A complete end-to-end example for dApp development with Lucid + Aiken

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Franco Luque

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

franco@filabs.dev

Additional applicants

Emmanuel Gunther

Alejandro Gadea

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

3

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.” .

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of proposal

Education

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Although there have been more developer educational resources available in recent times, there is still a need for additional resources to facilitate the adoption of Cardano in the developer community. This need has been reiterated in various community meetings, where participants have expressed the necessity for comprehensive end-to-end examples.

The Aiken language is gaining increased attention as a viable alternative to the Haskell PlutusTx library for writing validators. Additionally, the Lucid TypeScript library enables the writing of off-chain code for Cardano smart contracts using a widely used programming language. While documentation exists for these technologies, a complete example that encompasses both is currently unavailable.

To address this gap, we propose the creation of an open-source, end-to-end decentralized application using Aiken and Lucid as the primary technologies. This application will be accompanied by a developer guide and will be deployed on a public testnet, making it accessible to everyone.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

This proposal will help directly the Cardano developers community. The onboarding process for a new developer is still hard and a fully realistic example written from scratch facilitates enormously the process. Also, this proposal will give more visibility to Aiken as a validator language and Lucid as an off-chain library. 

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

We’ll measure success based on following metrics:

• Traffic in the deployed app and amount of transactions submitted on testnet using the developed dapp.
• Interaction with github open source repo: comments on issues, amount of forks, etc.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

This will be an open-source project, so outputs will be available for everyone:

• Public repository.
• Dapp deployed and running on testnet, anyone will be able to interact with it through the web app.
• A text guide will accompany the development.
• A video demo will be uploaded.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Our team (formerly as Plank's company blockchain lab) has +2 years of experience in Cardano development having worked on:

• Development of the DEX and Vaults dApp for VyFinance.
• Development of the first decentralized Oracle for Charli3.
• Participation on development of GeniusYield’s Atlas framework.
• Tutorial and end-to-end example using PlutusTx and plutus-apps:
• https://www.joinplank.com/articles/cardano-e2e-dapp-tutorial
• https://cardano-e2e-example.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html
• Development of a library for integrating frontend code with plutus-apps PAB.
• Contributions to plutus-apps:
• Blockfrost integration.
• Postgres integration.
• Winners of the first LATAM Cardano Hackaton 2022.
• Article about low-level Cardano transactions:
• https://www.joinplank.com/articles/debugging-plutus-an-introduction-to-low-level-cardano-transactions-in-the-alonzo-era

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

The first goal is to develop a good dapp example using the mentioned technologies in the cleanest possible way. The example must be simple to understand but with enough complexity to be realistic.

Once development is done, we’ll deploy it on a public testnet and will write a dev guide that will be publicly available in the github repository.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Milestone #1: Example description and design (2 weeks)

• Choice of a good example.
• Requirements description.
• Design describing blockchain transactions involved.
• Dev environment setup and boilerplate.

Milestone #2: Implementation of Validators and OffChain (4 weeks)

• Implementation of minting policies and validators in Aiken.
• Implementation of a backend service for building transactions using Lucid library.
• Unit-tests. 

Milestone #3: Implementation of web app (3 weeks)

• Implementation of webapp in NextJs.
• Integration between frontend and smart contract backend. 

Milestone #4: Integration tests, deployment and guidance (3 weeks)

• Deployment of webapp integrated with preprod testnet.
• Writing of a simple dev guidance.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Deliverables:

Milestone 1. 

• Requirements document explaining the problem to solve.
• Architecture and design document with modules and transaction diagrams.
• Description of API that will be provided by the contract backend service.
• Boilerplate of code uploaded to repository.

Milestone 2. 

• Minting policies and validators.
• Backend service fully working.
• Unit tests passing. 

Milestone 3.

• Simple UI designed.
• Webapp implemented.

Milestone 4. 

• Webapp deployed and publicly accessible. 
• Guide written and uploaded to repository.
• Open source repository.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

FTE = Full Time Equivalent

Milestones 1 and 2. 

6 weeks. 1 FTE dev = ₳30000

Milestones 3 and 4.

6 weeks. 1 FTE dev = ₳30000

12 weeks. 0.5 FTE Project Management = 10000

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

An open-source, end-to-end example will prove invaluable to new developers seeking to onboard on Cardano. It serves as a complementary resource to the existing documentation and educational material available.

We firmly believe that this example will greatly benefit the community, and the costs associated with its development are even lower than the average for blockchain development.

By providing an open-source example, we aim to foster the growth of the developers' community and encourage active participation.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept