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Q3 Highlights
We shipped a lot in Q3. Here are some of the highlights:
- Nakamoto readiness: Working alongside other engineers in the open source Stacks ecosystem, we are close to the release of “Mockamoto”, the first node ready for local dev testing for the upcoming Nakamoto release of the Stacks blockchain. As part of that work, we contributed to the clarity-wasm workstream, and prepared support for sBTC’s Developer Release in Stacks.js, Clarinet, and the Stacks Blockchain API.
- Chainhook v1.0.0: we released Chainhook, an open-source engine that enables you to build consistent, reorg-proof databases that index only the information you want. This engine also lets you create individual “chainhooks” that are IFTTT triggers that react to on-chain events in real time.
- New Platform features: We shipped a number of big features in the Hiro Platform in Q3, including adding chainhooks and richer observability for troubleshooting, such as when a chainhook doesn’t trigger your downstream action or if the real-time events get interrupted. We also added a testnet faucet, so you can easily request testnet STX tokens.
- Expanded ordinals support: We launched Ordhook, a reliable indexer for inscription data that can navigate forks and reorgs. Ordhook powers all of our Ordinals tooling, including our Ordinals API and Ordinals Explorer, and we also added BRC-20 support in all of our tools.
- Overhauled Clarinet: We ushered in a new era for Clarinet. In the beginning of October, we launched the Clarinet SDK, bringing Clarinet closer to the world of JavaScript with more standardized and readable unit tests.
- Improved Stacks Explorer: We added a live block view in the explorer, so you can see new blocks as they come in. We also released a fungible token page, improved the pretty-print of Clarity code upon <code-rich-text>print<code-rich-text> events (here’s an example), and significantly increased our code coverage along the way.
- New discoverability in docs: We launched an API demo panel in docs that allow you to interact with API endpoints directly in documentation. No more context switching. We also revamped the search bar in Hiro docs, offering real-time search results, search history, and results categorization, as well as launched an AI chatbot that can answer your questions and direct you to relevant resources.
- Pyth integration: We released the developer preview of Pyth’s integration with Stacks, enabling devs to access over 300 price feeds from Pyth’s oracle, opening up new possibilities for DeFi apps.
For more detail, refer to our monthly release roundups:
Focus Areas for Q4
As we enter the final stretch of 2023, there are several priorities that we have top of mind:
- Nakamoto readiness: The most important work across the Stacks ecosystem is the upcoming Nakamoto release that will bring sBTC to the ecosystem as well as faster blocks and Bitcoin finality. We will continue to support various ecosystem working groups as we progress towards a testnet launch at the end of this year. This work includes contributions to the first Nakamoto node ready for local dev testing called “Mockamoto”, getting all Hiro products ready for Nakamoto, and helping drive Clarity WASM development forward.
- New functionality in the Hiro Platform: In Q4, we’re adding SSH, which enables you to code in the platform from your local environment and leverage Git for collaboration with other devs. We also plan to launch devnet-as-a-service, enabling you to rapidly build and test your code in a simulated blockchain environment that runs entirely in the cloud and without manual software installations. Finally, we will work on adding support for observing ordinals events in Chainhook and a self-service API portal for API key management.
- Clarinet v2: Following the launch of the Clarinet SDK, we are preparing for the release of Clarinet v2.0.0, which will remove the Deno dependency and deprecate <code-rich-text>clarinet test<code-rich-text> and <code-rich-text>clarinet run<code-rich-text>. These commands will be handled by the SDK moving forward. This work will allow us to focus on bug fixes, optimizations and new features in the future.
- DeFi building blocks: We’re working on the full integration of Pyth price oracles, using the latest Pyth PNAU wire format. Additionally, we’ll begin exploring ways to contribute to bridge infrastructure, such as Wormhole, a decentralized cross-chain attestation engine.
- Developer engagement: Building off the momentum of the Bitcoin Unleashed hackathon, we’re cooking up a series of coding challenges for Web3 devs who want to explore the intersection of Bitcoin and smart contracts on Stacks.
Get in Touch
On top of the priorities mentioned above, we will continue to support all of our products and the needs of the developers in the Stacks community. If you have any questions or feedback for us, please reach out to us on the HIRO DEVELOPER TOOLS channels on Discord.
