Hello there!
It’s been a while since our last forum update, and we’ve been hard at work! Between maintaining and improving our libraries, we’ve also dedicated some spare time to developing a brand-new developer console. Today, we’re excited to give you a closer look!
polkadot-api@1.7
The latest release is packed with quality-of-life improvements and exciting new features. Here’s a quick summary:
Stable Release of ink!
We’re thrilled to announce the first stable release of the ink!
module, now available for import via polkadot-api/ink
. It includes as well an update to the CLI, which is now capable of generating types for a contract’s metadata, making it easier than ever to work with ink contracts.
Check out the documentation for all the details, and don’t hesitate to share your feedback—we truly value your input!
Enhancements to Signers
After identifying and addressing some complex issues, the polkadot-api
signers—and the top-level client itself—now fully support what we’ve termed exotic extrinsics. These are extrinsics whose origin isn’t a Multiaddress
and whose signature isn’t a Multisignature
.
Here are some examples:
- Hydration: Uses an
AccountId32
address directly, without a Multiaddress
enum wrapping it.
- EVM-Based Chains (e.g., Moonbeam): Utilize an
AccountId20
(Ethereum-style address) and a standard ECDSA signature (secp256k1, as in Ethereum).
We’ve ensured that all possible permutations—at least those identified in our research—are now supported.
Provider Reliability Upgrades
Beyond adding new features, we’ve significantly improved the WebSocket (WS) and Smoldot providers. These enhancements boost reliability and resilience, especially in handling unexpected behaviors from RPC providers (specifically for WebSocket connections).
PAPI Console: The Next-Gen Developer Tool
At the recent sub0 conference in Bangkok, we proudly unveiled the PAPI Console, the very first end-user tool developed by the polkadot-api
team. This project was a labor of love, created during our spare time alongside our ongoing work on the polkadot-api
libraries. Despite being a side project, we’re thrilled with how it turned out and are excited to share it with the developer community.
The project’s goal is to make your development experience smoother and more intuitive. We’d love for you to give it a try and share your thoughts! Feedback is incredibly valuable as we continue to refine and improve the tool. You can submit your feedback or suggestions directly on the GitHub repository.
The PAPI Console is now live and available at dev.papi.how. Dive in and explore its features!
PS: If you missed the sub0 presentation, you can catch the recording on YouTube. It provides a deeper insight into the motivation and development journey behind the PAPI Console and a nice live demo.
Team Restructuring
At the end of October 2024, we made the decision to part ways with Hannah Redler, a developer introduced in our previous proposal. This hard decision was not made lightly, but we believe it was necessary to align the team with our current goals and priorities. We are grateful for Hannah’s contributions to the project and wish her the best in her future endeavors.
We acknowledge that this decision means we requested (and were awarded) some funds that no longer match our current team structure. We are committed to working with the treasury to find the best solution to address this. Despite this, we remain fully dedicated to minimizing disruptions, maintaining the quality and pace of our work, and continuing to exceed expectations as we always aim to do.
For the time being, the PAPI team will consist of Víctor, Carlo, and Josep, all working full-time to drive the project forward. This structure allows us to remain focused and continue delivering on our commitments.