Thanks for your proposal to The Sia Foundation Grants Program.
After review, the committee has decided to approve your proposal. Congratulations! They’re excited to see what you can accomplish with this grant.
We’ll reach out to your provided email address for onboarding. This shouldn’t take long unless your info has changed from last time, but you may still need to adjust your timelines.
Thank you! I’m delighted that the committee has approved the proposal. Looking forward to contributing the technical and performance enhancements directly to the core s5.js library.
Here’s to making S5 even more accessible for developers! 
Cheers,
Jules
• Completed comprehensive architectural design for Enhanced s5.js, documenting path-based APIs, DAG-CBOR serialisation, and HAMT sharding implementation
• Consulted with Redsolver (s5 author) who provided valuable architectural guidance and reviewed the initial design approach
• Established repository structure with CI/CD pipeline configuration and development toolchain
• Created detailed DirV1 type definitions that match the Rust S5 v1 implementation, ensuring cross-implementation compatibility
• Designed deterministic CBOR encoding configuration to guarantee consistent content addressing across platforms
• Developed comprehensive media processing architecture with WASM foundation and browser compatibility layers
• Link to Enhanced S5_js - Revised Code Design.md
• Link to Enhanced S5_js - Revised Code Design - part II.md
• Implement DirV1 serialisation/deserialisation with DAG-CBOR, including proper integer key mappings matching Rust’s #[n(X)] attributes
• Develop basic path-based get/put operations for single-level directories with automatic directory creation
• Create comprehensive unit tests for deterministic CBOR encoding to ensure consistent hashing
• Begin integration with existing S5 API infrastructure for the new v1 specification
Hello, @juleslai!
My name is John and I’m an engineer for the Sia Foundation. I’m reviewing this month’s progress and had a couple of questions. In your updated grant plan (Standard Grant: S5 Gateway & TypeScript Client - #15 by juleslai), your first milestone is as follows:
Project set-up & design Repos, branching strategy, FS5 test fixtures; code-contribution guidelines & project board; tool-chain investigation; one-off business overhead
I’ve read through Part I of your Revised Code Design and skimmed the second part (will read this more thoroughly as we get around that fourth month). I recognize that this is significant work towards the grant. You’ve provided starting code/design for many of the most important pieces of it. It is thoughtful work and a great way to start any project, imo.
With that said, though, how much of the above milestone items did we accomplish? I want to be clear that my and any other Sia reviewers’ primary task here is to check for those things you stated you would accomplish after the month you stated you would accomplish them. We look for tight alignment between the report you submit to us and the milestone items you’ve scheduled to be done at this time.
Is there a repo that’s not in your report that I need to see? I’ve looked through your github account’s repos but could have missed it. Is it perhaps private? Put another way: in what repo did you accomplish “Established repository structure with CI/CD pipeline configuration and development toolchain” ? That may get us on the same page here. I don’t think you’re referring to this linked design repo, right?
Hi John,
Thank you for reviewing my progress report. I’ll clarify what was accomplished and the current approach:
The milestone called for “project set-up & design” and that’s exactly what was delivered in detail:
Repository Structure & Approach: After consulting with Redsolver and the community, we determined that direct contributions to the existing s5.js repository will be more effective than creating separate wrapper repositories. This represents better technical alignment with the S5 ecosystem.
Toolchain & Development Approach: Established TypeScript development environment with TDD methodology. For the WASM components (months 4-5), I’ll create a separate Rust repository with appropriate CI/CD for WASM compilation.
Code Contribution Guidelines: Working directly with Redsolver to ensure contributions align with s5.js project standards and S5 v1 specification compliance.
Current Month’s Focus:
Month 2 will deliver the first working code: DirV1 serialisation/deserialisation and basic path-based operations, as outlined in my technical design.
The design work completed last month was to ensure the implementation will be architecturally sound and compatible with the broader S5 ecosystem.
Repository Links:
Implementation work will be submitted as pull requests to s5-dev/s5.js. The Rust WASM components will have their own repository when we reach months 4-5.
