Hydra in Action: HOSKY Treat - A Hydra-Based Tipping Bot

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

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

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

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

Develop a Hydra-based tipping bot with easy API integration for platforms like Discord, X, and Telegram, enabling fast, low-cost transactions and simplifying Hydra adoption for users and projects.

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

[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.”

N/A

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

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

We will follow the Hydra team’s open development model. All source code will be published on GitHub under the permissive Apache-2.0 license. Documentation, meeting notes, and recordings will be publicly available, ensuring full transparency and accessibility for the community to use, adapt, and contribute.

[METADATA] Horizons

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

We propose developing a Hydra-based tipping bot that utilizes a delegated Hydra head topology, Docker images for straightforward deployment, and a user-friendly API for smooth integration with platforms such as Discord, Telegram, and Twitter. This will enable fast, low-cost tipping of Cardano native assets, taking advantage of Hydra's scalability and efficiency to provide a practical solution for both users and developers.

By offering a simple API interface, our bot will allow easy integration into various applications, lowering the technical barriers for projects and individuals looking to adopt Hydra technology. This will make tipping more accessible, with minimal setup required, encouraging wider usage.

The entire project will be open source, providing the community with access to the codebase, documentation, and resources. It will serve as a practical example of Hydra’s potential, helping other developers and projects understand its capabilities and facilitating its broader adoption across the ecosystem.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

Our project will positively impact the wider Cardano community by increasing awareness and practical usage of Hydra, showcasing its real-world capabilities through a tangible application. By offering a low-cost, fast, and scalable tipping solution, we will provide a more efficient way for users to interact with Cardano native assets across various platforms. This project will serve as a gateway for projects and users to adopt Hydra, lowering technical barriers and promoting its integration into other applications.

The tipping bot will also increase on-chain transaction volume, contributing to the overall growth and security of the Cardano network. Additionally, by making the project fully open source, we will provide a valuable resource for developers seeking to explore Hydra's potential, further expanding Cardano's ecosystem and marketable portfolio of decentralized applications.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

To-Do We put our trust in a man who’s been carrying the entire ecosystem on his back for years. And then slapping a silly logo on it

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

1. Hydra Head Docker (1-month)
2. Milestone Length: 
3. 1 month to set up the basics although this foundation will continue to be updated and expanded on throughout the development lifecycle.
4. Milestone Goal: 
5. The goal of this milestone will be to encapsulate the entire required technical stack, including: the hydra node, chain indexer/follower, API configuration and interaction server, and one or more social channel “bots” into a Dockerized configuration for ease of deployment.
6. Outputs:
7. GitHub link to source code
8. Youtube video showcasing code deployment and configuration

1. Status and Interaction APIs (2-months)
2. Milestone Length:
3. This milestone is estimated to take 2 months as we develop, build out, and test the various API integrations that will be needed by both hosts and users of the system.
4. Milestone Goal:
5. The goal of this milestone will be to develop and document the various API interactions throughout the system including:
6. Registering/Linking Account (wallet to oAuth)
7. Depositing Funds
8. Withdrawing Funds
9. Checking Balances
10. Sending “Tips”
11. Account (wallet) history (deposits, withdraws, sends, receives)
12. Aggregate stats (Total Wallets, Total Tokens, etc)
13. Outputs:
14. GitHub link to source code
15. Youtube video showcasing code usage
16. Postman API interaction scaffold
17. Swagger/OpenAPI documentation of endpoints and arguments

1. Discord Integration (1 month)
2. Milestone Length:
3. 1 month of overall development time throughout the course of the project to build out a Discord integration.
4. Milestone Goal:
5. At the end of this milestone it should be possible to configure and deploy the Hydra node (via Docker) and select Discord as one of the Bot deployments and provide the necessary API keys and have a functional Discord Tip Bot.
6. Outputs:
7. GitHub link to source code
8. Youtube video showcasing the setup, deployment, and then interaction with the bot via Discord
9. Functionally deployed Discord bot via a test server and utilizing one of the Cardano test networks as a proof of concept

