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The current application release replaces the Ideascale component of Catalyst used for time-boxed proposal submission in previous funds.
Be aware: Application functionality will only be available during the proposal submission window.
In future releases, additional capabilities like continuous innovation and voting will be added, so that you always have something new to do in Catalyst!
Prior to the proposal submission window, you’ll see a landing page when you visit the application. In the meantime, you can browse the rest of this knowledge base to get ready to participate.
Once the proposal submission window opens, you’ll be able to create your account, browse & comment on proposals as a contributor, and create & submit proposals as a proposer.
Once the proposal submission closes, you’ll see another landing page until the launch of the next Fund. In the meantime, check out other ways to stay involved and earn rewards - like becoming a Reviewer or a Voter.
Click here to learn more about how you can .
You can access the account menu by clicking on the Avatar icon in the upper right corner of your screen. From here, you can access a number of useful utilities such as your profile, settings, and resources for help.
When you open the menu, you’ll see your nickname and Catalyst ID appear at the top. You can update your nickname at any time, by going into your Profile.
You can easily copy your Catalyst ID by clicking on the icon that appears next to the long string beneath your name. This is a unique identifier for your user account, that can be used for sharing your account with others users or for signing up as a reviewer.
Click here to learn more about how you can Become a Reviewer.
This page contains important information about your Catalyst user profile.
For more information on your Catalyst ID, see the previous section.
Your display name is what other users will see when you leave a comment or create a proposal. By default, you’ll see the name that you selected during your profile setup. To change it, click the Edit button.
Your email address is how the Catalyst team can contact you about important actions. To change it, click the Edit button.
This panel shows the roles you currently have added to your Keychain. To add a new role, click the Add Role button. This will launch a flow similar to the one you completed during your account setup.
This section shows important information related to your Keychain. Here, you will see the stake address of the wallet that you’ve linked to your Keychain.
If you’d like to remove your Keychain from the current device, click Remove Keychain. To complete the action, follow the steps on screen. This action will permanently remove your Keychain from this device. If you’re using a personal device and plan to return later, you should Lock the , instead of removing your keychain.
You can access the account menu by clicking on the Avatar icon in the upper right corner of your screen to adjust the timezone and theme of the on your device.
This setting determines how times are displayed in the .
When UTC is selected, all times will be presented in Coordinated Universal Time. This is the format that all dates are communicated in by default, given the global nature of the Catalyst community. By anchoring on a single standard time, it helps keep everyone on the same page.
When “Local” is selected, all times will be converted from UTC to the local time used on your device’s operating system. You may prefer this option if you are unfamiliar with UTC, and some users may find it easier to keep track of deadlines.
THEME
This setting determines how colors are displayed in the .
“Light” mode is applied by default, although some users may prefer using “Dark” mode for reduced eye strain in low-light conditions or to preserve battery.
If you’re having trouble that can’t be resolved after repeated attempts or by checking the knowledge base, then you may submit a . This link will take you to Zendesk, where you can open a ticket that will be reviewed by the Catalyst team in a queue.
When raising a support request, make sure to be as specific as possible about the issue you are encountering, so that we can do our best to help quickly!
The contains a wealth of information and resources about the Catalyst and other processes. Visit this resource for detailed instructions about how to perform certain functions, or to see the answers to frequently asked questions.
To end your current session without logging out, you can lock the . This will remove access to your account and limit the actions that can be taken.
When you return, you can enter your device password to unlock the . This will restore access to your account and enable all actions associated with your roles.
The Discovery Space is your chance to learn about Catalyst and start exploring transformative ideas from community members around the world. You’ll be able to take different actions based on the Roles you have added to your Keychain.
Click here to learn more about Catalyst Keychain.
No matter who you are, you’ll be able to explore the Discovery Space to learn about the current campaigns and categories, including the grants budget allocated to each.
You can click on any category to view more detailed information about what the category aims to achieve and what kinds of proposals are eligible for funding.
From inside the category details page, you can click on the View Proposals button to see the innovative ideas that other users have submitted for funding.
If a proposal has the Draft tag, it indicates that the ideas are still being fleshed out and authors are actively seeking community feedback. If it has the Final tag, it indicates that the author has finalized their proposal to proceed to review and voting.
From the proposal list, you can use search, sort, and category filters to easily find what you’re looking for.
You can easily share your favorite proposals by clicking the share icon.
To view the full details of a proposal, simply click on one of the proposals in the list.
The Contributor role is selected by default for everybody.
Contributors also have the ability to comment on proposals to offer feedback and insights to proposers.
If you add the Proposer role to your Keychain, then you’ll be able to submit your own ideas into the current campaign for a chance to win funding.
From any category details page, you can click Start Proposal to create your own proposal in that category.
Click here to learn more about .
Place your cursor where you want the image to appear
Click the image icon in the toolbar
Enter the complete web address of the image you want to add
Click "Insert" to add the image
Note: Make sure your URL directly links to an image file (e.g., ending with .jpg, .png, .webp, etc.) otherwise the image may not appear in your proposal
For the best experience when adding images to your documents, it's helpful to prepare them in advance by:
Compressing images to reduce file size (aim for under 1MB)
Using WebP format when possible for better compression
Keeping dimensions reasonable (max width 1200px recommended)
Using descriptive filenames
Some image services (like Unsplash or Pexels) provide URLs that don't end with traditional file extensions (.png, etc.) but still serve valid images. These URLs may not be recognized by Catalyst initially but there is a solution.
Solution: Add a filename parameter
If you're using an image URL without a file extension, try adding
to the end of the URL. If the URL already contains a question mark (?), add the filename parameter with an ampersand (&) instead
Example:
When adding images to your proposal it’s important to make sure that the server hosting your images is configured correctly to allow these images to be displayed in a web browser.
The server hosting your images must include the following HTTP headers in its response:
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy: cross-origin
The Catalyst App loads images within a web environment that enforces cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) and cross-origin resource policy (CORP). Without the required headers:
The browser blocks your images for security reasons.
The images will appear as missing/broken in your proposal.
Looking for high-quality stock images that work smoothly with Catalyst? We’ve tested a few free services, and these are great options:
Unsplash – Offers excellent, high-resolution images from professional photographers. Just note: if the image URL doesn’t include a file extension (like .jpg), you may need to add [?filename=image.jpg] to the end.
Pexels – Another strong choice with very good image quality, plus the bonus of free video content. Similar to Unsplash, you might need to tweak the URL by adding [?filename=image.jpg] in some cases.
Free-Images.com – A simpler site with decent-quality images and a very straightforward interface. It works out of the box with direct URLs.
For more details on handling links without file extensions, check out the Handling URLs without file extensions section.
When using free stock images with Catalyst, it's important to understand the license terms. Here's a quick overview of the image rights for some of the top free services: Unsplash
Images on Unsplash are covered by the Unsplash License.
You can use them freely for both commercial and personal projects. Modifying images is totally fine and attribution isn’t required.
Pexels
Pexels images come with their own Pexels License.
Like Unsplash, you’re free to use them commercially or personally, and modifications are allowed. No attribution is needed.
Free-Images.com
This site uses the CC0 License, which means images are in the public domain.
You can use them however you like, commercially, personally, modified, or redistributed, with no restrictions at all. It’s as open as it gets.
Best Practices for Using Free Stock Images
Always double-check the license of the specific image you’re using.
Even if attribution isn’t required, it’s good etiquette to credit the photographer when you can.
Choose images that are relevant and elevate your content, especially in proposals or public-facing materials.
Avoid overused or overly generic stock images to keep your work feeling fresh and unique.
If your images aren't displaying correctly:
Check that the image URL is correct
Verify the image exists by viewing the image URL in a browser
Ensure the URL points directly to an image file (not a webpage containing an image)
Try using a different image hosting service from the recommended list
For decentralized storage, try using a different gateway
If your images appear and then disappear:
Ensure your content is properly pinned on decentralized storage
Check if the hosting service has usage limitations
Try re-uploading the image to a different service
Contact the Catalyst support team for assistance
?filename=image.jpg// https://example.com/image?width=800&height=600&filename=image.jpg
The current release of the application is desktop-only. Stay tuned for announcements about future releases that will bring the Catalyst experience to mobile.
Click here to sign up for the Catalyst Newsletter.
The Catalyst is segmented into Spaces where you can interact with different content and take different action. New spaces are unlocked by adding new roles to your keychain.
TTo open the navigation menu, click the 3-lines icon in the upper left corner of the screen. This will expand the menu for your current space. Here, you’ll see navigation options specific to your current space.
To move between spaces, you can click the arrows at the bottom of the expanded navigation menu.
To see an overview of all spaces and their contents, click the icon in the bottom-left corner of the expanded space menu.
The Discovery Space is available to all registered Contributors and Visitors.
Click here to learn more about browsing proposals and commenting in the Discovery Space.
The Workspace is available to all registered Proposers.
Click here to learn more about adding the Proposer role to your Keychain.
Once you’ve completed your initial account setup, you can use your 12-word seed phrase to restore your Catalyst account on any device.
The cool part? You won’t need to connect your wallet again, since you already created a verifiable link between your wallet and Catalyst keychain.
You’ll only need to connect your wallet again if you want to submit a new transaction e.g. updating your role registrations.
Enter or Import your 12-word or seed phrase to restore your Catalyst account on your current device.
Option 1 - Enter your Catalyst Seed Phrase manually You’ll need to validate that you’ve saved your seed phrase correctly. You’ll be asked to enter the correct words in the correct order before you can proceed.
Option 2 - Import your Catalyst Seed Phrase Another option is import your seed phrase
You will see a confirmation screen with the account details for the Keychain associated with the 12-word seed phrase you entered.
You’ll only need to enter or import your 12-word seed phrase the first time that you access your account on a new device. Every time after, you’ll simply use your unlock password to access your account.
Set and confirm your new password to proceed.
Welcome to the - a fit-for-purpose platform for web3 community collaboration and distributed decision-making.
Once proposal submission begins, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in crowd-driven innovation on a global scale.
Jump into any of the sections below to learn more, or visit our .
Create an account to start building up your track record and unlock opportunities to earn rewards.
Click to learn more about getting started with Catalyst.
Become a Catalyst contributor to help shape innovative ideas and have a voice in ecosystem decisions that matter.
Click here to learn more.
Become a Catalyst Proposer to craft transformative ideas with community feedback and submit proposals for a chance to win grant funding.
Click here to learn more.
To proceed, you'll need to accept the mandatory acknowledgements. These acknowledgements ensure that you’ve understood and agreed to the terms of participating in Catalyst. You’ll need to accept the Catalyst Terms & Conditions, Project Catalyst Platform Privacy Policy and Project Catalyst Platform Terms of Use.
In this step, you’ll choose your username and set your communication preferences.
Your username is how other users will see you in the app, when you create a proposal or leave a comment. Feel free to use your real name or a nickname. It’s best to choose something that will be memorable or recognizable to other users that already know you on other platforms (e.g. your X or Discord handle).
Your email is what the Catalyst team will use to contact you.
In this step, you’ll create your Catalyst Keychain. Designed with decentralization in mind, your Keychain forms the basis for your digital identity in Catalyst.
You'll use it to access the platform, build up your track record in Catalyst, and unlock opportunities to participate in community-driven innovation.
Think of it like any other user account, but with cryptographic security and built-in interoperability across the Cardano ecosystem.
You’ll start by generating your Keychain. It’s a cryptographic keypair unique to your account - but you can think of it as your all-access pass to all things Catalyst.
CONFIRM SEED PHRASE
Next, you’ll be presented with a 12-word seed phrase that represents your Keychain. It’s kinda like your email and password all rolled into one - so be sure to keep it somewhere safe!
You can choose to write down your seed phrase, or you can export a digital copy.
Option 1 - Enter your Catalyst Seed Phrase manually You’ll need to validate that you’ve saved your seed phrase correctly. You’ll be asked to enter the correct words in the correct order before you can proceed.
Option 2 - Import your Catalyst Seed Phrase Another option is import your seed phrase (requires exporting in the previous step).
After this step, the app will forget your seed phrase. If you lose it, you’ll need to perform an account recovery to generate a new one. We don’t save your seed phrase, because we believe it’s important for YOU to own YOUR data.
If you ever want to restore your account on a new/other device, you’ll need to enter your 12-word or Import your seed phrase to prove ownership of your Catalyst Keychain.
Lock/Unlock are the replacement for email/login passwords as you own your Keychain on your device.When you leave, your account will be locked, but your Keychain will remain saved inside the application.
To unlock your account, you'll enter your unlock password, rather than entering your seed phrase again. In this step, you’ll set that password.
This is the final and most important step in your account setup. In it, you’ll link your Cardano wallet to your Catalyst Keychain, so that we know where to send any rewards you might earn. You’ll also add Roles to your Keychain, so that you can get started participating as a Contributor and/or Proposer.
First, you'll connect your wallet, so that we can record your payment address, and associate important on-chain information like your token holdings to your Keychain.
You should be able to use any browser extension wallet that supports the CIP30 wallet connect standard, but we recommend using one of our Officially Supported Wallets.
All light wallets which follow the CIP-30 specification should work out of the box. The following light wallets are officially supported: - Lace - Eternl - Vespr - Yoroi - Nufi
After successfully connecting your wallet, you’ll see a screen confirming the wallet balance and wallet address. Review these carefully to make sure that you’ve connected the wallet that you’d like to link to your Catalyst account.
Browser Compatibility for Wallet Extensions
Chrome 137 (all wallet extensions supported)
Firefox 139 (only Lace and Yoroi have extensions available)
Safari 18.5 (no wallet extensions available)
Here are a few reasons why wallet connect might fail, and how you can resolve them.
Wrong Browser Please launch the browser with your wallet extension installed, and revisit Catalyst.
Disabled Extension Please enable the browser extension for your wallet, and refresh the application.
No / Failed Authorization You may need to authorize the Catalyst app in your wallet. Please see wallet specific instructions for Dapp connect.
No Wallet Installed You may not have a compatible wallet installed. If you need to get started, try one of our Officially Supported Wallets.
Next, you’ll choose how you want to participate in Catalyst. You’ll add roles to your Keychain to gain access to new abilities and opportunities. Don’t worry - you can always update this later from your account settings.
Contributor Role
- Comment on ideas to provide proposers with constructive feedback - Save ideas to your favorites list to come back to later
Proposer Role
- Unlock the Catalyst Workspace - Create private drafts for ideating - Share public drafts for feedback - Submit proposals
In this last step, you’ll submit a registration transaction to Cardano mainnet, establishing a verifiable link between your Catalyst account, your connected Cardano wallet, and your selected roles.
Once you’ve reviewed the transaction summary in the app, click “Sign transaction with wallet” to send the transaction to your wallet.
This will launch a pop-up, where you’ll be asked to enter your wallet spending password to submit the final transaction. Once this transaction gets processed on Cardano mainnet, you’ll be ready to start participating!
See below for answers to some of our most frequently asked questions. If you have a question not answered here or anywhere else in the knowledge base, feel free to submit a Support Request.
Can I use the Catalyst app on mobile?
No, the first release of the application is desktop only. Stay tuned for more details.
Can I remove my Catalyst Keychain from my current device?
Yes. Be aware you will lose access to Not published proposals. So export or Share for review, so you can find your proposal in My Proposals, after you have restored your account.
Option 1: To remove your Keychain from your device, go to your Avatar (Top right) > Profile & Keychain and select Remove Keychain. Follow the instructions on screen to remove. If you want to access your account later, you’ll need to re-enter your seed phrase to gain access to Catalyst..
Option 2: Clear the Catalyst site data and cache in your browser, and reload the Catalyst App, this will give you the opportunity to Get Started again. Be aware you will lose access to Not published proposals.
Are there any costs associated with creating a Catalyst Account?
Yes. You’ll need to pay a small transaction fee in order to link your wallet and add roles to your Keychain. The exact amount may vary on network traffic at the time of your transaction. It’s advised to have at least 5 ADA in your wallet before you create a Catalyst account.
What if I don’t have enough ADA in my wallet for the transaction fee?
You’ll need to top up your ADA before you can finish your account setup and access all that Catalyst has to offer. If you need to transfer from fiat, we recommend using a reputable exchange like Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken.
What if my Wallet is not found or not supported?
IIf you have a wallet on your device, but it is not being detected by the , then check to make sure that the extension is enabled in your browser. For certain wallets, you may need to enable Dapp connect from within your wallet settings.
