OnchainTooling/DevExonchain
IO: Developer Experience Initiative
Input Output (IO)
A focused six-month program to streamline Cardano's developer tooling, documentation, and onboarding experience — targeting a 30%+ improvement in developer growth rate within 12 months. Five practical outcomes: community alignment + bounty program for ecosystem DevX tooling, a setup CLI ('cardano-init'), an OpenZeppelin-style ready-to-use contracts library, a unified Developer Portal onboarding experience, and a measurement hackathon. IO is collaborating with Intersect's Developer Advocate Program and exploring a TxPipe partnership; primary dev-relations stewardship transitions to Cardano Foundation by end of 2026.
Ask (ADA)
3,601,926
Ask (USD)
$864,462
Peg
$0.24
Eff. ADA @ spot
3,267,052
Peg vs market
✓ conservative
Scorecard
13 of 19 criteria answered
Amber · 79%· 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 (intersect)
{
"schema_version": "1.2.0",
"id": "onchain-io-developer-experience-initiative",
"ingestion": {
"ingested_at": "2026-05-11T15:00:00Z",
"ingested_by": "claude-opus-4.7",
"source_documents": [
"https://adastat.net/governances/73e171a4c0730b4b59ecae271ab89f12a9d56360b02920e1f95107dbdc1d676200",
"https://www.cardanocube.com/governance/gov_actions/gov_action1w0shrfxqwv95kk0v4cn34wylz25a2cmqkq5jpc0e2yrahhqava3qqfu3vtv",
"https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmQPLwjTwZeGrzsgs2QiC6crJLcMg64fU2kDYZmPZ9o7wf",
"https://www.iog.io/news/io-treasury-proposals-the-5-minute-overview"
],
"extraction_notes": "On-chain governance action currently in voting (submitted Apr 22 2026, expires May 24 2026). LIVE VOTING SIGNAL: failing badly with Yes 178.52M ADA vs No 5.54B ADA (Active tally), 1 CC yes / 6 CC not voted. This is one of the IO 2026 portfolio proposals ($46.8M total slate). 12-month KPI window stated but delivery roadmap is Q3-Q4 2026 (~6 months) — captured 6 in duration_months. USD peg $0.24 (consistent with other IO proposals like CV26). Proposal text explicitly mentions transition of primary dev relations stewardship to Cardano Foundation by end of 2026 — this is a transition rather than empire-building. Collaborative with Intersect Developer Advocate Program and TxPipe."
},
"source": {
"channels": [
"onchain"
],
"hydra_id": null,
"onchain_tx_hash": "73e171a4c0730b4b59ecae271ab89f12a9d56360b02920e1f95107dbdc1d6762",
"onchain_action_id": "gov_action1w0shrfxqwv95kk0v4cn34wylz25a2cmqkq5jpc0e2yrahhqava3qqfu3vtv"
},
"identity": {
"title": "IO: Developer Experience Initiative",
"proposer_name": "Input Output (IO)",
"proposer_id": "io-research",
"proposer_type": "organisation",
"proposer_url": "https://www.iog.io",
"doxxed": true,
"primary_contact": null,
"team_size_disclosed": null,
"team_size_disclosed_note": "Team composition described as 'project management, TypeScript and web engineering, DApp development, Rust tooling, and developer relations specialists'. Specific FTE count not disclosed. ₳2.93M of ₳3.6M budget (81%) is development & engineering teams."