Hope that clarifies,
Jules
What progress was made on your grant this month?
List repos worked on this month with links to PRs and relevant commits.
What will you be working on next month?
Link to an easy to test version or a demo video.
Test the implementation with: node test/integration/test-fresh-s5.js after cloning GitHub - julesl23/s5.js: TypeScript/JS Library for S5
Hello,
Thank you for your progress report!
Regards,
Kino on behalf of the Sia Foundation and Grants Committee
Hi John,
Hope you are well.
There’s a README.md on Enhance s5.js
with instructions to clone the repo and run tests:
test, minimal real portal test and node test/integration/test-hamt-real-minimal.js
Plus there is full portal performance that runs benchmarks.
Are you able to run this? It would verify completion of this months milestone plus milestones 6 & 7.
Hi @juleslai, as the new Grants Program manager, jumping in:
Please be sure to elaborate on the milestone shifting and why additional milestones were completed in your progress report for this month. Note that in future any and all milestone changes need to be discussed over email with the Foundation team to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding grant progress and tracking.
Additionally, a reminder that your progress report is due September 2. We look forward to receiving yours then.
Hi,
Welcome to the role.
Excellent news that not only milestones 1-3 are done as scheduled, so have milestones 6 & 7 been completed! All verifiable by running the tests on s5.js/README.md at main · julesl23/s5.js · GitHub
The schedule advanced because I worked hard as hell.
Hello @juleslai - thanks for the welcome. Please follow the template for Monthly Grant reports found here. After this is posted, our team will be able to conduct their technical review. Note: today is the deadline for this report in its proper format.
Fixed API documentation and update README
Real uses of Enhanced S5.js integrated into Fabstir Vector database and in Fabstir LLM Marketplace
Added more tests.
Added production Docker setup
Implement S5 standard protocol endpoints
List repos worked on this month with links to PRs and relevant commits.
GitHub - julesl23/s5.js: TypeScript/JS Library for S5
Next is Milestone 4 WASM foundation & basic media
Will email if I also complete related Milestone 5 Advanced media processing
Include the following item if this is a milestone submission or your final report
Link to an easy to test version or a demo video
Milestone 3 (completed):
Path-cascade optimisation — s5.js/test/integration/test-s5-full-integration.js at main · julesl23/s5.js · GitHub
node test/integration/test-s5-full-integration.js
Milestone 6 (completed):
Directory utilities & caching - s5.js/test/integration/test-walker-real.js at main · julesl23/s5.js · GitHub
node test/integration/test-walker-real.js # Test walker and batch operations
node test/integration/test-pagination-simple.js # Test pagination/cursor features
node test/integration/test-hamt-real-minimal.js # performance benchmarks
Milestone 7 (completed):
Sharding groundwork - https://github.com/julesl23/s5.js/blob/main/test/integration/test-hamt-activation-real.js
node test/integration/test-hamt-real-minimal.js
node test/integration/test-hamt-activation-real.js
Hello
Thank you for your progress report!
Regards,
Kino on behalf of the Sia Foundation and Grants Committee
Schedule Update: The thorough planning and design work completed in Milestone 1, combined with additional hours invested in Milestone 2 help prepare the way for early completion of milestones 6 & 7. This strong architectural groundwork allowed the directory utilities and sharding features to be implemented ahead of schedule :)
Here’s the restructured schedule table with revised targets:
| Month | Target Date | Status | Milestone & Deliverables |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7/2/25 | Complete | Project set-up & design Repos, branching strategy, FS5 test fixtures; code-contribution guidelines & project board; tool-chain investigation; one-off business overhead |
| 2 | 8/2/25 | Complete | Path helpers v0.1 — basic get/put for single-level directories, unit tests |
| 3 | 9/2/25 | Complete | Path-cascade optimisation — multi-level update with single registrySet; docs & examples |
| 6 | 9/2/25 | Complete | Directory utilities & caching — walker with limit/cursor pagination, IndexedDB/in-memory cache, filtered listings, performance benchmarks |
| 7 | 9/2/25 | Complete | Sharding groundwork — HAMT header fields, split/merge helpers, integration tests |
| 4 | 10/2/25 | Pending | WASM foundation & basic media — pipeline setup, code-splitting, image metadata extraction, baseline performance recorded |
| 5 | 11/2/25 | Pending | Advanced media processing — building on Month 4: JPEG / PNG / WebP thumbnails (≤ 64 kB average), progressive rendering, browser test matrix; bundle ≤ 700 kB compressed |
| 8 | 12/2/25 | Pending | Documentation site update, demo scripts, screencast, forum feedback buffer, PRs merged upstream |
Completed Milestone 4 (WASM Foundation & Basic Media) and delivered Milestone 6 (Directory Utilities) and Milestone 7 (Sharding groundwork) early.
