MLabs - CTL JavaScript / TypeScript Interface

[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

MLabs - CTL JavaScript / TypeScript Interface

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

98742

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

6

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

CTL is an essential off-chain tool for TX building. Yet, its niche functional paradigm tied to PureScript (PS) limits accessibility, restricting usage among JavaScript (JS) and TypeScript (TS) devs.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://github.com/mlabs-haskell/ctl-no-wasm-template
,
• https://github.com/mlabs-haskell/purescript-uplc-apply-args
,
• https://github.com/mlabs-haskell/cardano-data-lite
,
• https://github.com/mlabs-haskell/purescript-cardano-types
,
• https://www.mlabs.city/

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

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

No

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

No dependencies

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

License and Additional Information

MIT License

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal

Infrastructure

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Mention your open source license and describe your open source license rationale.

MIT License. The MIT License is short, permissive, and widely recognized, making it ideal for maximizing adoption of the CTL JS/TS interface. It allows both open-source and commercial teams to use, modify, and integrate the code with minimal legal friction.

How do you make sure your source code is accessible to the public from project start, and people are informed?

All source code will be hosted in a public GitHub repository under the MIT license, with milestone updates and announcements shared via MLabs channels to ensure transparency, accessibility, and awareness among developers and the broader community.

How will you provide high quality documentation?

We will maintain the project’s established standard of detailed, accurate documentation, ensuring all new functionality is fully covered and consistent with CTL’s existing, well-maintained developer guides.

https://github.com/Plutonomicon/cardano-transaction-lib/tree/develop/doc

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

Problem

In recent years, CTL has become the de facto standard Cardano library in the PureScript ecosystem, providing a range of useful interfaces for interacting with the Cardano blockchain. Despite being a popular choice for Cardano off-chain development, the complexity and niche functional paradigm of PureScript have limited CTL's accessibility to a broader developer audience, posing challenges for wider adoption.

Solution

We propose introducing a JavaScript interface for CTL to preserve its functionality while making it more approachable to developers familiar with mainstream languages. Our approach to this task can be broken down into two main steps. First, we will define a bridge to map PureScript types and functions to their corresponding JavaScript representations. This process will involve identifying the components that are part of the CTL interface and developing a mapping strategy that will generate adequate JavaScript counterparts. Second, we will add TypeScript definitions for the interface functions and types, aligning with the resulting JavaScript representations and covering core CTL components like transaction construction, on-chain data querying, environment configuration, wallet communication, and more. The primary goal of this work is to provide a self-sufficient and user-friendly TypeScript / JavaScript interface, enabling the development of CTL off-chain contracts entirely in TypeScript or JavaScript. This should extend CTL's reach to a broader developer community, significantly boosting the library's adoption and driving its continued evolution.

Market

Our solution is primarily aimed at dApp developers and teams seeking robust, well-established tooling for writing Cardano off-chain logic. By making CTL compatible with mainstream programming languages, we lower the barrier to entry, promote faster development cycles, and enable seamless integration with existing infrastructure and developer workflows.

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

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

Improved Developer Accessibility

By providing a user-friendly JavaScript / TypeScript interface, the project makes CTL accessible to a much wider audience, including developers who may not be familiar with PureScript. This reduces the learning curve and allows more developers to confidently build off-chain contracts on Cardano using familiar languages and tools.

Broader Community Engagement

The introduction of a JavaScript / TypeScript interface should attract developers from the mainstream JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystems, significantly broadening CTL's reach and encouraging more collaboration and knowledge sharing among developers.

Increased Adoption and Ecosystem Growth

By lowering technical and language barriers, this project facilitates easier onboarding for new users to accelerate CTL adoption. A larger user base can lead to more community contributions, richer tooling, and faster evolution of the CTL library, strengthening the overall Cardano development ecosystem.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & 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?

MLabs has extensive experience working on Cardano developer tools, including CTL. We have a proven track record of contributing to the Cardano ecosystem, as demonstrated by our successful management of similar projects and our close collaboration with the Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIP) process.

Feasibility:

Existing Expertise: Our team has deep expertise in Haskell, Plutus, and blockchain infrastructure development, making us uniquely positioned to deliver this project.

Milestone-Based Approach: We will deliver the project through clearly defined milestones, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Budget Management: The project will be broken down into manageable components with a clear budget, which we will manage through an open process with regular reporting to the community.

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

Requirement Analysis & Usability Evaluation

Milestone Outputs

1. Identify the CTL components to be exposed through the JavaScript / TypeScript interface. At a minimum, the interface should cover environment configuration, building and submitting Cardano transactions, and other commonly used CTL utilities, such as querying blockchain data, managing wallets, etc.
2. Describe the mapping strategy between relevant PureScript types and their JavaScript equivalents.
3. Evaluate the usability of the resulting interface and introduce optimizations as needed.