},
"classification": {
"official_pillar_primary": [
"Adoption & Utility",
"Community & Ecosystem Growth"
],
"official_pillar_secondary": [],
"official_pillar_confidence": "stated",
"working_category_suggestion": "Tooling/DevEx",
"working_category_confidence": "high",
"tags": [
"devex",
"developer-onboarding",
"tooling",
"documentation",
"bounties",
"cardano-init",
"openzeppelin-style",
"hackathon",
"developer-portal",
"intersect-developer-advocate"
]
},
"ask": {
"ada_amount": 3601926,
"ada_amount_note": "Budget breakdown: Dev & Engineering ₳2,929,680 (81%), Engagement & Ecosystem ₳432,231 (12%), Operations ₳72,039 (2%), Infrastructure ₳36,019 (1%), Security & Audits ₳36,019 (1%), Legal ₳36,019 (1%), Governance ₳36,019 (1%), Others ₳36,019 (1%). Intersect 3% admin fee covered within budget.",
"usd_amount": 864462,
"usd_peg_price": 0.24,
"pegged": true,
"currency_basis": "usd_pegged",
"usd_peg_vs_market": "conservative",
"implied_buffer_pct": -8,
"duration_months": 6,
"milestone_count": 8,
"milestone_payments_disclosed": false,
"milestone_schedule_disclosed": "names_only",
"raw_ask_text": "Total Treasury Ask: ₳3,601,926. USD figures ($864,462) are provided for reference only, based on an ADA/USD rate of 0.24. All amounts in this proposal are denominated in ada (₳). All funds not disbursed by the end of the delivery period will be returned to the Cardano Treasury."
},
"treasury_return": {
"has_return_clause": true,
"mechanisms": [
{
"type": "unspent_funds",
"trigger": "Funds undisbursed at end of delivery period OR partial delivery / scope reduction",
"deadline": "End of delivery period (Q4 2026)",
"excluded_costs": [],
"estimated_return_pct": null,
"estimated_return_pct_note": "Proportional to undelivered scope"
}
],
"treasury_favourability": "moderate",
"treasury_favourability_confidence": "high",
"treasury_favourability_note": "Same return clause language as CV26 — proportional return on partial delivery is stronger than typical 'unspent contingency only' clauses. ADA-denominated (USD reference only) so no price-peg surplus mechanism. No revenue share.",
"treasury_favourability_set_by": "ai",
"raw_return_text": "All funds not disbursed by the end of the delivery period will be returned to the Cardano Treasury. A final reconciliation will be published as part of the oversight reporting cycle. In the event of partial delivery or scope reduction, unspent funds associated with cancelled or reduced deliverables will be returned proportionally."
},
"lifecycle": {
"pipeline_state": "onchain_live",
"hydra_submitted_at": null,
"hydra_close_at": null,
"hydra_support_pct": null,
"onchain_submitted_at": "2026-04-22T00:00:00Z",
"onchain_vote_close_at": "2026-05-24T00:00:00Z",
"onchain_result": null,
"status_last_checked_at": "2026-05-11T15:00:00Z"
},
"links": {
"hydra_url": null,
"adastat_url": "https://adastat.net/governances/73e171a4c0730b4b59ecae271ab89f12a9d56360b02920e1f95107dbdc1d676200",
"ipfs_cid": "QmQPLwjTwZeGrzsgs2QiC6crJLcMg64fU2kDYZmPZ9o7wf",
"ipfs_gateway_url": "https://ipnso-com.ipns.dweb.link/?cid=QmQPLwjTwZeGrzsgs2QiC6crJLcMg64fU2kDYZmPZ9o7wf",
"github_url": "https://github.com/rober-m/cardano-devx",
"website_url": "https://www.iog.io",
"forum_thread_url": null,
"other": [
{
"label": "IO treasury proposals 5-minute overview",
"url": "https://www.iog.io/news/io-treasury-proposals-the-5-minute-overview"
},
{
"label": "Cardano Cube governance action page",
"url": "https://www.cardanocube.com/governance/gov_actions/gov_action1w0shrfxqwv95kk0v4cn34wylz25a2cmqkq5jpc0e2yrahhqava3qqfu3vtv"
}
]
},
"content": {
