Grant proposal: ARC data wallet

dsrdrk11a · June 19, 2023, 3:28pm

Introduction

ARC data wallet

Team
Registered Legal Entity: BELA SUPERNOVA, sistemske rešitve d.o.o.
Registered Address: Tabor 5a, 1380 Cerknica, Slovenia

Bela Supernova propose to develop a simple browser extension – an easy to use SIA network data/files wallet with features for managing files stored in the SIA network. The new data wallet will become a light client-end solution enabling private users to use the SIA storage network independently on any device without the need to download and sync the SIA UI client.
Using the SIA UI takes time and resources and the ARC data wallet browser extension will significantly decrease the competencies threshold for using the SIA storage service and open an opportunity for non-experienced users to independently use the decentralized data storage system from any device like they have used to with web2 services like DropBox, Google My Drive or similar, but in a browser extension.
The Arc data wallet should increase the amount of stored data in the network on account of private users. For comparison: DropBox Plus starts from US$12/month for 2TB of storage space and user’s data is stored in a centralized storage of the service provider. SIA Arc data wallet can provide dramatically different pricing with essential data security – the complete private storage, that is easy to use.

Key benefits the ARC data wallet will bring

High SIA storage availability for independent users through a light client-end solution;
Significant increase in user coverage by lowering the threshold of competencies for accessing the service, hence an increase of average data stored on the SIA network.

Grant Specifics

The project will be supported by a group of 2 developers, 1 QA + PO and a UI/UX designer.
The total budget for MVP development is estimated at $ 42 000 including: team’s salary, infrastructure for the SIA node. We suppose to spend US$1000 for infrastructure (1 year rent for development and RPC deployment) and other US$41 000 for salaries (estimated FTE for this proposal is 6,8). The team is better to be paid on a monthly basis, but we can also split the work in 2 milestones to be paid upon delivery.
The timeline for the ARC data wallet extension MVP development is considered to be three months. As a result of this project BSN will deliver a working data wallet extension MVP that supports data storage management. The MVP functionality will be tested under the Chrome browser, considered deliverables are as follows:

Developing functionality for adding and encrypting files;
Developing functionality for saving files to SIA network;
Developing functionality to show catalogues structure and navigation;
Developing functionality to add/create and delete files and folders;
Developing functionality to show balance and transactions history;
Developing functionality for sending transactions;
UI/UX design;
MVP release.

Risks
Due to current network restrictions files are chunked into 40MB chunks, while private user repositories usually consist of files ranging in size from 0.1 to 4 MB, each of which is written separately. Padding all these files to 40 MB would play a significant role in filling the repository. But, given the cost of conventional storages like Google Drive (from US$10,80/month for 2TB), this problem can be solved by providing much larger amounts of storage for a significantly lower costs, but the specific delivery method should be decided along development.

Development Information

All code will be delivered under the Apache 2.0 license. The code will be accessible for review in our GitHub repo: bsn-si · GitHub
We agree to submit monthly progress reports here in the forum.

Future plans
product support and new features development are considered to be carried out under follow-up grants.

Contact info

Email: av@bsn.si
Telegram: @dsrdrk11a

mike76 · June 19, 2023, 3:51pm

Thanks for your proposal!

Is there any reason why siad was chosen as the backend server? There is a new app, renterd, which is superior in many aspects.

dsrdrk11a · June 21, 2023, 5:24pm

Hi, Mike!
Sorry for long answer, a busy period.
As we can see in the renterd readme, the current version doesn’t support compatibility with siad uploaded files, while we are quite familiar with siad and it’s API will be enough. But actually we can use renterd as it is supposed to become the recommended renter for new users.

Kinomora · June 29, 2023, 9:25pm

Hello Dsrdrk11a,

Thanks for the proposal! We’re a little concerned about the technical feasibility of the project and would like to address them with you here before making a determination on this proposal.

One issue brought up by the committee is where your Sia node will be running - are you planning to run a central node for sake of ease (while sacrificing a bit of decentralization), or force a user to download and run a full node to power the extension? If the user is connecting to a central node how will your service preserve privacy for its users?

We’re a little confused as to your budget request. The full term of the project appears to be three months, while one year of infrastructure is mentioned. Is this to keep the project online beyond the grant duration? Additionally, you mentioned the project will be supported by two developers, but it looks like you mention requiring 6-8 full-time personnel. Please clarify those points.

Finally, as mentioned in the forum thread, renterd would be the choice here as siad has been/is being deprecated. Thanks!

Regards,
Kino on behalf of the Sia Foundation and Grants Committee

dsrdrk11a · June 30, 2023, 6:27pm

Hello Kino, thank you for your reply

For now we plan to install our node and let all users use it. For this reason we added 1-year budget for infrastructure rent - to support this solution after delivery. In future we plan to add functionality to switch a node and connect to any other particular node, chosen by a user. In all our Web3 projects we proceed from the fact that one of the main principles should be decentralization, therefore we plan to work on this issue in the future.

