OnchainTooling/DevExonchain
Pebble & Ecosystem maintenance: TypeScript core of Cardano
Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs)
Two tracks: (1) Pebble — production-ready imperative TypeScript-shaped smart contract language targeting UPLC. Benchmarks (UPLC-CAPE) show strictly better performance than Aiken and comparable to Plutarch, while readable to 17M+ JS/TS developers. Fills the paradigm gap Aiken cannot (imperative-first). (2) TypeScript tooling maintenance — keeping cardano-ledger-ts, ouroboros-miniprotocols-ts, plutus-machine, uplc updated for the upcoming hard fork. These 4 libraries are production dependencies of Mesh, Lucid Evolution, and Midgard.
Ask (ADA)
4,600,000
Ask (USD)
$1,150,000
Peg
$0.25
Eff. ADA @ spot
4,346,183
Peg vs market
neutral
Scorecard
13 of 19 criteria answered
Amber · 85%· pending review
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). The auto-calculated band would have been Green, but coverage is below the threshold so the verdict is shown as Amber to flag that judgment criteria are still pending.
Vote intent
Export & audit
↓ Download scorecard.mdRaw payload · Treasury (true) / Admin (self_with_oversight)
{
"schema_version": "1.2.0",
"id": "onchain-hlabs-pebble-tooling",
"ingestion": {
"ingested_at": "2026-05-11T17:35:00Z",
"ingested_by": "claude-opus-4.7",
"source_documents": [
"https://www.cardanocube.com/governance/gov_actions/gov_action1ggr2uz7prwn5l84cdn2krwngfez0p7wluy4u3u3ez9pz5ls2whesqnsjly8"
],
"extraction_notes": "Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs) sibling proposal — Pebble (imperative TypeScript-shaped smart contract language) + TypeScript tooling maintenance (cardano-ledger-ts, ouroboros-miniprotocols-ts, plutus-machine, uplc). Yes 208.46M — highest Yes among HLabs proposals and higher than Gerolamo (185M). Explicit No 99.73M — lowest among the June 8 expiry group. Same team/budget structure as Gerolamo (5 FTE, ₳4.6M). Pebble is named as a consortium member in the IO High Assurance proposal for Pebble language integration into Blaster formal verification. Milestone 1 is split into 1.A (Pebble, 80%) and 1.B (hard-fork maintenance, 20%) payable independently. Expires June 8 2026."
},
"source": {
"channels": [
"onchain"
],
"hydra_id": null,
"onchain_tx_hash": "4206ae0bc11ba74f9eb86cd561ba684e44f0f9dfe12bc8f23911422a7e0a75f3",
"onchain_action_id": "gov_action1ggr2uz7prwn5l84cdn2krwngfez0p7wluy4u3u3ez9pz5ls2whesqnsjly8"
},
"identity": {
"title": "Pebble & Ecosystem maintenance: TypeScript core of Cardano",
"proposer_name": "Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs)",
"proposer_id": "harmonic-labs",
"proposer_type": "organisation",
"proposer_url": null,
"doxxed": true,
"primary_contact": null,
"team_size_disclosed": 5,
"team_size_disclosed_note": "5 FTE: Pebble 3.5 FTE (compiler 2 FTE + developer tooling 1.5 FTE), hard-fork maintenance 1.5 FTE."
},
"classification": {
"official_pillar_primary": [
"Adoption & Utility"
],
"official_pillar_secondary": [
"Infrastructure & Research Excellence"
],
"official_pillar_confidence": "stated",
"working_category_suggestion": "Tooling/DevEx",
"working_category_confidence": "high",
"tags": [
"pebble",
"typescript",
"smart-contract-language",
"uplc",
"aiken",
"plutarch",
"hlabs",
"tooling",
"hard-fork",
"maintenance",
"lsp",
"repl",
"sourcemaps",
"mesh",
"lucid-evolution",
"midgard"
]
},
"ask": {
"ada_amount": 4600000,
"ada_amount_note": "Same structure as Gerolamo: Base ₳4,000,000 (5 FTE × $200K at $0.25/ADA) + refundable contingency ₳600,000 (15%). Pebble 3.5 FTE ($700K), Hard-fork maintenance 1.5 FTE ($300K). M1 split: 1.A Pebble ₳840K, 1.B hard-fork maintenance ₳210K (independently payable).",
"usd_amount": 1150000,
"usd_peg_price": 0.25,
"pegged": true,
"currency_basis": "usd_pegged",
"usd_peg_vs_market": "neutral",
"implied_buffer_pct": -4,
"duration_months": 12,
"milestone_count": 6,
"milestone_payments_disclosed": true,
"milestone_schedule_disclosed": "amounts_only",
"raw_ask_text": "Total ask ₳4,600,000. M0 ₳400K kickoff; M1.A (Pebble type system) ₳840K; M1.B (hard-fork readiness) ₳210K; M2 ₳1,050K; M3 ₳1,050K; M4 ₳1,050K."
