• Remove dead SkipRelaySigning global variable and all skip checks
• Remove --skip-relay-signing CLI flags from smart-router and provider
• Remove smart-router auto-enable startup logic (18 lines)
• Remove 4 test functions testing only skip behavior
• Fix integration test to use real provider addresses instead of placeholder

Remove SkipRelaySigningFlag constant definition

protocol/common/cobra_common.go

Remove SkipRelaySigning global and skip logic

protocol/lavaprotocol/request_builder.go

Remove skip signing checks from response functions

protocol/lavaprotocol/response_builder.go

Description

ConstructRelayRequest now always calls sigs.Sign(privKey, ...) and no longer has a bypass path,
but it does not validate privKey is non-nil, which can cause a panic or hard-to-diagnose failure
if a caller passes a nil key.

Code

protocol/lavaprotocol/request_builder.go[R129-136]

func ConstructRelayRequest(ctx context.Context, privKey *btcec.PrivateKey, lavaChainID, chainID string, relayRequestData *pairingtypes.RelayPrivateData, providerPublicAddress string, consumerSession *lavasession.SingleConsumerSession, epoch int64, reportedProviders []*pairingtypes.ReportedProvider) (*pairingtypes.RelayRequest, error) {
	relayRequest := &pairingtypes.RelayRequest{
		RelayData:    relayRequestData,
		RelaySession: ConstructRelaySession(lavaChainID, relayRequestData, chainID, providerPublicAddress, consumerSession, epoch, reportedProviders),
	}
-	// Skip signing when configured (e.g., smart router mode) to save CPU/memory
-	if SkipRelaySigning {
-		return relayRequest, nil
-	}
	sig, err := sigs.Sign(privKey, *relayRequest.RelaySession)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err

Evidence

In the current implementation, the function accepts privKey *btcec.PrivateKey and immediately
signs with it. There is no nil-check before calling sigs.Sign, so a nil key (e.g., from a miswired
consumer/server setup or a future test helper) can crash or error at runtime instead of returning a
clear validation error.

protocol/lavaprotocol/request_builder.go[129-139]

Agent prompt

The issue below was found during a code review. Follow the provided context and guidance below and implement a solution

### Issue description
`ConstructRelayRequest` unconditionally signs the relay session using `privKey`, but does not validate that the pointer is non-nil. This can lead to panics or unclear errors if `privKey` is nil.

### Issue Context
Relay signing is now mandatory (skip path removed), so input validation should be stricter and failures should be explicit.

### Fix Focus Areas
- protocol/lavaprotocol/request_builder.go[129-139]

### Suggested change
Add a guard at the top of `ConstructRelayRequest`:
- if `privKey == nil`, return a formatted error (ideally including the request GUID/context) before calling `sigs.Sign`.

This makes failures deterministic and easier to debug without changing normal behavior.

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