Welcome!

FINAL UPDATE (March 26, 2020)

Although last month was not funded, if this month is funded I will complete a minimum viable product that satisfies most of the scope of work below. At a minimum, this will include creating a Dash Platform data contract and a website that interfaces with it, storing merchant data on Dash Drive and allowing users to search existing listings and upload new listings through DAPI. It will also include documentation of the process for other developers.  I'll be checking the various forums for any last day questions anyone might have.

PROPOSAL UPDATE (Feb 22, 2020)

This proposal has been modified, a copy of the original is available for anyone interested.  I just trimmed the fat in some areas, and put some meat on the bones in others.  The proposal scope, schedule, and budget remain mostly unaltered.

Value Proposition

1. An open ("permissionless" and "trustless"), community-maintained directory of Dash-accepting merchants, with searchable, sortable, and filterable data stored on Dash Platform, accessible by both end users directly with a reference web app GUI, as well as from 3rd party merchant directories through an API.
2. Documentation, guidance, and reference material for current and future Dash Platform developers, including a YouTube video series demonstrating the process of creating a real-world decentralized application ("dapp") on Dash Platform.

Motivation

Dash needs a merchant directory/service that is accessible to anyone, controlled exclusively by nobody, has reliable and comprehensive data, and is built to be self-maintaining and self-sustaining.  This is possible with the right design and incentives.

In addition to those simply looking for how they can spend their Dash, there is demand from third-party merchant directories who would like access to Dash merchant data. Amanda B. Johnson recently asked in the r/dashpay subreddit if anyone could provide this data to acceptedhere.io so that they could get an improved picture of Dash's merchant count. Several people in that thread expressed an interest in having accessible data. u/giorgiom92 also mentioned having what seemed to be a separate (and more accurate) directory for Venezuelan merchants. It's likely that other merchant directories exist on top of these as well.

Dash Core Group (DCG) does not have plans to build a merchant directory. However, Bob Carroll (DCG CTO) mentioned that he “would love to see [one] come from the community". (see Reference 1 below)

An additional motivation here is to create supporting tools and document the process of making Dash Platform dapps for 3rd party developers. Both independent and DCG developers benefit from this. Developers unfamiliar with the inner workings of Dash learn how to use it, and DCG learns where the official documentation falls short (sometimes developers who create a tool overlook knowledge gaps in how to use it).

Scope of Work

I have two main goals with this proposal.  1) build a merchant service with the qualities stated above, and 2) document the process and provide resources for other developers.  I think the best approach for this is to build the merchant service as a traditional app (web app and API), and then convert it to a Dash Platform dapp.  I will make a YouTube video series documenting the whole process.  The goal is to attract outside developers with a video series that demonstrates how to use modern but traditional technologies (e.g. AWS, Terraform, Docker, Ansible, Node.js, GraphQL, React, etc), and then show how to integrate it with Dash Platform (Dash Drive and DAPI).

From a user’s perspective, this project can be understood as a merchant “directory”, but technically, my design is to make this more of a “service”.  In software, a service is more about the data and the API server than the front end client that consumes (uses) them.  This project will include both the API service and a reference client web app, but the focus will be the backend service.

Project features and deliverables:

• Backend service
  
• API server (REST or GraphQL) giving open access to merchant data
  
• Elasticsearch functionality for returning sorted, search-term-relevant data
  
• Reference client app
  
• HTML/CSS/JavaScript web app built using React
  
• Infrastructure deployment tools
  
• Terraform/Ansible/Docker configuration code for easy application deployment
  
• Developer-oriented command line interface (CLI) tool for interactive project setup
  

I have already started the process.  Most of the initial planning and architecture is complete.  Data from discoverdash.com is also now available in JSON format. This is a static snapshot that acceptedhere.io (or anyone else) can already use. Here’s the roadmap for the merchant service minimum viable product (MVP) and developer documentation:

Merchant service roadmap:

• Acquire data from existing merchant directories (complete for MVP)
  
• Plan and develop data model (complete for MVP)
  
• Plan and develop infrastructure deployment tooling
  
• Plan and develop API to access and modify data
  
• Plan and develop Elasticsearch component
  
• Plan and develop DAPI and Dash Drive integration
  
• Plan and develop community and merchant participation incentive model
  
• Implement self-sustainability plan to remove reliance on treasury funding in the future
  

Tooling and documentation roadmap:

• Refine and document the process of setting up a Dash Platform devnet, using and building on existing resources
  
• Develop a tool to scaffold Dash Platform applications using an interactive command-line application
  
• Keep in close communication with community and DCG developers
  

Note regarding that last bullet point: I am in ongoing communication with Andy Freer, Dash Platform chief architect, who has offered technical guidance for the Dash Platform-related aspects of this project.  He has also helped with this proposal revision.  I have and will continue to communicate my plans and progress with community developers regarding this project in the Dash Dapp Developers Discord server.  I’m happy to collaborate with anyone and everyone who wishes to be involved in this.