1. Telegram Integration (1 month)
2. Milestone Length:
3. 1 month of overall development time throughout the course of the project to build out a Telegram integration.
4. Milestone Goal:
5. At the end of this milestone it should be possible to configure and deploy the Hydra node (via Docker) and select Telegram as one of the Bot deployments and provide the necessary API keys and have a functional Telegram Tip Bot.
6. Outputs:
7. GitHub link to source code
8. Youtube video showcasing the setup, deployment, and then interaction with the bot via Telegram
9. Functionally deployed Telegram bot via a test server and utilizing one of the Cardano test networks as a proof of concept

1. Closeout Report (1 month)
2. Milestone Length:
3. 1 month
4. Milestone Goal
5. Present a capstone project completion report showcasing and highlighting challenges faced and overcome, design decisions, and lessons learned throughout the course of the project.
6. Outputs
7. PDF Report
8. Youtube Video

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Adam K. Dean - Project Lead

HOSKY - Project Mascot

Others - TBD/Outsourced

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

$66k USD (200k @ $0.33 USD)

Project Management: 21,800 ADA 

• The project manager will be responsible for collecting information from the development team and ensuring that milestone reporting is aligned with Project Catalyst requirements.
• We anticipate having 5 milestones to report and an average of 40 hours per milestone of time meeting with team members, compiling data, and creating Youtube video content and reporting documentation. 
• Paid at a rate of $36 USD/hour for a total of $7,200 USD throughout the lifetime of the project or ~21,800 ADA at current market rates.

Software Engineer: 43,600 ADA 

• The software engineer will be responsible for design and interaction of system components and assisting development through code contributions, code and testing review, and overseeing coordination of the full-stack developer, QA analyst, and UI/UX team members.
• We anticipate needing this role for 4 months at an average of 80 hours per month.
• Paid at a rate of $45 USD/hour for a total of $14,400 USD throughout the lifetime of the project or ~43,600 ADA at current market rates.

Full-Stack Developer: 87,200 ADA 

• The full-stack developer will be responsible for the majority of code development to facilitate the project per the design and guidance of the software engineer.
• We anticipate needing this role for 4 months at an average of 160 hours per month.
• Paid at a rate of $45 USD/hour for a total of $28,800 USD throughout the lifetime of the project or ~87,200 ADA at current market rates.

QA Analyst: 27,100 ADA 

• The Quality Assurance (QA) Analyst will be responsible for assisting the full-stack developer in creation and execution of comprehensive testing of the platform throughout the development cycle. The QA Analyst will provide testing feedback to the developer and activity reports to the Software Engineer and Project Manager. The QA Analyst will also aid in the creation of user-friendly documentation generation for how to use the system.
• We anticipate needing this role for 4 months at an average of 80 hours per month.
• Paid at a rate of $28 USD/hour for a total of $8,960 USD throughout the lifetime of the project or ~27,100 ADA at current market rates.

UI/UX + Graphic Designer: 10,200 ADA 

• The UI/UX + Graphic Designer will be responsible for ensuring that the user experience and public facing portions of the project align with the overall brand identity. The Graphic Designer will work with the Software Engineer to develop user interface theming and user experience interactions. The Graphic Designer will assist the Full-Stack Developer in the development of style and theme templates. The Graphic Designer will work with the QA Analyst and Project Manager to brand and style documentation and reports.
• We anticipate needing this role for 4 months at an average of 40 hours per month.
• Paid at a rate of $21 USD/hour for a total of $3,360 USD throughout the lifetime of the project or ~10,200 ADA at current market rates.

Infrastructure: 10,000 ADA

• The project’s infrastructure costs are not expected to be excessive during this initial iteration and development phase. However, due to the need to deploy at least a functional test network instance we have reserved 10,000 ADA to help cover any and all infrastructure costs associated with the project.

Purchase of $HOSKY: $0 /satire/

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

Because the project will be built in public and available as open source we hope that this will provide yet another example to the community in terms of the usefulness and capabilities of Hydra as well as providing an “Off the Shelf” solution for projects that need the Tip Bot functionality.