Most programmable-wallet products enforce their rules in a server. If the server is compromised, the rules are gone. Andromeda's policies (allowlists, velocity guards, time-locks, oracle circuit breakers, passkey step-up, session keys) are deployed as Solana programs that hold the wallet's signing authority. The API cannot bypass them, because the API is not the authority. See [On-chain policies](/hub/andromeda/concepts/policies.md).

## Recovery is the unsolved UX problem

Seed phrases get lost. The usual answers either reintroduce custody or force the user onto a new chain and a new wallet. Andromeda does social recovery where the user proves ownership of a credential they already have by signing a 32-byte challenge off-chain. Andromeda pays the gas and submits the Solana transaction. Every signature is checked by a Solana runtime precompile, so a compromised Andromeda backend cannot forge anyone's approval. See [Recovery](/hub/andromeda/concepts/recovery.md) and [Zero attestor](/hub/andromeda/concepts/zero-attestor.md).

## AI agents need to sign things

Agents increasingly need to move value, rotate keys, or trigger recovery as part of a workflow. Andromeda mirrors every REST route as an MCP tool, so an agent in Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client can perform those operations with no SDK and no glue code. See [MCP](/hub/andromeda/concepts/mcp.md).

## What Andromeda is not

* It does not custody user keys. The 2PC-MPC design and the `prepare -> submit` pattern exist precisely so a private key never lives on the server. See [Custody-free model](/hub/andromeda/concepts/custody-free.md).
* It does not reimplement the cryptography. Ika provides the 2PC-MPC dWallets; Encrypt provides the FHE evaluation. Andromeda provides the product surface around them: policy programs, recovery, identity, gas sponsorship, MCP, webhooks, audit log, OpenAPI.
* It is not a chain. Andromeda runs on top of Solana; the on-chain programs live on Solana devnet today.


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