Acceptance Criteria

1. A specification document clearly identifies the CTL components to be exposed via the TypeScript interface.
2. A detailed description of the mapping strategy is provided, outlining how PureScript types and functions are translated into idiomatic JavaScript representations.
3. A usability analysis of the interface informs further refinements.

Evidence of Completion

1. A link to the documentation section outlining the CTL components to be exposed via the TypeScript interface.
2. A link to the documentation section describing the PureScript <> JavaScript mapping strategy.
3. A link to the documentation section covering the identified usability improvements.

Delivery Month

2

Cost

24726

Progress

20 %

Milestone Title

Implementation

Milestone Outputs

1. Enforce JavaScript representations for relevant PureScript types based on the previously defined mapping rules.
2. Add TypeScript definitions for the exposed types and functions.
3. Apply user experience optimizations based on the usability evaluation results and further findings.

Acceptance Criteria

1. All relevant PureScript entities defined in the specification document are exposed through JavaScript representations, consistent with the established mapping strategy.
2. TypeScript definitions are provided for all exposed entities.
3. Usability improvements identified during evaluation are incorporated, enhancing the user experience of the resulting interface.

Evidence of Completion

1. A link to the CTL revision where the mapping strategy (bridge) between PureScript and JavaScript entities is implemented.
2. A link to the CTL revision where TypeScript definitions are provided for all entities exposed via the PureScript <> JavaScript bridge.
3. A link to the pull request(s) in the CTL repository implementing the JavaScript / TypeScript interface and associated usability improvements.

Delivery Month

3

Cost

26995

Progress

50 %

Milestone Title

Testing

Milestone Outputs

1. Add comprehensive unit tests to ensure correct conversion between PureScript and JavaScript types, covering typical use cases as well as edge cases and potential failure modes.
2. Integrate the new unit tests into the existing continuous integration (CI) system so they run automatically on relevant code changes, ensuring long-term reliability and stability.

Acceptance Criteria

1. Unit tests verifying accurate conversions between PureScript and JavaScript types are added and pass successfully.
2. All new tests are integrated into the the existing continuous integration (CI) pipeline, running automatically on relevant code changes.

Evidence of Completion

1. A link to the CTL revision containing the new unit tests.
2. A brief note explaining how to verify successful execution of the implemented tests within the continuous integration (CI) system.

Delivery Month

5

Cost

23741

Progress

80 %

Milestone Title

Documentation & Usage Examples

Milestone Outputs

1. Write comprehensive, user-friendly documentation and detailed guides explaining the structure, usage, and design of the JavaScript/TypeScript interface for CTL.
2. Provide a variety of clear, practical examples demonstrating how developers can write complete Cardano off-chain logic using only JavaScript or TypeScript, showcasing key features and typical workflows.

Acceptance Criteria

1. Documentation and user guides are added to the CTL repository, clearly explaining the new JavaScript / TypeScript interface.
2. Multiple examples are provided, demonstrating how Cardano off-chain contracts can be written entirely in JavaScript or TypeScript using the new interface.

Evidence of Completion

1. A link to the relevant sections of the CTL documentation.
2. A link to the CTL pull requests(s) where usage examples were added.

Delivery Month

6

Cost

23280

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

1. Identify CTL components

   • Adjusted time: 16.7h

2. Describe mapping strategy

   • Adjusted time: 12.2h

3. Evaluate usability

   • Adjusted time: 8.6h

4. Enforce JS representations

   • Adjusted time: 115.4h

5. Add TypeScript definitions

   • Adjusted time: 61.5h

6. Apply UX optimizations

   • Adjusted time: 28.6h

7. Add unit tests

   • Adjusted time: 34.7h

8. Add integration tests

   • Adjusted time: 53.7h

9. Integrate with CI

   • Adjusted time: 19.4h

10. Write documentation and guides

• Adjusted time: 54.3h

1. Provide usage examples

• Adjusted time: 52.8h

Total: 457.9 hours × $110/hour = $50,369.00 USD

Converted at $0.51/ADA = 98,763 ADA

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

This project delivers high leverage at a modest cost by enabling a much broader pool of developers—JavaScript and TypeScript engineers—to build off-chain Cardano applications using the well-established CTL library. By introducing a typed JS/TS interface for CTL, we preserve the reliability and maturity of the existing PureScript implementation while eliminating a major adoption barrier.

The scoped budget of 98,742 ADA (~$50,369 USD) covers end-to-end delivery: specification, interface implementation, testing, CI integration, documentation, and real-world usage examples. The output is a fully open-source npm package, maintained under the MLabs organization, designed for long-term reusability across dApps, education, tooling, and audits.

This one-time investment not only amplifies the utility of CTL across multiple developer segments but also strengthens the ecosystem’s tooling foundation—reducing time-to-market for new projects and increasing participation from mainstream teams. The project complements existing infrastructure rather than duplicating it, offering ecosystem-wide ROI far beyond its individual deliverables.

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

Terms and Conditions:

Yes