The Graph Builders Newsletter #12

gm web3 builders,

Welcome to The Graph Builders Newsletter #12 - December 2023 where we share important builder-focused news coming from The Graph ecosystem from the past month.

Topics for December 2023

The Builders Year in Review
New Releases
- Upgrade Indexer - Unlocks for Builders
- Optimism Live on The Graph Network
Learning Corner
- Best Practices in Subgraph Development: Avoiding Large Arrays
- Builders Office Hours Workshops
Hackathon Highlights
- EthIndia 2023
- Chainlink Constellation 2023
Participate
- Join The Graph BuildersDAO
The Builders Year In Review
Back in January 2023, the very first edition of The Graph Builders Newsletter was released! Since then, there have been countless updates and key releases aimed at supporting Builders like you!
Let’s go through 2023 by highlighting some key releases as noted in each edition of The Graph Builders Newsletter. If you haven’t had a chance to check out these releases, now is the time!
January: Graph Client released
February: Arbitrum, Avalanche, and Celo live on The Graph Network
March: File Data Sources released
April: Sepolia live in Subgraph Studio
May: Substreams-powered subgraphs released
June: Full Text Search + Where filtering, Derived Field loaders, and `graph deploy –ipfs-hash` released
July: The Graph BuildersDAO launched
August: L2 Transfer Tools released and Arweave File Data Sources
September: `DataSourceContext` and `endBlock` in the manifest
October: Upgrade Indexer announced
November: Substreams.dev launched
Cheers to an incredible year!
New Releases
Upgrade Indexer - Unlocks for Builders
With the recent rollout of the Upgrade Indexer, The Graph unlocks new chains and new features for Builders.
Unlock 1 - Seamless upgrades to The Graph Network
The upgrade Indexer will enable subgraph developers to upgrade hosted service subgraphs to The Graph Network and begin making queries as quickly without service interruption. The upgrade Indexer will offer a simple and seamless way to test your subgraph. The upgrade Indexer guarantees for a limited amount of time that a subgraph is available on The Graph Network, even if it has too little curation signal to attract other Indexers.
Unlock 2 - Bootstrapping new chains on the network
Today, the hosted service supports 40+ blockchain networks. The upgrade Indexer will expedite the integration of many of these chains from the hosted service onto The Graph Network. However, new chains supported by the upgrade Indexer will not immediately be eligible for indexing rewards. To enable indexing rewards, each chain must undergo governance via the Chain Integration Process.
Unlock 3 - Pre-synced Subgraphs
All of the hosted service subgraphs will already be synced with the upgrade Indexer, ensuring immediate, and high-quality support on the network.
Unlock 4 - Free Query Tier (Coming Soon)
The upgrade Indexer supports side and hackathon projects: There will be a free-tier that is good enough to test the power of The Graph Network without the need to pay. Once ready for prime time, it will be simple to subscribe to a paid plan that supports the production-level load of the largest dapps.
Optimism is Live on The Graph Network
With Optimism on The Graph Network, we have yet another chain we can start to index!
Optimism is the first chain to complete the Chain Integration Process (CIP), a public and transparent process for adding new chains to The Graph Network.
As the upgrade Indexer unlocks more and more chains, stay tuned for more chains live on The Graph Network.
Learning Corner
Best Practices in Subgraph Development: Avoiding Large Arrays
Developer Relations Engineer Kevin Jones shares knowledge on optimizing subgraph development by avoiding large arrays in his article Best Practices in Subgraph Development: Avoiding Large Arrays. This essential practice addresses the challenges of database bloat and inefficiency, particularly with large, frequently changing data sets. The solution lies in the strategic use of the @derivedFrom feature in Graph Node, which facilitates reverse lookups and creates virtual fields for efficient querying. This not only streamlines the database structure but also enhances overall performance.
The Graph Builders Office Hours - Thursdays 5pm UTC
Jump into The Graph Builders Office Hours every Thursday at 5pm UTC hosted by Edge & Node Developer Relations Engineer Kevin Jones in The Graph Discord.
Each session includes live workshops and Q&A discussions with developers who are building in The Graph Ecosystem.
Start building fast with all 19(!) The Graph Builders Office Hours workshops!
Here are a few recent episodes:
- Hackathon winner ‘Nazar’ built their project on Substreams
- Explore Graph Client’s subgraph composition features
- See how Clickhouse can be used as a Substreams sink
- Dive into new subgraph features - Initialization Handlers and Polling Handlers
- Build with Messari Standard Subgraphs
Hackathon Highlights
EthIndia 2023
EthIndia 2023 was a huge success with 40 teams building their projects using The Graph. Check out the winners!
Best New Subgraph
🥇 First Place: Cal3 - A web3-native calendar app powered by a subgraph. It allows users to create events, invite people using wallet addresses, collect RSVPs, and send @PushProtocol notifications.
🥈 Second Place: JiffyScan - This transaction explorer leverages subgraphs to analyze bundled transactions, offering more detailed insights than traditional block explorers.
Best Use of Existing Subgraph
🥇 First Place: Griffin - A subgraph-powered portal designed to calculate optimal liquidity pool fees for Uniswap traders, enabling new financial strategies in web3.
🥈 Second Place: Flashbag - A multi-chain DeFi app using subgraphs to optimize yield across multiple chains, simplifying the process of manual transactions in DeFi.
Chainlink Constellation 2023
With over 60(!) projects using The Graph for Constellation 2023, choosing winners was a daunting task. Congratulations to these builders, and check out their projects to get some inspiration!
Best New Subgraph or Substream
🥇 Grand Prize: GenHub - A platform that uses generative AI to create AI characters for advertisements, influencing consumer choices, similar to platforms like TikTok or Instagram.
🥈 1st Runner-up: Azurance - An insurance platform offering an open, instant-claim, and flexible system, enabling anyone to provide liquidity and simplifying the claiming process for insurance contracts.
🥉 2nd Runner-up: RocketAI - A dapp for creating and interacting with specialized AI agents, integrating OpenAI's GPT models with blockchain for a unique combination of AI and decentralized functionality.
Best Use of Subgraph or Substream
🥇Grand Prize: Dexodus - A perpetual decentralized exchange that eliminates gas fees, offering stable transaction fees, seamless user experience with Chainlink Automation, and gamification elements like Seasonal Leagues and NFT collections.
🥈1st Runner-up: Shylock - A DeFi project facilitating cross-chain lending and borrowing, featuring an under-collateralized loan system supported by a comprehensive credit score system, DAO membership, and KYC procedures.
🥉2nd Runner-up: Botcoin - A crypto trading platform with AI-powered trading decisions, personalized portfolio management, real-time Telegram updates, and features like buy/sell optimization, secure cross-chain transfers, and adaptable trading strategies.
Participate
Build with The Graph BuildersDAO
Want to be paid for building subgraphs and Substreams alongside other builders?
Join The Graph BuildersDAO!
The Graph BuildersDAO is a community of collaborative developers who provide their building services to dapps and protocols.
This collaborative community is looking for builders with various levels of experience in smart contracts, Rust, frontend frameworks, DevOps, subgraphs and Substreams to join and participate in a variety of projects.
Also, if there’s a project that needs some builder-power, The Graph BuildersDAO is a great resource that can build a custom subgraph or Substream! Get in touch!
Developer Survey
Building The Graph Network is a collaborative effort, and the core devs would love to hear your feedback!
Thanks for reading and happy hacking! 💌
Marcus Rein
Developer Relations and Success
Edge & Node, working on The Graph