Last updated 2 months ago
Developers need informative visualization of chain activity
AdaQuarium visualizes Cardano as an aquarium where wallets are marine life. Shows transfers, smart contracts, NFTs with search - developer tool and marketing asset.
This is the total amount allocated to AdaQuarium.
Please provide your proposal title
AdaQuarium
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
15000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
3
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Developers need informative visualization of chain activity
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
Yes
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
The project depends upon blockfrost api and pycardano
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
License and Additional Information
MIT License
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
Analytics
Mention your open source license and describe your open source license rationale.
We will release AdaQuarium under the MIT License, enabling anyone to use, modify, and share the code freely. Our goal is to maximize accessibility for developers, educators, and hobbyists in the Cardano ecosystem. By choosing a permissive license, we encourage innovation, collaboration, and adoption without restrictive legal barriers.
How do you make sure your source code is accessible to the public from project start, and people are informed?
From day one, AdaQuarium’s source code will be hosted on a public GitHub repository. We will maintain an organized structure with clear documentation, update it regularly after each milestone, and use issue tracking for transparency. This ensures the community can follow development, contribute improvements, and verify progress throughout the project’s lifecycle.
How will you provide high quality documentation?
We will create clear, structured documentation hosted alongside the open-source code on GitHub and a dedicated docs site. It will include use guides, architecture diagrams, and examples. Each milestone will include a documentation update, ensuring it stays current. We will also welcome community feedback and contributions to continuously improve clarity and usability.
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
AdaQuarium is an open-source blockchain visualization platform that transforms Cardano network activity into an animated “aquarium,” where sea creatures represent wallets, transactions, and asset holdings. It will display recently completed blocks (typically within the last ~20 seconds) and allow users to query historical blocks for deeper exploration. This approach blends near-live snapshots with full-chain browsing for both education and analysis.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
AdaQuarium serves as a developer tool for visualizing Cardano transactions, inspecting historical on-chain activity, and creating engaging blockchain demos. Developers can use it to quickly explore blocks, highlight asset movements, and integrate visual components into their own applications. Its approachable, animated design also makes it a strong asset for marketing, community outreach, and educational initiatives, helping showcase Cardano’s transparency and activity to both technical and non-technical audiences.
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?
I am a solo developer with a PhD in Machine Learning and over 10 years of professional software engineering experience, including building internal business applications for data visualization. Core AdaQuarium components are already developed, including Blockfrost integration and asset rendering. Development will be public on GitHub with milestone commits, documentation, and community feedback. MIT license ensures accessibility and verifiability.
Milestone Title
Core Integration & Basic Visualization
Milestone Outputs
• Established connection to Blockfrost API for Cardano blockchain data retrieval.
• ADA transaction logging implemented for fetched blocks.
• Basic animated “sea creature” entities created and moving in the aquarium environment.
Acceptance Criteria
• Application successfully retrieves block data from Blockfrost without errors.
• ADA transactions from retrieved blocks are logged and available for mapping.
• Animated sea creatures are visible in the interface, moving smoothly on screen.
Evidence of Completion
• Public GitHub repository with implemented Blockfrost integration code, ADA logging logic, and animation code.
• Short screen recording showing the aquarium view with moving sea creatures and corresponding transaction logs.
Delivery Month
1
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
Visual Expansion: NFTs & Native Tokens
Milestone Outputs
Enhance the visualization layer to display both NFTs and native tokens alongside ADA. Wallet entities will show compact visual markers for native tokens, and NFTs will be displayed with thumbnail previews pulled from their on-chain metadata. Hover or click actions will reveal detailed token and NFT information, including policy IDs, quantities, and metadata. This milestone broadens AdaQuarium’s functionality to represent Cardano’s full asset ecosystem, making it more valuable for developers, educators, and researchers analyzing asset distribution.
Acceptance Criteria
NFTs are displayed in the aquarium with accurate images from metadata and correct ownership attribution.
