Graphic Tx Builder and Viewer

[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)

6

[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

Dev Tools, API or Library

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Transactions are a key part in the Cardano blockchain. Tools like the cardano explorer or cardano scan display transactions textually, while cardano-cli and libraries like lucid facilitate command-line or coding-based transaction building. However, diagrams offer a straightforward approach to understanding transactions. By representing inputs, outputs, and tokens as arrows and boxes, transactions become more comprehensible. We propose a graphical tool enabling both transaction construction and visualization. This webapp will allow users to generate and parse transaction CBORs effortlessly through a simple diagram interface.

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

This proposal aims to aid end users and developers in building and comprehending Cardano applications. The unique paradigm of the Cardano blockchain poses challenges for adoption. A graphical tool for interacting with the EUTxO-model can significantly alleviate this obstacle.

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

Given that we are offering a product for blockchain users and developers, we consider the following metrics to measure our success:

• Traffic in the webapp.
• Interaction with users and developers in github issues, discord channels, 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.
• Webapp deployed and publicly available.

[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?

Objective 1:

We aim to fully develop and deploy a web application that enables users to visualize any transaction set using transaction diagrams.

Objective 2:

Open-source the implementation, allowing the community to integrate and extend the system according to their needs.

Objective 3:

Expand the development to enable the web application to generate valid transaction CBORs from a transaction diagram written by the user.

Objective 4:

Add Lucid plug-in, similar to the previous point but much more powerful. The development will be able to generate Lucid boilerplate code for building transactions from transaction diagrams.

[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: Transaction information gathering + representation

Time required: 1 month

Milestone #2: Transaction graphical compilation

Time required: 1 month

Milestone #3: Next.js Web App + Deployment + Open Sourcing

Time required: 1 month

Milestone #4: Transaction drawing

Time required: 1 month

Milestone #5: CBOR and Lucid compilation

Time required: 2 months

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

Deliverables:

Milestone 1: Transaction information gathering + representation

The design and implementation of modules for querying all the necessary transaction information, along with the internal Typescript representation. This will function as its own library and will support multiple providers such as Blockfrost and Maestro.

Milestone 2: Transactions graphical compilation

The compilation phase: Given the internal representation of a set of transactions we need to translate it into the corresponding graphical structures to be used by the graph library D3js. This module is designed to be a standalone unit that can be seamlessly incorporated into various web applications.

Milestone 3: Next.js Web App + Deployment + Open Sourcing

Combine the previous deliverable into a web application. This phase involves well-known full-stack web development but will include the necessary documentation of how to integrate the previous components, so they can be widely used.

Milestone 4: Transaction drawing

Design and implement the transaction drawing module, along with its integration into the web application. This phase will allow an end user to build a transaction using “arrows and boxes” to define inputs and outputs, that then can be translated into the internal Typescript representation of the first deliverable.

Milestone 5: CBOR and Lucid compilation

The phase includes the translation of the internal transaction representation into a CBOR or Lucid boilerplate ready to be integrated.

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

FTE = Full Time Equivalent

6 months of development. 

0.75 FTE dev = ₳70000

0.25 FTE project manager = ₳20000

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

The Cardano blockchain, in particular its UTxO model, has numerous advantages, one of which is its exceptional graphical capabilities. In fact, it is a common practice when studying the model to draw some transaction diagrams, as is done in the Plutus Pioneer Program.

However, we believe that this drawing capability has yet to be fully exploited. For instance, for communicating requirements in a standard way, it is useful to draw transactions that specify the operations of a smart contract. Also, in the development phase, it is useful for quickly validating that the implemented transactions correspond to the specified drawings.

[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