},
"treasury_return": {
"has_return_clause": true,
"mechanisms": [
{
"type": "unspent_funds",
"trigger": "Failsafe sweep — funds left after expiry auto-sweep to treasury (contract-enforced)",
"deadline": "End of contract period",
"excluded_costs": [],
"estimated_return_pct": null,
"estimated_return_pct_note": "15% contingency reserve is refundable if not consumed"
}
],
"treasury_favourability": "moderate",
"treasury_favourability_confidence": "high",
"treasury_favourability_note": "Same as Gerolamo — 15% refundable contingency, contract-enforced auto-sweep.",
"treasury_favourability_set_by": "ai",
"raw_return_text": "Funds left in the contract after expiration automatically sweep back to the Cardano treasury. Enforced at the contract level. Can't be overridden."
},
"lifecycle": {
"pipeline_state": "onchain_live",
"hydra_submitted_at": null,
"hydra_close_at": null,
"hydra_support_pct": null,
"onchain_submitted_at": "2026-05-04T00:00:00Z",
"onchain_vote_close_at": "2026-06-08T00:00:00Z",
"onchain_result": null,
"status_last_checked_at": "2026-05-11T17:35:00Z"
},
"links": {
"hydra_url": null,
"adastat_url": null,
"ipfs_cid": null,
"ipfs_gateway_url": null,
"github_url": "https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/pebble",
"website_url": null,
"forum_thread_url": null,
"other": [
{
"label": "UPLC-CAPE benchmarks",
"url": "https://intersectmbo.github.io/UPLC-CAPE/"
},
{
"label": "cardano-ledger-ts",
"url": "https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/cardano-ledger-ts"
},
{
"label": "plutus-machine",
"url": "https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/plutus-machine"
},
{
"label": "HLabs 2026 treasury proposal repo",
"url": "https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/2026-treasury-proposal"
},
{
"label": "2025 retrospective",
"url": "https://gateway.pinata.cloud/ipfs/QmZVw82XNXNsgGmBj39R26Mx7jgzWaNjSw4A7JM9Erye9c"
}
]
},
"content": {
"abstract": "Two tracks: (1) Pebble — production-ready imperative TypeScript-shaped smart contract language targeting UPLC. Benchmarks (UPLC-CAPE) show strictly better performance than Aiken and comparable to Plutarch, while readable to 17M+ JS/TS developers. Fills the paradigm gap Aiken cannot (imperative-first). (2) TypeScript tooling maintenance — keeping cardano-ledger-ts, ouroboros-miniprotocols-ts, plutus-machine, uplc updated for the upcoming hard fork. These 4 libraries are production dependencies of Mesh, Lucid Evolution, and Midgard.",
"problem_statement": "Cardano has functional (Aiken) and low-level (Plutarch) smart contract languages — but no imperative-first option for the 17M+ TypeScript/JavaScript developers globally or for Solidity developers. The Aiken→Cardano onboarding requires two simultaneous paradigm shifts (eUTXO model + functional programming); Pebble reduces it to one. TypeScript tooling maintenance is non-optional infrastructure: when HLabs ships, Mesh/Lucid/Midgard ship; when HLabs lags, the ecosystem lags.",
"proposed_solution": "Pebble 3.5 FTE: full type system + type inference + generics + namespaces (M1.A); module system + test framework + expanded stdlib + Plutus V4 codegen + UPLC-CAPE submissions (M2); REPL + sourcemaps + LSP + buildooor integration (M3); full docs + ≥3 e2e tutorials + TS/Solidity onboarding guides (M4). Hard-fork maintenance 1.5 FTE: tagged releases of all 4 libraries with Plutus V4 + revised cost model + new protocol params (M1.B); continued maintenance through Q4 2026.",