If your wallet is not supported, then we recommend migrating your wallet to one of our .
Can I use the to vote?
No. Voting will be incorporated in future releases. For now, you can use the legacy mobile voting app that can be found on and stores.
Click here to learn more about how to as a Voter.
Can I use the to provide reviews?
No. Community reviews will be incorporated in future releases. For now, you provide reviews in the .
Click here to learn more about how to as a Reviewer.
What to do if I forgot my password?
Press unlock. You will find a Forgot password button at the bottom of the right panel. This will allow you to input your seedphrase and reset your password to regain access to the .
The Workspace is your ideation hub where you can start a new proposal and manage your existing ones.
To get started, click the Create Proposal button. This will show a Create proposal overlay that guides you through the initial steps and will open the Proposal editor when you press ‘Start Proposal’
To submit your proposal for funding, you’ll need to answer all of the questions in the proposal template. The left side bar of the Proposal Editor offers some handy ways to navigate all the questions in the template.
Each topic corresponds to a question in the main editing section. When you click on a topic, you’ll quickly jump to the place where you can answer the related questions.
To edit a section, click the Edit button in the upper right corner of a topic panel. This will put the panel into edit mode. Once you’ve responded, click Save to save your response. You can also click cancel to exit edit mode without saving.
Some topics allow you to have longer answers than others. For long form responses, you’ll have a rich text editor to add text styling, or link images.
Click here to learn more about .
Selected sections in the template have related guidance to help you do your best work and improve your odds of writing a winning proposal.
Refer to the content in the right panel of the to see helpful tips and guidance for the section you are currently working on.
This section describes the proposal Progression and how to navigate your ideas through the different stages.
The proposal progression: Not Published (Private on local device) → Shared for public Feedback (Community feedback on an iteration) → Submitted for Review (Final locked proposal)
When you create a proposal, it starts as a local private draft on your device. All of your changes are saved locally, and only you are able to see your proposal.
You’ll see all local private drafts appear in the Not Published section of the My Proposals page. To continue editing a Not Published draft, click on it from the My Proposals page, or select the Edit option in the 3-dot menu.
Once you’ve responded to all the questions in the proposal template, you can publish your proposal as either a Draft or Final proposal.
Keep reading to learn more about the different types of publishing.
Choose this publishing option if you still want to make further edits to your proposal.
This action will publish your proposal to the Catalyst Network as a Draft, and other users will be able to view and make comments.
After publishing, you’ll see your proposal move from the Not Published section to the Shared for public feedback section in the My Proposals page. You’ll be able to share a direct link to your proposal, and also track the number of comments on your latest Iteration.
To make changes to a Draft proposal that has been published to the Catalyst network, you can click on the Draft from the My Proposals page, or click the Edit option in the 3-dot menu.
All changes are stored locally as a new private draft on your device. Other users won’t be able to see new local changes until you publish a new iteration, so be sure to publish a new iteration if you want to collect feedback on your refined ideas.
You can view the Iteration history on a proposal by expanding the History section on the My Proposals page.
Choose this publishing option if you are ready to submit your proposal Iteration for review and voting.
This action will publish your proposal to the Catalyst network as Final, and will be eligible for grant funding.
You can take proposal management actions from the My Proposals page. You will have different options depending on the progression state of your proposal.
Edit - open the Proposal Editor to continue working on this proposal Export proposal - export a copy of this proposal to backup on your computer Delete - permanently delete your local draft
Edit - open the Proposal Editor to continue working on the latest Iteration View - open this proposal as preview Share - create a shareable link to your proposal for use on social media Forget proposal - permanently remove this proposal from your inventory, forfeit editing rights, and prevent other users from viewing it in the Discovery Space Export - export a copy of this proposal to backup on your computer
Unlock & Edit - return to Draft status to unlock editing (becomes ineligible for funding) View - open this proposal as preview Share - create a shareable link to your proposal for use on social media Forget proposal - permanently remove this proposal from your inventory, forfeit editing rights, and prevent other users from viewing it in the Discovery Space (becomes ineligible for funding) Export - export a copy of this proposal to backup on your computer
You can export any proposal from the My Proposals page to create a backup on your device.
You can import that file later to continue editing on any device.