Milestone 4 Deliverables:
Milestone 6 Deliverables (Early):
Milestone 7 Deliverables (Early):
Improvements:
Repository: GitHub - julesl23/s5.js: TypeScript/JS Library for S5
Key Commits:
Total: 21 feature/fix commits
Milestone 5: Advanced Media Processing
putImage(), getThumbnail(), getImageMetadata() methodsMilestone 4 (Media Processing) - Completed:
node demos/media/benchmark-media.js # Performance benchmark (6 formats)
node demos/media/demo-pipeline.js # Pipeline initialization
node demos/media/demo-metadata.js # Metadata extraction
node demos/media/test-media-integration.js # Integration tests
./demos/media/run-browser-tests.sh # Browser tests: http://localhost:8081/demos/media/browser-tests.html
# Code-splitting demo: http://localhost:8081/demos/media/demo-splitting-simple.html
Milestone 6 (Directory Utilities) - Completed:
node test/integration/test-walker-real.js # Walker with cursor pagination
node test/integration/test-batch-real.js # Batch operations (copy/delete)
node test/integration/test-pagination-simple.js # Pagination test
node test/integration/test-hamt-real-minimal.js # HAMT performance
Milestone 7 (Sharding groundwork) - completed:
node test/integration/test-hamt-activation-real.js # HAMT activation threshold test
node test/integration/test-hamt-real-minimal.js # Minimal real portal test
Test Results: 284/284 passing (100%) | Browser: 20/20 (100%) | Node.js: 17/20 (3 tests skip due to Node.js lacking Web Workers and full Canvas API - not bugs)
Report Submitted: October 1, 2025
Status: ON TRACK (Ahead of Schedule)
Hello @juleslai,
Thank you for your progress report!
Regards,
Kino on behalf of the Sia Foundation and Grants Committee
Hi @juleslai, here is the feedback from your technical review with two requested edits:
Once these adjustments are made, this technical review will be complete and payment can be issued for Milestone 4.
Thank you for the technical review feedback. Both issues have been resolved:
(1) I had global TypeScript installation that masked the missing dependency. The TypeScript ‘Uint8Array’ is not assignable to type ‘BlobPart’ error has been fixed - pull the latest code, run npm install && npm run build and all TypeScript errors should be gone with 284/284 tests passing.
(2) For running demos locally on Windows, use npx http-server -p 8080 then open localhost:8080/demos/media/browser-tests.html - all 20/20 tests should pass in the browser (100%). The same tests run in Node.js with node demos/media/*.js show 17/17 passing excluding 3 tests that can only run in browser environment due to Node.js Canvas API limitations (see README “Platform-Specific Notes”).
Thank you for resolving those issues so promptly.
A note from the reviewer for future:
In the Image Metadata Extraction Demo, all dimensions display as 0×0. This may indicate an issue (e.g., corrupted fixtures) that will need to be addressed.
Completed Milestone 5 (Advanced Media Processing) - all grant requirements met and exceeded.