"deliverables": [
"Pebble: type system finalized (inference, sum types, generics, namespaces) + ≥3 example contracts (M1.A)",
"Pebble: Plutus V4 codegen support",
"Pebble: ≥1 new UPLC-CAPE benchmark category submission",
"Pebble: REPL + sourcemaps + LSP + buildooor integration (M3)",
"Pebble: complete reference documentation + ≥3 e2e tutorials + onboarding guide for TS/Solidity devs (M4)",
"Hard-fork maintenance: cardano-ledger-ts, ouroboros-miniprotocols-ts, plutus-machine, uplc — Plutus V4 + revised cost model (M1.B)"
],
"milestones": [
{
"name": "M0 Kickoff",
"deliverable": "Project initialization + escrow setup",
"ada_release": 400000,
"deadline": null
},
{
"name": "M1.A Pebble Type System (Q2 2026)",
"deliverable": "Pebble release with full type system + ≥3 example contracts compiling to UPLC",
"ada_release": 840000,
"deadline": "2026-06-30"
},
{
"name": "M1.B Hard Fork Readiness (Q2 2026)",
"deliverable": "Tagged releases of 4 libraries with Plutus V4 + revised cost model support",
"ada_release": 210000,
"deadline": "2026-06-30"
},
{
"name": "M2 Pebble Completeness + Benchmarks (Q3 2026)",
"deliverable": "Namespace/module system, test framework, stdlib, Plutus V4 codegen, UPLC-CAPE submission",
"ada_release": 1050000,
"deadline": "2026-09-30"
},
{
"name": "M3 Developer Tooling (Q4 2026)",
"deliverable": "REPL + sourcemaps + buildooor integration + Q4 protocol maintenance",
"ada_release": 1050000,
"deadline": "2026-12-31"
},
{
"name": "M4 Docs + Tutorials + Adoption (Q1 2027)",
"deliverable": "Complete docs + ≥3 e2e tutorials + TS/Solidity onboarding guide",
"ada_release": 1050000,
"deadline": "2027-03-31"
}
],
"team": [
{
"name": "Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs)",
"role": "Lead (5 FTE)",
"background": "Same team as Gerolamo proposal. Pebble is already in UPLC-CAPE with benchmark entries. Maintains the TypeScript foundation of the Cardano DApp ecosystem."
}
],
"risks_disclosed": []
},
"metadata": {
"open_source": "yes",
"open_source_url": "https://github.com/HarmonicLabs/pebble",
"has_prior_funding": false,
"prior_funding_sources": [],
"has_prior_delivery": true,
"prior_delivery_evidence": "Pebble already exists with benchmark entries in UPLC-CAPE. cardano-ledger-ts, ouroboros-miniprotocols-ts, plutus-machine, uplc are in production use by Mesh, Lucid Evolution, Midgard. 2025 retrospective published.",
"admin_model": "self_with_oversight",
"administrator_name": "Harmonic Labs with Independent Oversight Board",
"oversight_committee": [
"Santiago Carmuega (TxPipe)",
"Lucas Rosa (Aiken)",
"Chris Gianelloni (BlinkLabs)"
],
"administration_fee_pct": null,
"duplicate_of_existing_solution": {
"value": "no",
"confidence": "high",
"set_by": "ai"
},
"duplicate_notes": "Pebble fills a genuine gap — no production-ready imperative TypeScript-shaped Cardano smart contract language exists. Aiken is functional-first (different paradigm/audience). Plutarch is performance-focused but hostile to write. The hard-fork maintenance is non-duplicated: HLabs maintains the only TypeScript implementation of these Cardano protocol libraries."
},
"relationships": {
"bundle_with": [
"onchain-hlabs-gerolamo-browser-node"
],
"supersedes": [],
"competes_with": [],
"depends_on": [],
"notes": "Sibling proposal with Gerolamo. Pebble is named as a consortium integration target in the IO High Assurance proposal (Blaster formal verification will integrate with Pebble via Universal Annotation Language, delivered by Harmonic Labs). Harmonic Labs is listed as a consortium member in the IO High Assurance proposal."
},
"community_signals": {
"comment_count": 0,
"notable_objections": [],
"notable_endorsements": [],
"forum_thread_urls": [],
"live_voting_state": {
"as_of": "2026-05-11",
"drep_yes_ada": 208460000,
"drep_no_ada": 5610000000,
"drep_explicit_no_ada": 99730000,
"drep_no_confidence_ada": 200800000,
"drep_not_voted_ada": 5310000000,
"drep_total_active_stake_ada": 14960000000,
"cc_yes": 0,
"cc_no": 0,
"cc_not_voted": 7,
"interpretation": "FAILING but highest Yes among the HLabs proposals and highest Explicit No ratio (Yes > Explicit No). 208M Yes vs 99.73M Explicit No — DReps appear more sympathetic to developer tooling/language than to the browser node. Expires June 8."
}
},
"ecosystem_demand": {
"evidence_level": "strong",
"evidence_level_confidence": "high",
"evidence_level_set_by": "ai",
"active_users_known": true,
"active_users_examples": [
{
"name": "Mesh (most widely-used Cardano dApp SDK)",
"kind": "integrator",
"url": "https://meshjs.dev"
},
{
"name": "Lucid Evolution (Anastasia Labs)",
"kind": "integrator",
"url": null
},
{
"name": "Midgard L2 (Anastasia Labs)",
"kind": "integrator",
"url": null
}
],
"developer_demand_signals": [
"TypeScript is the #1 language among Cardano developers (CF annual survey) by wide margin",
"Pebble outperforms Aiken on UPLC-CAPE benchmarks per IOG's independent benchmark suite — verifiable",
"Hard-fork maintenance is a structural ecosystem dependency (not discretionary)",
"cardano-ledger-ts/ouroboros-miniprotocols-ts are production dependencies — any lag affects Mesh, Lucid, Midgard simultaneously",
"Cardano 2030 Strategy explicitly calls for 'materials for EVM/account-based devs moving to Cardano' (A.3 Developer Experience)"
],
"adoption_risk_notes": "Tooling maintenance demand is structural. Pebble adoption depends on DApp developers choosing it over Aiken/Plutarch — target of ≥20 developers onboarded in 12 months is modest and achievable given the TS ecosystem."
},
"incumbents": {
"has_existing_solution": "partial",
"has_existing_solution_confidence": "high",
"has_existing_solution_set_by": "ai",
"existing_solutions": [
{
"name": "Aiken",
"url": "https://aiken-lang.org",
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Functional-first (Rust/Gleam-shaped). Different paradigm and target audience. Complementary."
},
{
"name": "Plutarch",
"url": null,
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Low-level high-performance. Expert-only. Complementary."
},
{
"name": "OpShin/Eopsin",
"url": null,
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Python-based. Different target developer audience."
}
],
"differentiation_claim": "Pebble is the only production-ready imperative TypeScript-shaped smart contract language targeting UPLC. Fills a documented gap in Cardano's developer onramp. UPLC-CAPE benchmarks show strictly better performance than Aiken — no performance/ergonomics tradeoff.",
"differentiation_credibility": "high"
},
"risk_flags": {
"aggressive_peg": false,
"self_administered_no_oversight": false,
"incumbent_already_delivering": false,
"no_evidence_of_demand": false,
"competes_with_in_batch": false,
"concentration_risk": false,
"failing_live_vote": true,
"zero_cc_votes": true
},
"risk_flags_note": "zero_cc_votes: 0 CC yes votes. failing_live_vote: Yes 208M vs No 5.61B, expires June 8. Highest Yes among HLabs proposals.",
"_meta": {
"title": "Pebble & Ecosystem maintenance: TypeScript core of Cardano",
"proposer": "Harmonic Laboratories (HLabs)"
}
}