"abstract": "A focused six-month program to streamline Cardano's developer tooling, documentation, and onboarding experience — targeting a 30%+ improvement in developer growth rate within 12 months. Five practical outcomes: community alignment + bounty program for ecosystem DevX tooling, a setup CLI ('cardano-init'), an OpenZeppelin-style ready-to-use contracts library, a unified Developer Portal onboarding experience, and a measurement hackathon. IO is collaborating with Intersect's Developer Advocate Program and exploring a TxPipe partnership; primary dev-relations stewardship transitions to Cardano Foundation by end of 2026.",
"problem_statement": "Cardano currently has roughly 550 active developers with no signs of growth, vs Ethereum's ~1,940 new devs/year and Solana's ~884 new devs/year. Survey data from 109 Cardano builders identifies: immature & fragmented tooling, poor documentation & onboarding, steep learning curve (EUTXO + FP), subpar developer experience compared to EVM, and lack of ecosystem coordination (duplicated efforts, no architecture standards).",
"proposed_solution": "Eight workstreams: (1) Community Alignment — DevX strategy + ecosystem tooling map, (2) Developer Outreach — Discord/docs support, Pentad integration support (Stablecoins, Bridges, Oracles), (3) cardano-init — setup CLI with AI-native integrations and plugin architecture, (4) Developer HUB — Cardano Foundation Developer Portal as single onboarding entry point with content for EVM/Web2/entrepreneur personas, (5) ContractsLibrary — OpenZeppelin-style reusable contracts (Vesting, DEX, Swap, Lending), (6) Community Collaboration — bounties paid to maintainers of key DevX tooling, (7) Measurement — hackathon to quantify progress, (8) Reactive — high-ROI opportunities surfaced during delivery.",
"deliverables": [
"Aligned ecosystem DevX strategy with baseline tooling map",
"cardano-init Setup CLI with plugin architecture and AI/LLM-native commands",
"Cardano Foundation Developer Portal optimised for three personas (EVM/blockchain dev, Web2 dev, technical entrepreneur)",
"OpenZeppelin-style ContractsLibrary: at least 5 ready-to-audit contracts (Vesting, Programmable Tokens, DEX, Swap, Lending)",
"Community bounty programme paying maintainers/contributors for DevX improvements",
"Measurement hackathon with controlled metrics",
"Discord/docs reactive support; PR contributions to community-maintained tooling",
"≥30% improvement in developer growth rate (relative GR ≥ 0.3)",
"Measurable improvement in NPS and other direct DevX measurements"
],
"milestones": [
{
"name": "Community Alignment (Q3 2026)",
"deliverable": "Ecosystem DevX strategy + tooling map baseline",
"ada_release": null,
"deadline": "2026-09-30"
},
{
"name": "Developer Outreach (Q3 2026)",
"deliverable": "Discord/docs support; Pentad integration support",
"ada_release": null,
"deadline": "2026-09-30"
},
{
"name": "cardano-init (Q3 2026)",
"deliverable": "Setup CLI with plugin architecture and AI integrations",
"ada_release": null,
"deadline": "2026-09-30"
},
{
"name": "Developer HUB (Q3 2026)",
"deliverable": "Developer Portal restructure with three-persona onboarding",
"ada_release": null,
"deadline": "2026-09-30"
},
{
"name": "ContractsLibrary (Q3 2026)",
"deliverable": "≥5 ready-to-audit contracts + library infrastructure",
"ada_release": null,
"deadline": "2026-09-30"
},
{
"name": "Community Collaboration (Q4 2026)",
"deliverable": "Bounty programme to key DevX tooling maintainers",
"ada_release": null,
"deadline": "2026-12-31"
},
{
"name": "Measurement (Q4 2026)",
"deliverable": "Controlled hackathon to measure DevX progress",
