MLabs - Covenant 2: Cross-Language Support and Developer Experience
MLabs LTD
ID: 69fb2be989371182537b3099
Covenant is a Cardano-built compiler framework that sits between high-level smart contract languages (such as Aiken, Plutarch, and Plinth) and the bytecode the Cardano blockchain actually executes. It does the heavy lifting — analysis, optimization, and code generation — so the maintainers of those languages can focus on what their users see, instead of the entire compilation pipeline. Covenant 1 was funded under Project Catalyst Fund 13 and is now feature-complete and in stabilization. This proposal is the natural next step. It does two things: **1. Improves the developer experience.** Better error messages, simpler interfaces, more examples, more tests, and clearer documentation. These are the unglamorous improvements that decide whether a tool is actually adopted. **2. Extends Covenant to support languages beyond Cardano** — specifically Solana's bytecode as the first proof point. Once Covenant can target multiple chains, it becomes a "universal glue" between high-level smart contract languages on one side and chain bytecodes on the other. This means: developers from other ecosystems can write Cardano smart contracts in languages they already know; Cardano-native languages get optimization and analysis tooling for free; and migration between chains becomes meaningfully easier. The strategic goal is straightforward: make Cardano smart contract tooling better than what other ecosystems offer, and make the path onto Cardano shorter for developers currently working elsewhere. Both of those directly serve Cardano 2030's Adoption & Utility and Community & Ecosystem Growth pillars. The work is fully open-source under Apache 2, builds on a delivered Catalyst project, and is delivered by the same MLabs team that built Covenant 1.
Scorecard
How this score works
Each criterion is worth between 1 and 4 points. The score is the points earned out of the points on criteria that have been answered — shown as a percentage. Green is 75% or higher, Amber is 50–74%, and Red is below 50%.
Some criteria are checked automatically against the proposal data (open source, doxxed team, treasury return clauses, etc.). Others are human-judgment calls — value for money, public good, whether the deliverables are realistic. Those stay blank until a DRep ticks them.
Criteria can also be marked Not applicablewhen they don't fit the proposal — for example, "open source" doesn't apply to a DAO governance proposal with no software output. Those are excluded from the score entirely, neither helping nor hurting.
Green requires 80% coverage. If less than 80% of the applicable criteria (by points) have been answered, the verdict stays at Amber — "pending review" — even when every answered criterion passes. This proposal's coverage is currently 68% (13 of 19 applicable criteria answered).
Vote intent
Export & audit
↓ Download scorecard.mdRaw payload · Treasury (false) / Admin (intersect)
{
"_meta": {
"schema_version": "1.2.0",
"proposal_id": "69fb2be989371182537b3099",
"proposal_title": "MLabs - Covenant 2: Cross-Language Support and Developer Experience",
"proposer": "MLabs LTD",
"filename": "hydra-mlabs-covenant-2-cross-language.json",
"processed_date": "2026-05-11",
"title": "MLabs - Covenant 2: Cross-Language Support and Developer Experience"
},
"ask": {
"ada_amount": 1461441,
"usd_amount": 263059,
"ada_usd_rate_assumed": 0.18,
"usd_peg_vs_market": "conservative",
"duration_months": 8,
"milestone_payments_disclosed": true,
"milestone_schedule_disclosed": "amounts_only",
"milestone_notes": "5 milestones with weeks specified (4-6 weeks each) and explicit Hackage release + deliverable acceptance criteria. NoWitnessLabs cited as independent auditor per milestone."
},
"identity": {
"doxxed": true,
"doxxed_notes": "MLabs LTD is a registered company with extensive Cardano dev track record."
},
"metadata": {
"open_source": "yes",
"has_prior_delivery": true,
"prior_delivery_notes": "Covenant 1 funded under Catalyst Fund 13 (proposal 1300143), feature-complete and in stabilization at proposal time. MLabs is sole organization outside IOG to ship Plutus Core primitive operations to mainnet (secp256k1/ECDSA and bit-level manipulation). 44 Catalyst proposals delivered.",
"admin_model": "intersect",
"admin_notes": "Intersect administers with 3% fee (42,566 ADA); each milestone independently audited by NoWitnessLabs before payment release.",
"duplicate_of_existing_solution": {
"value": "no",
"confidence": "high",
"set_by": "ai"
}
},
"treasury_return": {
"has_return_clause": false,
"treasury_favourability": "weak",
"return_notes": "Proposer answered 'No' on returning unused funds to Treasury."
},
"relationships": {
"competes_with": []
},
"ecosystem_demand": {
"evidence_level": "weak",
"evidence_level_confidence": "medium",
"evidence_level_set_by": "ai",
"active_users_known": false,
"active_users_examples": [],
"developer_demand_signals": [
"Covenant 1 is feature-complete but adoption by Plutarch/Aiken/Plinth language maintainers as a backend is asserted as future possibility, not committed",
"Konma's HaskLedger cited as a cross-chain framework that 'could' use Covenant — no commitment cited",
"Cross-chain compiler infrastructure is a recognized niche but downstream adoption signal is forward-looking"
],
"adoption_risk_notes": "Covenant 1 is a delivered technical foundation but the strategic case rests on speculative future adoption by other Cardano language maintainers (Plutarch, Aiken, Plinth) and cross-chain frameworks. No named language team has committed to migrating to Covenant as a compilation backend. The Solana sBPF target is an interesting capability demonstration but doesn't have a named integrator. M1 DevEx improvements have value for current Covenant users (if any exist at scale) but the broader strategic case for the M2-M5 cross-chain work is forward-looking. The proposal is high-quality engineering but ecosystem demand is asserted via 'becomes viable' rather than 'committed users'."
},
"incumbents": {
"has_existing_solution": "no",
"has_existing_solution_confidence": "high",
"has_existing_solution_set_by": "ai",
"existing_solutions": [
{
"name": "Covenant 1 (MLabs)",
"status": "in_progress",
"overlap": "full",
"notes": "This is the proposer's own prior work being extended — Covenant 1 is feature-complete and in stabilization."
},
{
"name": "Plutus Core compilation pipelines maintained by each language",
"status": "shipped",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Plutarch, Aiken, Plinth each maintain their own UPLC code generation. Covenant 2 positions itself as a 'shared backend' alternative — but adoption by these languages is speculative."
}
],
"differentiation_claim": "Extension of MLabs' delivered Covenant 1 framework to support cross-chain compilation (Solana sBPF as proof point) plus DevEx improvements; positions Covenant as universal glue between high-level smart contract languages and chain bytecodes.",
"differentiation_credibility": "high"
},
"risk_flags": {
"aggressive_peg": false,
"self_administered_no_oversight": false,
"incumbent_already_delivering": false,
"no_evidence_of_demand": true,
"competes_with_in_batch": false,
"concentration_risk": false
},
"id": "hydra-mlabs-covenant-2-cross-language",
"source": {
"hydra_id": "69fb2be989371182537b3099",
"channels": [
"hydra"
]
}
}