What can you do with the Project Catalyst TestNet?

The Catalyst testnet offers exciting ways to participate for technical and non-technical users alike.

If you are a non-technical user that would like to explore that Catalyst UX through mock voting cycles, visit Testnet Voting Events.

If you are a technical user that wants to investigate how the system works, or build new integrations against Catalyst APIs, visit Developer Resources.

Here's a detailed look at how the testnet may evolve over time:

Launch (Fund10)

• Developers Continuous Testnet is Running and Stable

• Developers can run Catalyst locally with a Simple Local Developers Environment.

  • https://github.com/input-output-hk/catalyst-core

  • Built using Docker & Earthly (earthly.dev) - No other tooling needs to be installed!

  • Supporting Linux, Windows and Mac.

  • Historical data for Fund 0-9 and future test events pre-loaded into the local database.

  • A working Local development environment should be as simple as:

    • $ earthly +local

      $ docker-compose -f local/catalyst.yml up

• Public testnet is deployed and operational.

  • POC Voting Center

    • https://app.testnet.projectcatalyst.io/

  • Check my voting power tool

    • https://verify.testnet.projectcatalyst.io/

• Catalyst Data Service live.

  • https://api.testnet.projectcatalyst.io/api/v1/events

  • API Spec: https://github.com/input-output-hk/catalyst-core/blob/main/book/src/07_web_api/openapi/core_backend_api.yaml

• Access new system components before they get upgraded to production, including the desktop Voting Center application, and new backend components like the Event Database and Catalyst Data Services

• Starting after Fund10, users will be able to participate in mock Catalyst funds every 2 weeks that mimic the configurations used in production - including ability to register, delegate, propose, review, and vote. During Fund10, the testnet will simply replicate the actual Fund10 lifecycle.

• Developers (eg wallets) can test integrations against new system components in a production-like environment, without requiring permission from or coordination with IOG

• Developers can start building with the catalyst data service API which will replace the Vit-SS API from Fund 11 onwards. The API is still in development and subject to change before deployment to production. We encourage the community to test, and provide feedback if they have issues. We will also be happy to work with the community to further refine the API before its released to production

• Stakeholders can access, query, and export data from historical funds

Soon (Within 12 months)

• Stabilise the Developers Environment

• Continued work on automation. Especially around voting and tally.

• Tooling to create repetitive test voting events

• Improved test automation and improved documentation

• Users can participate in infrequent mock Catalyst funds that trial new components, processes, or configurations that deviate from the existing Catalyst lifecycle - like Hermes or Voices (dependent on proposal funding)

• Community can explore processes for defining and running new infrequent voting events to test particular hypotheses (eg quadratic voting) together with IOG

Later (After 12 months)

• Users can easily launch their own configurable mock Catalyst events to test new parameters and processes in a safe way without needing to coordinate with IOG

• Community can explore processes for launching parallel funding ecosystems that leverage novel configurations of existing Catalyst infrastructure