Privacy will be preserved by encrypting uploaded files with user’s key in the extension and these files will be received by a node already encrypted.

Explanations of the FTE parameter - both developers will work full time + partially PO, QA and management, so we got 6,8 man-months in total that fit in 3 calendar months due to the team of several developers.

Renterd seems ok, we are learning it’s API and everything seems good for our task now.

Kinomora · July 14, 2023, 10:29am

Hello @dsrdrk11a,

We’re happy to let you know that the committee has approved this proposal!

The committee was satisfied with your justification for their concerns, namely the clarification of the Sia node location and project duration.

We’ll reach out to you via email to start onboarding.

Thanks,
Kino on behalf of the Sia Foundation and Grants Committee

dsrdrk11a · September 5, 2023, 9:45am

Hello, all!
Here’s our report on the work done in August. I’ve also shared it with Steve by the mail.

github.com

bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/blob/develop/grant_reports/Aug_report.md

# MVP development report :mailbox:

* **Application link:** https://forum.sia.tech/t/grant-proposal-arc-data-wallet/353
* **Development time:** 1 month

**Deliverables**

| Number | Deliverable | Link | Notes |
| ------------- | ------------- | ------------- |------------- |
| 0a. | License | [LICENSE](https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/edit/develop/LICENSE) | Apache 2.0 license |
| 0b. | Solution design | Redeveloped [design](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/98888366/265647380-6124bd98-29b4-482b-9001-bbfccb1687ba.png) | We had to figure out how the SIA Central it works and how to send transactions without installing a SIA desktop solution so that users could pay storage costs from our extension. Test net connection and etc. are also in this scope. Currently we test the solution with a local node in the TestNet. |
| 1. | ARC data wallet extension | [Browser extension rep]( https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension) | We have started to develop the browser extension UI/UX, you can see the skeleton in the mentioned repository. This extension will split files into chunks, encrypt them with the user’s key and send them to the ARC Gateway for organizing storage in the SIA network. | 
| 2. | ARC storage gateway | [ARC gateway rep](https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-gateway) | The ARC gateway receives chunked and encrypted files from a user’s extension, collects into a single file and sends to the remote RenterD node for storage in the SIA network. In this way all files could not be read by this gateway or any other 3rd party as they were encrypted by the user’s browser extension before sending. Later we will develop a payment management backend as a separate solution to manage user’s subscriptions. | 

**Additional Information**  
Here's the current solution architecture:
![siaDataWallet final](https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/assets/98888366/e550e84c-85c1-40cd-9d58-f9ccf2730ec7)

dsrdrk11a · October 3, 2023, 12:45pm

Hi all!
Here’s the Sept report: https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/blob/develop/grant_reports/Sept_report.md

Next month an MVP will be ready for the test net.

steve · October 12, 2023, 2:56pm

Thanks for this! Please edit your progress report post to follow the format found here: About the Grants category - #8

Feel free to leave your linked .md file, but please lightly expand on it with the items requested in that format.

Kinomora · November 7, 2023, 4:11pm

Hello @dsrdrk11a,

This is a reminder that your October progress report is now late.

Progress reports are expected to be posted by the end of the 2nd day of the next month, in this instance your October progress report was due on November 2nd.

Please be sure to follow the Progress Report Template and submit your progress report so we may continue funding your grant.

Regards,
Kino on behalf of the Sia Foundation and Grants Committee

dsrdrk11a · November 10, 2023, 2:02pm

I’m sorry, didn’t get the reminder on mail. Just switched on the notifications not to miss the new ones.
Here’s the report with demo video and you can also use the extension in the test net:

github.com

bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/blob/develop/grant_reports/10__Oct_report.md

<h2>Progress Report Form</h2>
<h4>What progress was made on your grant this month?<br>  
Please summarize your progress in 3-5 sentences or bullet points:</h4>  
In October we have finished the main extension logic and UX, fixed amin bugs and deployed to the Test net for further UX and bugs testing. Here's the ARC data wallet extension binary: https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/releases, so anyone can test it in the SIA Testnet. All comments and bugs reports are welcome.

Here's a short demo video of the extension in the SIA Test net:  
[![Oct_preview](https://github-production-user-asset-6210df.s3.amazonaws.com/98888366/282076990-d0bce1ab-6c12-4f45-9636-57e6abef708c.jpg)](https://media.bsn.si/sia/sia_cloud_storage.mp4)  

Links to repos worked on this month:  
[Chrome extension](https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension)  
[ARC service gateway](https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-gateway)

<h4>What will you be working on this month?<br>
IPlease summarize your development goals into a few sentences or bullet points:</h4>

We plan to execute extensive testingv, improve the UX (already in progress), upload the extension to the Google Chrome store and later deploy the service to the SIA Main net.

dsrdrk11a · December 4, 2023, 9:57am

Hi all!
Here’s a link to the Nov report:

github.com

bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/blob/develop/grant_reports/11_Nov_report.md

<h2>Progress Report Form</h2>
<h4>What progress was made on your grant this month?<br>  
Please summarize your progress in 3-5 sentences or bullet points:</h4>  
In November we've made workflow improvements for making new wallets and restoring a wallet with a seed: new user, old user with a wallet, old user with forgotten password, etc. Also, we've fixed a few major bugs (e.g. logout problems straight after opening the dapp). Current ext. version is 0.0.17: https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/releases.
Currently we are uploading the extension to the Google Chrome Web store. After passing the review, I'll additionally post a link to the dApp in the Web store.  
  
