🛠️DeSo Tech Stack
An overview of tools & resources for building on DeSo
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An overview of tools & resources for building on DeSo
Last updated
Was this helpful?
The DeSo Foundation's goal is to give founders and developers a set of world-class tools and resources to focus on building decentralized social and consumer-focused applications.
There will be countless other ideas and opportunities that arise as DeSo unlocks an army of web2 developers who are aching to participate in the future of decentralization and social.
We make it incredibly simple and easy for anyone, even with little knowledge about blockchains and web3, to get started building decentralized apps that can target mainstream audiences.
We strive on the following development principles:
API-Driven & Permissionless Everything that DeSo builds is API-driven from the start. We believe this makes it easier for Web2 developers to focus on creating world-class Web3 applications, using familiar programming languages like Javascript & Python. There's no need to learn smart-contract languages and write cost-prohibitive contracts. Anyone in the world can also run their own DeSo node to curate and moderate their own feed. Read more: Feeds & Moderation
Virtually Zero Gas Fees On DeSo, you'll never expect to pay more than a fraction of a penny for thousands of on-chain transactions. The average fee per post is <$0.000017, in contrast to Ethereum where the average fee per post can cost >$50 depending on gas fees. DeSo solves very complex storage & indexing problems to be able to handle decentralized social applications extremely efficiently. This is an advantage of DeSo being an "infinite-state" blockchain that's optimized for storage-heavy use cases. Read more: Infinite-State
Solving the Cold-Start Problem DeSo solves cold-start problems for developers in three very significant ways:
User & Content Liquidity. Developers can tap into an open firehose of millions of wallets, profiles, and content from day one of launching your application.
Blockchain-Level Features. Developers are provided with on-chain money & social features out-of-the-box, without needing to write a single line of smart-contract logic. Every new feature added benefits all apps being built on the blockchain. This creates unprecedented speed and parallelization for social applications to build world-class products with far fewer off-chain centralization risks.
Cross-Chain Social Layer. Developers can utilize built-in support for cross-chain onboarding with features like "Sign in With MetaMask" & swapping between ETH and DESO via MegaSwap. Support for additional Layer-1s like Solana, NEAR, Cardano, Avalanche, Polygon, and more will be planned. This will also open up cross-chain wallet-2-wallet messaging to build a truly universal social layer of Web3.
Frictionless Usage & Onboarding DeSo is a very user-experienced-driven project, as we believe the key to Web3 social is to make the user experience on par with the expectations of Web2 social. This means unlike other blockchains, DeSo makes it very simple to sign up and try applications with an identity, wallet, and free "starter $DESO" to start engaging. Users also don't have to worry about exorbitant gas fees or explicitly approving each transaction when engaging on DeSo. We always continue to aim to remove friction wherever necessary. Here's a list of how DeSo Identity solves many of these problems:
Sign in with DeSo
Any developer can add a "Sign in With DeSo" login with a few lines of Javascript.
Self-Custodial Wallet
Take full custody of your own keys. We like to say "not your keys, not your content".
Multiple Login Options
For Ethereum Users: "Sign in with MetaMask"
For Mainstream Users: "Sign in with Google"
For Any User: "Sign in with DeSo Seed" (advanced)
Starter $DESO
All users can attain a small amount of starter DESO for free (which will potentially last forever) by verifying their phone number.
Social Graph & Content
Take your content, followers, identity, and social graph with you anywhere. You take full ownership of the data you generate.
Store Your Assets
All of your NFTs, Creator Coins, and DeSo Tokens are coupled with your Identity. See an example here: https://signup.deso.com/wallet
Privacy & Safety DeSo was built with ideas like Account Abstraction in mind from day one. We utilize "derived keys" and "spending limits" which makes it safer to give permissions to specific applications like posting, commenting, or following — without giving up your private keys. We are firm believers that user primary keys should never be shared with third-party applications, regardless of their security practices, and so we created derived keys, which significantly lower attack vectors related to unauthorized access to user credentials. Derived keys are impermanent and they usually automatically expire about 30 days after being issued and can also be de-authorized at any point.
Monetization & Social Features A unique advantage for DeSo being its own layer-1 is that the blockchain combines social + money transactions very seamlessly. This allows DeSo offers multiple methods of on-chain monetization and social features for developers to build on, like the following:
Social Graph & Identity
On-chain social identity
On-chain social graph
On-chain user associations (verifications, blocks, etc)
On-chain profile metadata
Social Actions
On-chain follows
On-chain likes
On-chain replies, comments & threads
On-chain reposts & quote posts
On-chain post associations (moderation, reactions, polls, etc.)
On-chain post metadata
Social Tipping
On-chain basic transfers
Social Tokens (Creator Coins)
On-chain creator coin transfers
On-chain founders rewards
Social NFTs
On-chain creator royalties
On-chain coin-holder (community) royalties
On-chain bids & auctions
On-chain royalty splits
On-chain exclusive content
On-chain NFT transfers
On-chain NFT burns
DeSo Tokens (Formerly DAO Coins)
On-chain minting & burning
On-chain limit orders
On-chain token transfers
E2E Encrypted Messaging
On-chain end-to-end encrypted direct messaging (DMs)
On-chain end-to-end encrypted group chat messaging
E2E Encrypted Content (Access Groups)
On-chain end-to-end encrypted content
Social Stable Coins
On-chain stable coins (DesoDollar)
File Storage (coming soon with DeSo Vaults)
On-chain blob storage for images & videos (soon)
On-chain file storage for static HTML websites (soon)