Anvil CMS - Powering the Cardano Ecosystem - A Free Tool for Creators

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Zachary Soesbee

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

Entity (Incorporated)

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

10

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

No

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

Anvil proposes to publicize our CMS, a product that has been used internally to create over 100 projects, to ease the developmental gap necessary for bringing products and platforms to fruition.

[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?

No

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

Not fully open source, final product will be available in a free version or a paid version with extended features. Future portions of this Product Roadmap will be open sourced (can be seen in planning).

[METADATA] Horizons

Business Services

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

Blockchain adoption, despite its benefits, faces significant barriers due to its complexity stemming from the intersection of financial concepts and cutting-edge technologies. This unique blend makes the learning curve steeper compared to other existing services or technologies for already busy developers. Consequently, the slow uptake of blockchain technology limits its broader application and hinders innovation in various industries, such as finance, supply chain management, and voting systems.

About our CMS

Over the last 3 years, Anvil has helped create web3 experiences for over 250 different projects ranging from general websites with wallet authorization, to minting, to staking, and much more. Almost all of these projects were built utilizing the capabilities of the Anvil CMS. Since this product is not consumer facing, we have had ample time to work out the kinks and minor issues that would prevent regular (non dev) people from using it. Albeit a complex system, we have managed to have Project Managers and other non developers use the CMS to build out pages, relieving the developmental load, while also proving the functionality necessary to build on Cardano. It is an everyday tool the Anvil team uses that we are excited to hopefully share with the entire space. We are ready to elevate the experience of our current product, making it even easier and user friendly, so anyone can make their web3 dream platform come true.

See the CMS in action here -

https://youtu.be/csugsovgtmI

Why Use a CMS?

Adoption and retention of Cardano, in an increasingly cross-chain landscape with emerging new blockchains, requires addressing both developers' and non-technical users' experiences. This includes artists aiming to showcase their works in the Web3 space. Transitioning from Web2 to Web3 seamlessly can be achieved by abstracting complex technical understanding through:

• A user-friendly interface with detailed, intuitive steps
• Abstraction of complex concepts like CSL or other library-based transaction building

Currently, building solutions on Cardano demands significant time and specialized knowledge. The CMS aims to:

• Enable anyone to build their project website quickly and easily with desired Cardano features
• Improve accessibility for non-developers by centralizing and unifying project presentations (e.g., reducing the risk of encountering abandoned or scam projects)
• Build trust among potential customers while providing marketing capabilities to boost user adoption, retention, and overall Cardano ecosystem value

Key Benefits:

1. Simplified Developer Experience: Reduced learning curve and time commitment
2. Inclusive Non-tech User Experience: Lower barrier to entry for non-blockchain enthusiasts
3. Centralized Information Hub: Maintained by Anvil professionals, ensuring up-to-date documentation and a worry-free environment

Vision (Including this proposal and beyond)

This catalyst proposal won’t cover the entirety of the vision, as it represents an on-going process to build an Ecosystem of user friendly tooling and features. We plan on tackling each Phase individually through Catalyst to bring this platform to the entire ecosystem.

Slogan: Build and connect your community in one place.

Phase 1 (Fund 13 proposal):

Focus on the core components of the CMS.

• Build the Authentication System to support Web2 and Web3 technologies (wallet connect, NFT Login, OAuth using Google Discord and etc.)
• Build the organization to invite team members, create new projects within an organization, manage permission and content visibility
• Project Section: this one will evolve over time based on user feedback and needs, the first pass will focus on project information to promote and build marketing to create attraction, engagement of the community and retention. To do so we will offer templates (using Web 2 interfaces) to customers to define their project, their goals, etc. (like a whitepaper / project proposal). The goal is to let them present themselves and build a community. Other than that it will have all the options to show their socials and NFTs / FTs
• Minting, Staking, and Claims: We will put in place the alpha version of those 3 components using our powerful and versatile Anvil API, so anyone can use the CMS to create engaging and easy to use portal to do everything they need to participate in a project. As well as, providing guides and documentation to instruct people how and why to do such things.

Pictured is the Phase 1 Planning Image

Phase 2 (Future Proposal) :

Build an ecosystem!

• Integrate our in-house layering solution to allow artist build their collection from scratch
• Interactive learning platform to use advance features, with our powerful Anvil API, this way developers can create custom snippets to enhance project websites. External developers can be contracted to build solution on the CMS to people who are not developers. These snippets can also be shared on the platform to favorize sharing and build a growing community.

Phase 3 (Future Proposal):

Integrate Partners and Third-parties

• Focus on integrating existing projects and external tools to work seamlessly with the CMS, so no need to learn anything new and existing process can continue to work.
• Add capabilities to support chain indexer, events, and others to build custom solutions to interact with customers all from one place.
• Manage social interaction from the platform and post automatically to a few third parties, such as discord and X.

Phase 4 (Future Proposal):

Open Source and Cloud based with Free and Paid Options.

• Open Source some components base on our business model
• The platform can be used on the cloud with a monthly fee and all features available (free or paid features)
• Some features will be open sourced as well and developers can host the platform in their own infrastructure and build what they need.
• We still need to define our support plan, cloud plan, pricing plan, anvil api availability and etc.

Phase 5 (Future Proposal):

Wishlist, out of scope for now !

• RWA Integration
• Oracles and Blockchain reactivity
• LLM and other AI integrations
• Voting system to develop next features
• Feedback system built-in to grow and listen to customers
• Public roadmap
• Templates to build project proposal, whitepaper and etc.

Monetization

Additionally, we plan to continue development of this platform through a subscription based model that will allow us to monetize our work and add new features.

• Free Plan (Same as Open Source)
• Limited Access to feature set
• No customer support
• Only basic templates
• Member
• Has access to all features
• Available support from Anvil (On discord)
• For an extra fee, Anvil can setup and build custom stuff (Quote basis)
• Have access to more built-in templates
• have access to custom made components
• have access to feature request (slow priority)
• Lower commission fee
• Business
• One time fee
• Fully handle by Anvil (Creation, Setup, Minting, Staking and etc. need to define in more details)
• Have access to dedicated Support (what the SLA, answer time)
• Have a team to get custom made components in priority

Summary

We are looking to build on our current CMS, which acts like a Shopify platform, where non technical users will be able to create, inspire, and implement the best technologies Cardano has to offer. This is our way of offering all of Anvil services in one neat, easy to use, platform. A vote for this proposal means breaking down the barrier of entry into Cardano, and giving creators and projects on all scales the ability to create affordable Platforms. This is an extremely complex product that we intend to build upon over the course of the next year.

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

Our Project will benefit the greater Cardano Community by removing the technical barrier necessary to create platforms. By providing an intuitive platform, through Catalyst, we will be able to offer aspects of this Project completely free to users. We see that as a huge advantage for the Community as projects like this could cost tens of thousands of dollars when going through a development shop.

Additionally, we are demolishing the need to learn Haskell or Aiken, and providing regular community members the ability to make a clean yet sophisticated platform that matches their goals for their project.

Future portions of this project will also be open sourced, which is our way of giving back as much as we can to the Community. We will also be adding other Service Providers to the platform, in a later phase, to acknowledge personal preference in tooling and feature sets. We will work closely with the Cardano ecosystem to make sure everyone is included.

[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?

Our team has a strong track record in managing complex, innovative projects with high levels of trust and accountability, demonstrated by our successful deployment of several projects over 3 years. We plan to follow our standard company practices and develop this with the same intent that has driven our business to the level of success it currently has.

In terms of trust, we are one of the most trusted names in the space. We deliver on deadlines as well, as can be seen by our other Catalyst proposal milestones and PoAs.

This product itself has also been vigorously tested and proven to be a good model, we are not starting from scratch, simply looking to expand on an already working product and publish it publicly.

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

Milestone 1 (80 Hours Development Time)

Outputs:

• Web2 Authentication
• User or Email and Password
• Setup to add and configure Third parties (such as Discord, Github, Google and so on.)
• Passkey
• Passwordless
• Web3 Authentication
• Connect With Wallet
• 2FA
• Implement 2FA Flow

Acceptance Criteria

• Link to platform showing web2, web3 and 2FA authorizations functioning as intended

Milestone 2 (120 Hours Development Time)

Outputs:

• Setup Organization
• Create, update and Delete Organization
• Setup Invitation
• Invite and revoke access to organization
• Setup Authorization
• Add, update and remove roles from Users
• Manage plans (Alpha and Beta Plans are free for now.)
• Portal
• Manage API Keys
• To get access to Anvil API

Acceptance Criteria

• Link to platform showcasing Setup Organization, Organization Invite, Authorization, Plan Management, and API management functionalities.

Milestone 3 (560 Hours of Development Time)

Outputs:

• CMS Building Blocks (80 Hours)
• Minting
• Staking
• Claim
• Create Project Page templates (3 in total) (80 Hours)
• Build system to define custom building blocks within an organization. (80 Hours)
• Default building blocks are not associated to any organization and available to everyone.
• Design the feature to share building blocks from an organization, with rating and code review made by Anvil. Along with the aspect of paying the owner with recurrent or one-time fee to have the right to use the building block (Encouraging developers to participate and build awesome integration)
• Create the CMS Platform (320 Hours)
• Page Creator using Building Blocks
• Design with third party integration in mind and building blocks for modularity and customization.
• Be able to create a project page containing:
• Header
• Footer
• Main area where the user can promote the project
• Minting, Staking and/or Claim sections if required by the project
• Socials links and useful links

Acceptance Criteria:

• Link showcasing CMS building blocks for Staking, Minting, and Claims.
• Link to platform Project templates, as well as custom building blocks
• Link to CMS platform

Milestone 4 (600 Hours of Development Time)

Outputs:

• Setup a Project (80 Hours)
• Create, Update and Archive Project
• Can manage multiple projects on multiple Cardano environment (mainnet, preprod, preview and private)
• Assign Users with role per projects
• Configure project (80 Hours)
• Release Date
• End Date
• Minting parameters
• Staking parameters
• Claim parameters
• Royalties
• CMS (320 Hours)
• Update the content for your project
• Use one of our pre-built templates
• Enable/Disable Building blocks, such as Minting, Staking, Claim
• Configure Header and Footer
• Move building block freely to build customized visual
• Blockchain Action (120 Hours)
• Create and Configure the project and collection, then assign it to a project.
• Upload Metadata to a collection.
• Upload Assets for the collection.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Link to CMS that highlights Project Set-up process, Project Configuration, CMS dashboard, and Blockchain interactions
• Video showcasing all features being executed without bugs or issues

Final Milestone: Project Close-out and Impact Report

Outputs: 

• Finalize the project for public release 
• Produce comprehensive documentation of the work completed, including a video demonstration. 

Acceptance Criteria:

• Compile a project close-out report outlining the development process, community engagement outcomes, and a detailed review of all milestones achieved.
• Produce a video that demonstrates the platform's capabilities, its impact on the Cardano ecosystem, and real-world applications.

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

Zachary Soesbee: CEO of Anvil. Responsible for managing timelines, milestone submission, and general development team logistics.

David Desjardins: CTO of Anvil. Responsible for managing development work, implementation, and all other technical requirements.

Patrick Bernard: COO of Anvil. Responsible for video documentation, publication, and employee management.

Anvil Development Team: Developmental arm for Anvil. Includes 1 full stack developer, 1 blockchain developer, 2 front-end developers.

Anvil Design Team: Design team for Anvil. This team will play a critical part in making the platform easy to understand and use.

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

Total Request: 336,000 ADA

Breakdown of Budget:

Development - 65%

Project Management - 15%

Design - 10%

Documentation - 10%

This budget will cover Phase 1 of the CMS, which is arguably the biggest lift of the project. We take our basic hourly rate and deduct all overhead costs to come to these conclusions.

Development (65%)

This project is a huge lift from the development standpoint, hence the large portion going towards this. In total - we are going to commit a whopping 1360 developer hours to this project. One of our largest lifts to date!

Project Management (15%)

This portion of the budget is allocated to utilizing internal resources from our PM team to manage deadlines, create strategies, and properly delegate responsibilities amongst the team. This team will also be responsible for the entire managerial side of Catalyst.

Design (10%)

Without perfect design, we will have a failing product. It's critical to the success of this Platform that design is intuitive, user friendly, and provides context into each and every feature.

Documentation (10%)

In addition to design, it's imperative that our documentation reflects the level of digestibility as our design. Documentation will play a clear role in ease of use and breaking down barriers for development.

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

We represent value in a multitude of ways.

First and foremost, we have reduced our average development costs, specifically to provide a significant discount for Catalyst. Meaning this is being built for what it costs, not a penny more.

Secondly, with adoption this platform could be responsible for creating a multitude of Cardano transactions through use of Staking, Minting, Claims, and future features.

The third point, and ultimately the most compelling, is that we will finally have a Shopify comparable (ease of use, and functionality) platform on Cardano that anyone can use with 0 development experience. This is something that's highly lacking in the space, and could attract many new users to create here. It's a great tool for people on a budget who want to do the work on their own, especially artists.

Additionally:

Customers

• Ease of access using simple and efficient UI/UX.
• Centralized information for potential customers and existing customers.
• Made for Web2 first.
• Integration with Anvil API for advanced Usage.
• It is built for non developers first and allows developers to extend and create custom solutions as needed.
• Allow artists to promote their work and show who they are.
• Familiar interface to create an efficient website.

Developers and infrastructure

• No need to manage anything, this is a SaaS based solution
• Access controlled through an organization
• Feature set and components pre-built, and planning to allow custom components that can be shared with others allowing a side market of developers to build and create website for artists.

Integrations and adoptions

• We want to integrate existing and new projects easily, not only NFT projects but Cardano Tools as well, this platform is an ecosystem with the vision of building a connected community to bring attraction and improve retention by its simplicity and credibility.

Long-term / Future

• This proposal is the first one of many more in the future, the current goal is to offer the foundation to build a UI/UX friendly system to onboard non-dev people.
• Phase 2 will be building the Ecosystem, allowing sharing and interactive learning of more advanced concepts, this way anyone can build components and share with the community to build more vibrant, unique, and accessible pages.
• Phase 3 will focus on integrating already existing Cardano Tools and Solutions, the goal is to centralize the information to allow anyone to quickly and easily find what they need, including third parties. This is important for us because it strengthen the relations and the overall community by allowing everyone to work together to reach similar goals and most importantly reduce the learning curve and accessibility complexity that currently exists.
• The remaining phases are currently in the board of ideas, so stay tuned to see more in the future.