Links to repos worked on this month:  
[Chrome extension](https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension)  
[ARC service gateway](https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-gateway)

<h4>What will you be working on this month?<br>
Please summarize your development goals into a few sentences or bullet points:</h4>

We plan to proceed with the extensive testing and start the main net deployment. Also, the web page of the project should be developped.

dsrdrk11a · January 2, 2024, 11:29pm

Hello, all! I hope yiou have a great NY holidays!
Here’s our report for Dec’23

github.com

bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/blob/develop/grant_reports/12_Dec_report.md

<h2>Progress Report Form</h2>
<h4>What progress was made on your grant this month?<br>  
Please summarize your progress in 3-5 sentences or bullet points:</h4>  
  
In December we've made minor improvements for the Tiri vault extension workflows. Current version is 0.0.18: https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/releases.  

We have developed the Tiri vault web page: https://tirivault.io and finally passed the Chrome web store publishing process, so you can find the test dApp on our web site or by [this link](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tiri-vault-dapp-sia-testn/ebnbcapipfmiialjaapihcnienkdmgge).  
Also, we've made the Tiri vault gateway stress testing to check the throughput. 

Links to repos worked on this month:  
[Tiri vault Chrome extension](https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension)  

<h4>What will you be working on this month?<br>
Please summarize your development goals into a few sentences or bullet points:</h4>

We plan to proceed with deployment to the SIA main net.  
  
<img width="651" alt="Tiri" src="https://github.com/bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension/assets/98888366/3d279ec2-d660-43d3-a669-f82fd2031f14">

steve · January 25, 2024, 9:23pm

Thanks @dsrdrk11a! For future progress reports, please paste the body content in the forum response as opposed to linking to Github. Thanks!

Kinomora · February 4, 2024, 8:11am

Hello @dsrdrk11a,

This is a reminder that your January progress report is now late.

Progress reports are expected to be posted by the end of the 2nd day of the next month, in this instance your January progress report was due on February 2nd.

Please be sure to follow the Progress Report Template and submit your progress report so we may continue funding your grant.

Regards,
Kino on behalf of the Sia Foundation and Grants Committee

dsrdrk11a · February 5, 2024, 8:54am

Hello!
Here’s the Jan report:

What progress was made on your grant this month?
Please summarize your progress in 3-5 sentences or bullet points:

To increase throughput and lower the gateway resources consuption when uploading large files we have changed the intermediate storage which is used to store client’s files while uploading them to the network - now the disk space is used. The files are deleted as soon as they are uploaded to the network.

All tariffs shown in the extension are now tied to the current SC/USD exchange rate according to USD prices shown on the Tiri web site.

Current version is 0.0.21: Releases · bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension · GitHub.

I’ll update on the main net extension when it will be approved by the Chrome Web Store.

dsrdrk11a · March 4, 2024, 5:26pm

Hi, all!
The Feb report:

What progress was made on your grant this month?

In Feb we have published the Tiri main net extension. Current version is 1.0.0: Releases · bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension · GitHub .

We have added the dapp version notification for users to update the dapp when a new version is published. Also, some manipulations with tariffs were made.
Here’s the last updated repo: GitHub - bsn-si/sia-datawallet-gateway

Kinomora · March 13, 2024, 7:18am

Hello @dsrdrk11a

Thank you for your progress report!

Regards,
Kino on behalf of the Sia Foundation and Grants Committee

dsrdrk11a · April 4, 2024, 6:35pm

Hello! In March we didn’t make a lot. We are working with billing: have changed some tariffs mechanics and fixed a few minor problems, but still have to execute tests. We will push the new version till Tuesday, I think, and I’ll comment here when done.

dsrdrk11a · April 6, 2024, 1:46pm

The Mar report:

What progress was made on your grant this month?

We have worked with billing and tariffs, fixed different issues, for example - the free “disk” space indicator now correctly considers deleted files and tariff change.
Current version of the extension is 1.0.1: Releases · bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension · GitHub .

Here are the last updated repos:
GitHub - bsn-si/sia-datawallet-gateway
GitHub - bsn-si/sia-datawallet-extension

Grant proposal: ARC data wallet

Introduction

Grant Specifics

Development Information

Contact info

What progress was made on your grant this month? Please summarize your progress in 3-5 sentences or bullet points:

What progress was made on your grant this month?

What progress was made on your grant this month?

What progress was made on your grant this month?
Please summarize your progress in 3-5 sentences or bullet points: