Add substrate-interace maintenance application (#2571)

Author: sterliakov

applications/maintenance/substrate-interface-maintenance.md

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+# `substrate-interface` maintenance
+
+- **Team Name:** Stanislav Terliakov
+- **Payment Address:** 13fczWPtdAtkePBYgW5SuwVBvDvEfXYPAPsfbue5ez2CrGEF (DOT, USDC).
+- **[Level](https://github.com/w3f/Grants-Program/tree/master#level_slider-levels):** 2
+
+## Project Overview :page_facing_up:
+
+### Overview
+
+`py-polkadot-sdk` (available on PyPI as `substrate-interface`) is a Python SDK for interfacing with Substrate nodes.
+
+It's been around since 2019. This package powers hundreds, if not thousands, of real-world projects. 
+
+Here's a brief usage summary:
+
+- 235k PyPI downloads last month ([PyPIStats](https://pypistats.org/packages/substrate-interface)), without any signs
+  of decreasing usage.
+- 258 GitHub stars.
+
+It is the primary Python SDK for interacting with Substrate, which means it is one of the cornerstones
+of server-side development that needs access to Substrate information and modifications.
+
+Unfortunately, currently it is essentially unmaintained:
+
+- Only two commits have been made in 2025, both only affecting documentation.
+- Package unit tests are failing in CI.
+- There are many lint errors despite using *very* low-level linter configuration that fails to catch many common
+  kinds of bugs. These lint errors are just intentionally ignored/hidden in CI.
+- Open issues keep accumulating, including severe runtime crashes (see below).
+- Officially declared Python support is for versions from 3.7 to 3.11. Latest Python version is 3.13,
+  released in Oct. 2024, and 3.7 is EOL (end of life) for years.
+- Package has very low type annotations (aka type hints) coverage. Static typing became de-facto standard in Python
+  world several years ago, so lack of sufficient static information has significant negative impact on developer
+  experience and IDE feedback.
+- Lack of metadata V15 support indicates significant gap between this library and latest Substrate development.
+
+Current state of `substrate-interface` development does not match the reliability and quality of the rest of the
+ecosystem.
+
+### Maintenance list
+
+- https://github.com/JAMdotTech/py-polkadot-sdk
+
+## Team :busts_in_silhouette:
+
+### Team members
+
+- Stanislav Terliakov
+
+### Contact
+
+- **Contact Name:** Stanislav Terliakov
+- **Contact Email:** [email protected]
+- **Website:** https://sterliakov.github.io/
+
+### Legal Structure
+
+- **Registered Address:** N/A
+- **Registered Legal Entity:** N/A
+
+### Team's experience
+
+I'm a backend developer with over five years of Python experience, currently leading a development team at Simpleem.
+I have extensive blockchain experience, including multiple award-winning hackathon submissions
+([DevPost profile](https://devpost.com/sterliakov)), and Python is my primary development language.
+
+My open-source contributions include over 50 merged [pull requests](https://github.com/python/mypy/pulls/sterliakov)
+to mypy, a static type checker maintained by the Python core team, and contributions to other projects.
+I also previously developed and continue to maintain a [Rust SDK](https://github.com/sterliakov/thor-devkit.rs)
+for VeChain, which powers several real-world projects and was funded by a VeChain grant.
+
+### Team Code Repos
+
+- https://github.com/sterliakov/mypy-issues
+- https://github.com/sterliakov/thor-devkit.rs
+- https://github.com/sterliakov/toggl-tracker
+
+GitHub account: https://github.com/sterliakov
+
+### Team LinkedIn Profiles (if available)
+
+N/A
+
+## Development Status :open_book:
+
+I have not started maintenance tasks in that repository. I have contacted the developer team asking for their
+preference (https://github.com/JAMdotTech/py-polkadot-sdk/issues/419).
+
+See the next section for more specific action points in scope of this grant.
+
+## Maintenance Responsibilities :nut_and_bolt:
+
+High-priority tickets I will resolve:
+
+- Runtime crash with no workaround: https://github.com/JAMdotTech/py-polkadot-sdk/issues/405
+- Runtime crash: https://github.com/JAMdotTech/py-polkadot-sdk/issues/412
+- Runtime crash: https://github.com/JAMdotTech/py-polkadot-sdk/issues/336
+- Missing important functionality: https://github.com/JAMdotTech/py-polkadot-sdk/issues/348
+- Other tickets depending on their prioritization
+
+Implementation defects I intend to address:
+
+- Failing unit tests
+- Insufficient static type annotations coverage
+- Existing lint violations
+- Weak linter configuration
+- Lack of automated code formatting
+- Extremely outdated GitHub actions, not conformant to modern CI/CD security standards
+- No centralized dependency management (vulnerability scans, dependabot, etc.)
+
+Additionally, I will triage the existing tickets (or guarantee quick replies to issues opened again my fork
+and PR reviews). 
+
+### Overview
+
+- **Start Date:** As soon as this proposal is approved
+- **Sprint/Period Duration:** 2 weeks
+- **Total Duration:** 3 months
+- **Full-Time Equivalent (FTE):** 0.5 FTE
+- **Max budget per sprint/period:** 6000 USD (estimated at 20 h/week with 25% extra allowance), 
+  capped at 30000 USD for the whole period.
+- **DOT %:** 50
+- **Hourly rate:** 120 USD
+
+## Future Plans
+
+- Expand the documentation and specifically usage examples
+- List this project on my public pages
+- Continue contributing to `substrate-interface` or maintaining my fork in future
+
+## Additional Information :heavy_plus_sign:
+
+**How did you hear about the Maintenance Grants Program?** Web3 Foundation Website