• Native token balances are represented for each wallet entity using compact, readable markers.
• Hovering or clicking a wallet displays correct token/NFT details.
Evidence of Completion
• GitHub commits showing NFT/native token rendering code and metadata handling.
• Screen recording of aquarium displaying NFTs and native tokens with interactive details.
Delivery Month
1
Cost
3114
Progress
40 %
Milestone Title
Search & Filter
Milestone Outputs
Implement a search interface allowing users to quickly find and highlight specific transactions or wallet addresses. A transaction search will locate the corresponding transaction in recent or historical blocks, highlight related visual entities, and display detailed metadata. A wallet search will highlight the entity in the aquarium and display balances, NFTs, and recent transaction history. This feature turns AdaQuarium into an exploratory tool for targeted blockchain inspection.
Acceptance Criteria
• Searching by transaction ID locates and highlights the correct transaction entities.
• Searching by wallet address highlights the correct wallet and shows accurate details.
• All information matches on-chain records via Blockfrost API.
Evidence of Completion
• GitHub commits showing search and highlight feature implementation.
• Live demo video demonstrating transaction and wallet searches.
Delivery Month
2
Cost
3114
Progress
60 %
Milestone Title
Toggle-able Visualization Modes
Milestone Outputs
Add UI controls to toggle between multiple visualization modes, such as a simplified view for overviews and a detailed mode showing labels, asset markers, and transaction lines. Modes update instantly without requiring a reload, allowing users to switch between presentation-friendly and analysis-focused layouts. This feature improves accessibility for different audiences and use cases.
Acceptance Criteria
• At least two distinct visualization modes are implemented.
• Simplified mode hides non-essential visuals while preserving accuracy.
• Detailed mode shows all metadata without clutter or slowdowns.
Evidence of Completion
• GitHub commits showing mode toggle logic and UI implementation.
• Screen recording demonstrating mode switching in action.
Delivery Month
2
Cost
3114
Progress
80 %
Milestone Title
Documentation & User Guide
Milestone Outputs
Create comprehensive end-user documentation. The user guide will explain usage with examples. The developer documentation will cover architecture, API usage, and steps to extend AdaQuarium. Include one example workflow demonstrating how to explore recent blocks, search transactions, and view asset details. All documentation will be public on GitHub and updated with each release.
Acceptance Criteria
• User guide includes configuration options, and feature overviews.
• Developer documentation includes architecture diagrams, API descriptions, and extension guides.
• At least one complete example workflow is documented.
• Documentation is accessible on GitHub.
Evidence of Completion
• GitHub documentation folder containing final guides and diagrams.
• Screenshots or rendered site showing published documentation.
Delivery Month
3
Cost
3114
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
Blockfrost API Membership – €79/month (~174 ADA) → 2,088 ADA/year
Render Membership – $19/month (~38 ADA) → 456 ADA/year
Total Memberships: 2,544 ADA/year
Development Activity – Design, coding, testing, and delivery of remaining milestones (NFT/native token visualization, search, toggle modes, documentation, deployment).
Total Development: 12,456 ADA
Total Project Budget:
• Memberships: 2,544 ADA
• Development: 12,456 ADA
• Grand Total: 15,000 ADA
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
The ₳15,000 budget delivers a fully open-source, MIT-licensed blockchain visualization tool that benefits developers, educators, and the broader Cardano community. Infrastructure costs (Blockfrost and Render) ensure long-term stability, while development covers four major feature milestones: NFT/native token visualization, search tools, toggle-able modes, and comprehensive documentation. The result is a reusable, extensible platform that can be integrated into other projects, lowering development costs for future teams and promoting Cardano adoption through engaging, data-driven presentations.
Terms and Conditions:
Yes
Max Highsmith – Solo developer with a PhD in Machine Learning and over 10 years of professional software engineering experience. Responsible for full project ownership, including design, architecture, implementation, documentation, and deployment. Experienced in Python, FastAPI, blockchain API integration, and interactive visualization.