Schedule, Budget, and Terms

I am asking for 65 DASH/month for two (2) months to cover time (my own and those I employ), expenses, and the proposal submission fee. This will result in a minimum viable product (MVP) with features described above.

My aim is to provide as much value as possible before being funded.  As of now (Feb 22, 2020) I have worked nearly full time this month planning and preparing this project, with some progress on initial coding as well. I’m a bit behind on where I’d like to have been by now, but still plan to complete as many of the deliverables and features above as possible before the voting deadline for the 2nd month of funding.

The goal is to build a product that becomes self-sustaining. This will likely not be finished in two months, but that’s the aim.  Because I’m being paid by the superblock, I consider what I produce to be “owned” (in terms of understanding, not necessarily legally) by Dash.  When the product becomes self sustaining I will not need to ask for superblock funds in order to maintain it.  Until then, I’d be happy to open source everything I produce.  The challenge is that it’s sometimes not clear what the community wants in this respect.  I will do my best to gauge whether people want this open source or not (please comment if you have a preference).  I will likely err on the side of opening everything up, and will only consider keeping it closed if I see clear support for that.

Dash can expect full transparency into the accounting (costs and revenues) of the project while it is superblock funded. We would continue to ask for treasury funding until the project can pay for itself, tapered off gradually until revenues exceed costs. At that point we can come up with a profit-sharing plan with the network, potentially leveraging the Dash Investment Foundation.

Note: The items in the scope of work will be built using Evonet (testnet for Dash Platform) to the degree possible.  I will use traditional technologies for features not supported by Dash Platform.  The (d)app will ultimately be transferred to Livenet when that lands, but this is not scheduled yet.

Voting and Feedback

I am trying to build the product that I personally need in order to better support Dash-accepting merchants (most of my income is in Dash right now, so I need this product). I’d also like your feedback, so I can incorporate features that you want. The best place to direct feedback, particularly for longer conversations, is the #merchant-directory channel in the "Dash Dapp Developers" Discord server.

Closing

Dash is meant to be digital cash. It can only fulfill that role if people spend it regularly, and for that they need to know where it is accepted. With payments and merchants being such an integral part of Dash and its mission, it makes sense to put merchant data on Dash Platform, so that it can be accessed freely.  Although it’s in the early phases still, Dash Platform needs testing, with real-world applications.  So we have a nice match here; this is the perfect time to be building a merchant dapp on Dash Platform.

Reference

(1) Q and A regarding merchant directory from DCG Q4 2019 conference call (time-stamped video with transcript below):
https://youtu.be/BH30bRf7UCk?t=7134
Question (Rion): 
"Is a decentralized merchant directory part of the scope of Dashpay"?
Answer (Bob): 
"I'll answer that in two parts, one on the client side, in a mobile wallet, would that be part of the functionality, and then also from the platform perspective, dashPay as a data contract or as a dApp that lives on the the platform layer. A decentralized merchant directory is a perfect example of a dApp to be built on top of the platform. It leverages our payment chain, it leverages the people that are using the ecosystem and the network today. Who is going to -- right now that's not part of a defined scope of work to be built. Merchant features are definitely expected to be added to the dashPay wallet, in the DashPay dApp. However something like a merchant directory I think is a perfect example for our community to get involved and have a race to the finish on that and say now that we see the base capabilities of DashPay, wouldn't it be great to write a merchant directory type of dApp that then any wallet could plug into. Because why should DashPay as a wallet, if we're now talking about the mobile app, be the only one to take advantage of the merchant directory, you'd want not only desktop wallets but also third party wallets to take advantage of that as well. So it's not part of our current roadmap, definitely aligned with our product capabilities and I'll just use that as kind of a -- maybe one thing I didn't say today which is, this is why we're building it, right, it's to enhance the community let the community get involved and build applications and solutions on top of the platform, and so I would love to see more of that come from the community than looking and saying DCG what else are you doing for us now, by the way, throw item number 50 or 100 or 200 on the list to then prioritize with, as we've talked about today, a limited set of funding that's available so great question, these types of solutions are what keeps us excited every day"

(2) Request for Discover Dash merchant data (Reddit thread):
https://www.reddit.com/r/dashpay/comments/eway6k/great_news_acceptedhereio_wants_discoverdashs/

(3) Data from discoverdash.com in JSON format:
https://gist.github.com/riongull/2cd35284675b2bda50232141d52b1f7c

(4) Dash Dapp Developers Discord server:
https://discordapp.com/invite/qMvuk3