Polkadot JS Update - BlockDeep

Ecosystem
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Polkadot JS Update - BlockDeep

Hey Polkadot community!

As you might have seen on a recent announcement, we’ve officially taken over maintenance and support for Polkadot JS.

This post is Part 1 of our update, where we’ll share insights into the work we’ve been doing on the Polkadot JS suite. In this first installment, we’d like to give you a quick look at what we’ve accomplished so far, and highlight a few of the latest features we’ve implemented.

:white_check_mark: Progress Updates

  • We started our training and ramp-up on the Polkadot JS codebase in January 2025, and by end of March we took ownership for maintenance of most of the components including the Developer Interface (Apps), API, Common, and other packages excluding the developer signer (extension).
  • We took ownership for maintenance of the developer signer (extension) by end of June.
  • To date, across all Polkadot JS repositories, we’ve contributed:
    • 130+ pull requests
    • 12 new features
    • 20+ security fixes
    • 57 releases published

:sparkles: Newly Implemented Features

Alongside ongoing maintenance and technical support, below are some of the key features we’ve shipped over the last few months:

  • PolkadotJS Rebranding → Polkadot Developer Tools
    We’ve rebranded PolkadotJS to Polkadot Developer Tools to emphasize that it is aimed at developers rather than general users. The web app, landing page, and browser extension were all updated to reflect this.

  • Brand new Tab for showing Foreign Assets
    We introduced a new tab on the Assets page that explicitly shows foreign assets and their Multilocation. This makes it easier for developers to view an asset’s metadata and its location across parachains.

  • Metadata 16 Support:
    Support for Metadata v16 from the Polkadot SDK is now fully integrated. We’ve implemented the necessary type definitions and conversion logic to make the API compatible with this latest version.

  • Improved Preimages Page UX:
    A new interface now allows users to view only their own preimages and unnote multiple entries at once.

  • AssetHub Migration specific features:

    • Revamped Staking Page:
      A dedicated page was built to support the new staking model for the Relay Chain and AssetHub, allowing users to track and interact with both on the same Page.
    • AssetHub Types support:
      Static Types Support for AssetHub - with many pallets migrating from the Relay Chain to AssetHub, we’ve added tools to maintain up to date static TypeScript definitions for AssetHub, actively updated with the latest Polkadot Fellows Runtime releases.

  • Api Derives Documentation:
    We built an automatic generator to document all API derives — helper functions that simplify complex calls around staking, governance, etc. You can now find full documentation in the new Derives section of the PJS docs.

  • XCM V5 Support:
    We’ve implemented full type definitions needed to decode and interact with XCM v5, keeping the API up to date with the latest cross-chain standards.

  • Improve Address Book Search:
    We fixed issues in the address book search feature. It now correctly filters based on account address, on chain identity, and other fields.

  • Enable Fee payment with any sufficient asset
    On AssetHub, users can now pay transaction fees in sufficient assets like USDT or USDC. The app automatically detects whether non-native fee payment is supported on the connected chain.

  • Import and export of Accounts:
    We’ve introduced an import/export feature that allows users to back up and restore accounts (from the My Accounts tab) and saved addresses (from the Address Book). This makes it easy to migrate your setup when switching to a new browser or device. Exported data is saved in a standard JSON format and can be imported into any PolkadotJS instance.

If you are curious, a full list of our contributions to Polkadot JS is available here. We keep this list fairly updated on a monthly basis.

:megaphone: What’s Next

Stay tuned for the next update, where we’ll share a roadmap and some feature proposals we’re considering for Polkadot JS, along with a process for gathering community feedback.

-BlockDeep Team

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