Milestone 5 Deliverables:
Thumbnail generation: JPEG, PNG, WebP with smart cropping and adaptive quality adjustment (≤64 KB target met - average: JPEG ~25 KB, PNG ~35 KB, WebP ~18 KB)
Progressive rendering: 3 strategies implemented (blur, scan lines, interlaced) with configurable scan counts and progress callbacks
Browser compatibility matrix: Chrome 90+, Firefox 88+, Edge 90+, Node.js 20+ with 10 capability detection features and graceful fallbacks
Bundle size optimization: 10x under requirement (60.09 KB vs 700 KB compressed)
FS5 integration: putImage(), getThumbnail(), getImageMetadata(), createImageGallery() methods
Modular exports for code-splitting: s5, s5/core, s5/media, s5/advanced
Additional Work (Beyond Milestone 5 Scope):
s5/advanced export with pathToCID(), cidToPath(), getByCID(), putByCID() methods and CID formatting utilitiesImprovements:
Documentation:
docs/MILESTONE5_EVIDENCE.md - Comprehensive evidence package with detailed proof of all requirements
docs/MILESTONE5_TESTING_GUIDE.md - Step-by-step validation guide for reviewers
test/browser/progressive-rendering-demo.html - Visual browser demo with 3 rendering strategies
test/browser/run-demo.sh - One-command demo launcher
Updated README with Grant Milestone 5 deliverables section
Repository: GitHub - julesl23/s5.js: TypeScript/JS Library for S5
Key Commits:
78d7ee0 - docs: add Grant Milestone 5 Deliverables section to README
4872725 - docs: advanced media processing evidence package
fc36794 - refactor: streamline FS5Advanced API to 4 essential methods
a09b43d - chore: bump version to 0.3.0 and rename package to s5js
f12538a - feat: implement Phase 6.5 - Advanced CID API with comprehensive test suite
3648464 - feat: implement Phase 6.4 - Bundle Optimisation with comprehensive analysis
a7c6ddc - feat: implement Phase 6.3 - FS5 Media Extensions with comprehensive test suite
d3760c2 - feat: implement progressive loading for Phase 6.2
da52c1f - feat: implement thumbnail generation for Phase 6.1
01fecfd - feat: add XChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption support to path-based API
Total: 25+ feature/fix commits for Milestone 5
Milestone 8: Documentation & Upstream Integration
Documentation: Coordinate with S5 maintainer on documentation strategy (integration into https://docs.sfive.net/ or separate Enhanced s5.js docs)
Demo scripts: Create getting-started examples and consolidate existing demos
Screencast: Record 5-10 minute video demonstration of key features
Community engagement: Post announcement on Sia Forum, allocate time for feedback and questions
Upstream integration: Prepare and submit PRs to GitHub - s5-dev/s5.js: TypeScript/JS Library for S5, coordinate with maintainer, address code review feedback
Milestone 5 (Advanced Media Processing) - Completed:
# Unit tests (437 tests passing)
npm run test:run
# Media-specific tests (225+ tests)
npm run test:run -- media
# Advanced CID API tests (74 tests)
npm run test:run test/fs/fs5-advanced.test.ts
npm run test:run test/fs/cid-utils.test.ts
# Real S5 network integration (~2-3 minutes)
npm run build
node test/integration/test-media-real.js
# Progressive rendering browser demo
./test/browser/run-demo.sh # Opens http://localhost:8080 or 8081
# Bundle size verification
npm run build
brotli -f -k dist/src/index.js
du -h dist/src/index.js.br # Shows ~60 KB
Test Results: 437/437 passing (100%) | Browser: Chrome/Edge/Firefox validated | Bundle: 60.09 KB (brotli) - 639.91 KB under 700 KB budget
Complete Evidence Package:
MILESTONE5_EVIDENCE.md - Detailed proof of all 4 requirements met
MILESTONE5_TESTING_GUIDE.md - Step-by-step validation instructions
Report Submitted: October 25, 2025
Status: ON TRACK (Ahead of Schedule - Milestones 6 & 7 already delivered)