"ada_release": null,
"deadline": "2026-12-31"
},
{
"name": "Reactive (rolling)",
"deliverable": "High-ROI opportunities surfaced through alignment work",
"ada_release": null,
"deadline": null
}
],
"team": [],
"risks_disclosed": [
"Community / Ecosystem (Low likelihood, Medium impact): differing priorities across ecosystem entities may require coordination — milestones like dev hub and startup CLI depend on community acceptance",
"Process (Medium likelihood, Medium impact): hiring a team could take time; some work can start during hiring; profiles already being filtered"
]
},
"metadata": {
"open_source": "yes",
"open_source_url": "https://github.com/rober-m/cardano-devx",
"has_prior_funding": true,
"prior_funding_sources": [
"IO/affiliated entities total Treasury allocation: ₳130,708,860 across multiple projects; ₳78,459,777 withdrawn to date",
"Workstreams: Blockfrost (₳1.14M, 88%), Catalyst (₳3.10M, 60%), IOE (₳47.16M, 49%), IOR (₳26.84M, 100%), Governance (₳227K, 38%)"
],
"has_prior_delivery": true,
"prior_delivery_evidence": "Extensive IO delivery history under prior treasury withdrawals. Public DevX strategy work already underway at github.com/rober-m/cardano-devx. Discussed proposal with 'dozens of developers' and survey of 109 Cardano builders.",
"admin_model": "intersect",
"administrator_name": "Intersect",
"oversight_committee": [
"Sundae Labs",
"Cardano Foundation",
"DQuadrant",
"Xerberus",
"NMKR"
],
"administration_fee_pct": 3,
"duplicate_of_existing_solution": {
"value": "partial",
"confidence": "high",
"set_by": "ai"
},
"duplicate_notes": "Multiple ecosystem DevX initiatives currently active: Intersect's Developer Advocate Program, Cardano Foundation's Developer Portal (which this proposal aims to use as the onboarding hub), TxPipe's SuperNode developer tooling, Intersect's State of DevEx Survey (live), Mesh SDK ecosystem documentation, Demeter platform. The proposal is explicitly collaborative with these — it positions itself as a coordination layer rather than a competing implementation, and explicitly hands stewardship to CF by end of 2026. Partial overlap is intentional and disclosed."
},
"relationships": {
"bundle_with": [
"onchain-cardano-vision-2026",
"onchain-io-consensus-initiative",
"onchain-io-cardano-upgrades",
"onchain-io-midgard-l2",
"onchain-io-cardano-maintenance-initiative"
],
"supersedes": [],
"competes_with": [],
"depends_on": [],
"notes": "Part of the IO 2026 portfolio: $46.8M total slate (down from $97.5M in 2025) covering Consensus (Leios/Peras), DevEx (this one), L2 (Hydra/Midgard), Cardano Upgrades (Babel Fees, multi-asset treasury, account address upgrades), Maintenance, and Research (CV26). Bundle_with entries are placeholders to be resolved once those sibling proposal IDs are confirmed in the corpus. Collaborates with Intersect Developer Advocate Program and TxPipe — stewardship transitions to Cardano Foundation by end of 2026."
},
"community_signals": {
"comment_count": 0,
"notable_objections": [],
"notable_endorsements": [],
"forum_thread_urls": [],
"live_voting_state": {
"as_of": "2026-05-11",
"drep_yes_ada": 178520000,
"drep_no_ada": 5540000000,
"drep_explicit_no_ada": 428670000,
"drep_no_confidence_ada": 200780000,
"drep_not_voted_ada": 4910000000,
"drep_abstain_ada": 140790000,
"drep_auto_abstain_ada": 8900000000,
"drep_total_active_stake_ada": 14930000000,
"cc_yes": 1,
"cc_no": 0,
"cc_not_voted": 6,
"interpretation": "FAILING. Explicit No outweighs Yes by ~2.4x. Total No (including no-confidence) is ~31x Yes. Only 1 of 7 CC members has voted Yes; remaining 6 have not voted. Proposal expires 2026-05-24."
}
},
"ecosystem_demand": {
"evidence_level": "strong",
"evidence_level_confidence": "high",
"evidence_level_set_by": "ai",
"active_users_known": true,
"active_users_examples": [
{
"name": "Survey of 109 Cardano developers",
"kind": "user",
"url": null
},
{
"name": "Intersect State of DevEx Survey (currently in field)",
"kind": "user",
"url": "https://developers.cardano.org/blog/2026-02-06-media-cardano-developer-office-hours/"
},
{
"name": "Cardano Foundation Developer Portal",
"kind": "integrator",
"url": "https://developers.cardano.org"
},
{
"name": "TxPipe (SuperNode + tooling partnership)",
"kind": "integrator",
"url": null
}
],
"developer_demand_signals": [
"550 active devs on Cardano vs 1,940/year new on Ethereum and 884/year on Solana — 3.5x and 1.6x size gap stated",
"Survey of 109 Cardano developers identifies fragmented tooling, scattered docs, EUTXO/FP learning curve as top barriers",
"Cardano Foundation State of the Cardano Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 documents same patterns (uptake of Aiken, demand for clearer docs)",
"Intersect ran a State of DevEx Survey in Feb 2026 — recent ecosystem-wide signal",
"OpenZeppelin-style libraries are an established pattern in EVM ecosystems with proven demand",
"TxPipe's SuperNode shipping addresses adjacent developer-infrastructure pain points"
],
"adoption_risk_notes": "Demand is strongly evidenced and recent. The 550-developer figure and the Ethereum/Solana growth gap are well-documented across multiple independent sources. The question is execution, not whether the problem is real. The current No vote on this proposal does NOT reflect doubt about the demand — likely reflects DRep concerns about IO's role, the 6-month timeline, the size of the broader IO 2026 portfolio ($46.8M), or the perception that DevEx work should be community-funded rather than IO-led given the planned CF stewardship transition."
},
"incumbents": {
"has_existing_solution": "partial",
"has_existing_solution_confidence": "high",
"has_existing_solution_set_by": "ai",
"existing_solutions": [
{
"name": "Cardano Foundation Developer Portal",
"url": "https://developers.cardano.org",
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "substantial",
"notes": "The proposal uses this AS the Developer HUB — collaboration, not duplication. Primary dev-relations stewardship transitions to CF by end of 2026 per the proposal's own framing."
},
{
"name": "Intersect Developer Advocate Program",
"url": null,
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Explicitly listed as a collaboration partner. Currently running State of DevEx Survey."
},
{
"name": "Anastasia Labs design-patterns library",
"url": "https://github.com/Anastasia-Labs/design-patterns",
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Existing Cardano contract patterns library. Proposal cites this as inspiration for the ContractsLibrary deliverable."
},
{
"name": "Maestro contracts library (archived)",
"url": "https://github.com/maestro-org/maestro-cardano-smart-contracts",
"status": "abandoned",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Proposal explicitly cites the former Maestro contracts library as a predecessor — implying the ContractsLibrary deliverable revives that work."
},
{
"name": "TxPipe SuperNode + tooling",
"url": "https://developers.cardano.org/blog/2026-02-06-media-cardano-developer-office-hours/",
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Listed as exploring partnership. TxPipe is shipping its own developer infrastructure (SuperNode) and may absorb parts of this scope under that partnership."
},
{
"name": "Mesh SDK + comprehensive documentation site",
"url": "https://meshjs.dev",
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Active TypeScript SDK with 'leading Cardano TypeScript SDK' positioning. The cardano-init CLI plugin model would include Mesh as one of the supported stacks (proposal explicitly says 'regardless of preferred tech stack')."
},
{
"name": "Demeter.run",
"url": null,
"status": "maintained",
"overlap": "partial",
"notes": "Cardano cloud-based development environment by TxPipe. Adjacent to cardano-init's local setup CLI."
}
],
"differentiation_claim": "IO positions this as a coordination layer that sits on top of existing tooling rather than a replacement. Combines: (1) ecosystem-wide DevX strategy and mapping, (2) bounties paid to existing tool maintainers, (3) cardano-init as a meta-tool that wraps existing tools via plugins, (4) Developer Portal restructure done WITH CF rather than building a competing portal, (5) ContractsLibrary that revives a known-good pattern (Maestro/Anastasia Labs).",
"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": true,
"failing_live_vote": true,
"ipfs_self_link_unverified": false
},
"risk_flags_note": "concentration_risk: part of the $46.8M IO 2026 portfolio across 5-6 proposals. failing_live_vote: as of 2026-05-11 the proposal is failing badly (Yes 178M vs No 5.54B ADA). Worth understanding DRep rationale before this expires 2026-05-24 — the underlying work appears well-justified, so the No vote is likely about WHO delivers it (IO vs community/TxPipe/CF) rather than WHETHER the work is needed.",
"_meta": {
"title": "IO: Developer Experience Initiative",
"proposer": "Input Output (IO)"
}
}