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Agora: Verifiable Off-chain compute #2733

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# Agora

- **Team Name:** Agora
- **Payment Details:**
- **DOT:** 1QvwVTx1G4ZhPjE68zEkZDjcLFkJwTMkgKk8FYWWKmsGjcc
- **Payment (USDC) :** 1QvwVTx1G4ZhPjE68zEkZDjcLFkJwTMkgKk8FYWWKmsGjcc
- **[Level](https://grants.web3.foundation/docs/Introduction/levels):** 2

## Project Overview :page_facing_up:

### Overview

- **Tagline:** Verifiable Off‑Chain Computation via Commit‑Reveal and XCM.
- **Brief Description:** Agora is a Polkadot parachain template extended with a verifiable computation marketplace. It enables parachains to outsource off‑chain jobs (API fetches, computations) to a network of staked workers. Results are verified on‑chain using a crypto‑economic commit‑reveal game. Cross‑parachain requests and result delivery use XCM.
- **Integration:** Agora integrates into the Polkadot ecosystem as a parachain that provides a service (verifiable computation) to other parachains via XCM. It leverages Substrate for the chain logic and Polkadot's shared security.
- **Interest:** The team is interested in creating this project to solve the problem of trustless off-chain computation and data fetching, enabling a decentralized oracle and computation network within the Polkadot ecosystem without relying on trusted execution environments (TEEs) or centralized providers.

### Project Details

**Mockups/Designs:**

**Video Demo:**
- [Watch Agora Demo Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V9ne5yBJFs&t=2s)
- [Watch Agora Walkthrough](https://app.supademo.com/demo/cm6xuj2sr01o8pegv3s411vap)

- App Workflow: `https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Fb2KbcJln9lEmsJ8lFXYMeEEVOkCHt_/view?usp=drive_link`
- Dashboard: `https://drive.google.com/file/d/16tMUbN2GPYmBoMoPvyiPBAIZ66G6gCDt/view?usp=drive_link`
- Job submission UI: `https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eOcAyvX3cI-6YfwLqkAY1xymzIUTWI2V/view?usp=drive_link`

**Architecture:**
- **Runtime:** FRAME-based Substrate runtime including `agora` pallet.
- **Agora Pallet:** Handles job lifecycle (submit -> commit -> reveal -> finalize), staking, rewards/slashing, and XCM handling.
- **Off-Chain Worker (OCW):** Handles execution of jobs (API fetches, computation) and submits commits/reveals.
- **XCM:** Uses `Transact` for cross-chain job submission and HRMP for result delivery.

**Technology Stack:**
- **Blockchain:** Rust, Substrate, Polkadot SDK.
- **Frontend:** React, Vite, TailwindCSS, Polkadot JS API.
- **Scripts:** Node.js, JavaScript.

**Core Components:**
- `pallets/agora`: The core logic for the computation marketplace.
- `node`: The collator binary.
- `ui`: The React-based dashboard for interacting with the marketplace.

**PoC/MVP:**
- The current repository serves as the MVP, featuring a working local testnet (Zombienet) with XCM enabled, a functional `agora` pallet with commit-reveal mechanism, and a basic UI.

## How We Help DOT
- Direct DOT Staking Lockup: Each worker must stake minimum 100 DOT to participate. With 500 active workers (realistic for mature network), this permanently locks 50,000+ DOT in staking contracts, reducing circulating supply and creating sustained demand pressure.

- Continuous Bounty Circulation: All job bounties are denominated in DOT for cross-parachain compatibility. With 5,000 jobs/day at average 10 DOT bounty, this creates 50,000 DOT/day (1.5M DOT/month) in continuous circulation through the system, generating constant buying pressure.

- Economic Slashing & Supply Reduction: Dishonest workers face 10% stake slashing, permanently removing DOT from circulation. This deflationary mechanism reduces supply while incentivizing larger stakes for reputation protection.

- Transaction Fee Accumulation: Every cross-parachain job requires DOT for XCM execution fees, and all on-chain operations (commit, reveal, finalize) consume DOT. These fees can be burned or sent to treasury, creating deflationary pressure.

- DOT as Computation Currency: DOT gains real-world utility beyond governance-becoming the universal currency for decentralized computation. This utility premium makes DOT more attractive as a long-term hold, driving price appreciation.

- Positive Feedback Loop: More integrations → More DOT locked → Higher price → More attractive for workers → Better service → More integrations. This self-reinforcing cycle creates sustained upward price pressure.

## Need for This

- Enables Previously Impossible Use Cases: Real-time sports betting dApps, decentralized weather insurance, cross-chain NFT verification-all now economically viable. Each new use case brings new users to the Polkadot ecosystem.

- Pay-Per-Use Economic Model: Developers pay only for what they use instead of expensive subscription models. Makes previously unaffordable use cases viable (real-time data feeds, weather insurance, ML inference), unlocking new dApp categories and bringing in new users.

- Eliminates Single Points of Failure: Replaces centralized oracles with a distributed network of workers using majority consensus. DeFi protocols get higher uptime and protection from oracle manipulation, reducing risk for end users.

- Dramatically Lowers Development Costs: Parachain teams integrate computation/oracle services in days instead of months. Saves significant development costs per parachain, enabling faster time-to-market and more resources for core features.

- Democratizes Worker Participation: Anyone with a modest stake and standard server can earn passive income as a worker node operator. No expensive specialized hardware required-removes barriers that limit participation in TEE-based systems.

- Transparent & Verifiable: All data sources and consensus decisions are visible on-chain. End users can verify oracle data themselves, building trust that centralized solutions cannot match. Transparency drives adoption in DeFi where trust is critical.

- XCM-Native Integration: Parachains integrate via simple XCM calls-no complex bridges, wrapping, or trust assumptions. Reduces integration time from weeks to hours, enabling rapid ecosystem expansion and seamless cross-parachain collaboration.

- XCM-Native Integration: Parachains integrate via simple XCM calls-no complex bridges, wrapping, or trust assumptions. Reduces integration time from weeks to hours, enabling rapid ecosystem expansion and seamless cross-parachain collaboration.


### Ecosystem Fit

- **Fit:** Agora fits as a utility parachain providing decentralized computation and oracle services to other parachains.
- **Target Audience:** Parachain developers needing off-chain data/compute, DeFi protocols requiring oracles, and users wanting to run worker nodes.
- **Needs Met:** Trustless access to off-chain data and computation without centralized intermediaries.
- **Differentiation:** Unlike TEE-based solutions (e.g., Phala), Agora uses crypto-economic verification (commit-reveal), which avoids hardware dependencies. Unlike centralized oracles, it is decentralized and permissionless.

## Team :busts_in_silhouette:

### Team members

- Suyash D Nahar
- Nikhil Kottoli

### Contact

- **Contact Name:** Suyash D Nahar
- **Contact Email:** [email protected]
- **Contact Name:** Nikhil Kottoli
- **Contact Email:** [email protected]

### Team Code Repos

- https://github.com/suyash101101/Agora

### Team LinkedIn Profiles

- https://www.linkedin.com/in/suyash101/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhil-kottoli-92552128a/

## Development Status :open_book:

- **Code:** [https://github.com/suyash101101/Agora](https://github.com/suyash101101/Agora)
- **Demo Video:** [Watch Agora Demo Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V9ne5yBJFs&t=2s)
- **Walkthrough:** [Watch Agora Walkthrough](https://app.supademo.com/demo/cm6xuj2sr01o8pegv3s411vap)

## Development Roadmap :nut_and_bolt:

### Overview

- **Total Estimated Duration:** 4 months
- **FTE:** 2
- **Total Costs:** 30,000 USD
- **DOT %:** 50%

### Milestone 1 - Core Functionality & Local Testnet

- **Estimated duration:** 2 months
- **FTE:** 2
- **Costs:** 15,000 USD

| Number | Deliverable | Specification |
| -----: | ----------- | ------------- |
| **0a.** | License | MIT-0 / Apache 2.0 |
| **0b.** | Documentation | Inline docs for `agora` pallet and a guide on running the local Zombienet setup. |
| 1. | Code Revamp | Revise the hackathon implementation and resolve minor defects within the `agora` pallet. |
| 2. | Ecosystem Survey | Reach Out to parachains and ask them for desired additional features. |
| 3. | Professional UI | Improve and make a professional React-based UI dashboard. |
| 4. | Deployment | Deploy Agora as a parathread on a public Polkadot test network and exposing a stable public RPC endpoint. |

### Milestone 2 - OCW & Automation

- **Estimated Duration:** 2 months
- **FTE:** 2
- **Costs:** 15,000 USD

| Number | Deliverable | Specification |
| -----: | ----------- | ------------- |
| **0a.** | Dockerfile | Dockerize the application |
| **0b.** | Docker Compose | A Compose configuration for running the parachain and its dependencies |
| **0c.** | Docker Documentation | Document the full Docker workflow, including build, run, logs, and network setup for local and CI environments. |
| **0d.** | Docker Testing Guide |Provide a test guide for validating the Dockerized parachain, including integration and networking checks. |
| 0e. | Article | Blog post explaining the architecture and use cases. |
| 1. | OCW | Improve and make robust Off-Chain Worker (OCW) logic for automatic job execution and verification. |
| 2. | Agora Client Pallet | Build a minimal Agora Client pallet that other parachains can plug into their runtime to send XCM job requests and receive results with no additional integration work. |
| 3. | Reputation & Security | Rework the reputation and slashing logic to compound penalties for dishonest workers and increase slashing rates |
| 4. | Tests | unit tests for all modules and End-to-end integration test that simulates a full local job_commit, reveal, finalize then consensus, rewards, and slashing across multiple workers |

## Future Plans

- Mainnet deployment as a parachain.
- Expansion of job types (e.g., more complex ML inference).
- Integration with more parachains.

## Additional Information :heavy_plus_sign:


- This project was 1st place in "Build Resilient Apps with Polkadot Cloud" Hackathon.
https://devpost.com/software/agora-bkfo60
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