Expanding Roles, Endless Potential: Indexers in the New Era of The Graph
The Graph is expanding to serve more of web3’s data needs by introducing new data services ranging from and to and more. This growing ecosystem will open up opportunities to provide new types of data services, especially for Indexers.
In this post, we'll explore the different roles that an can choose to fill in The Graph's World of Data Services, a key element of the .
Expanding the Role of Indexers
Today, Indexers operate nodes on The Graph Network, indexing (open source APIs) that organize blockchain data. A subgraph enables you to extract data from the blockchain, process it, and store it so that it can be easily queried, similar to a traditional database.
As The Graph evolves, Indexers will have the opportunity to explore new possibilities beyond indexing subgraphs. The Graph’s innovative roadmap enables Indexers to engage in new data services, expanding their capabilities beyond their current focus.
World of Data Services
As laid out on its roadmap and explained in , The Graph is continuously evolving to meet the growing demands of the blockchain ecosystem and serve the world’s web3 data needs.
Some of the new data services include:
- Firehose: will provide real-time data streams, allowing applications to react instantly to blockchain events, thus enhancing the immediacy and responsiveness of blockchain data access.
- Substreams: will offer more granular data access, enabling developers to pinpoint precisely the data they need for their applications, making data retrieval more efficient and tailored.
- Artificial Intelligence: The Graph is AI capabilities, which will enable developers to deploy AI models and create AI-driven dapps. The Graph’s Indexer community will support the computational needs of these emerging AI services, promising enhanced utility for advanced AI applications.
These changes are a significant shift towards a more comprehensive range of data services. The Graph aims to become a one-stop shop for all data needs in the blockchain world.
The Evolving Role of Indexers
As The Graph broadens its data services, Indexers will have more opportunities to choose how and where they want to operate. They can concentrate on delivering services that tap into their strengths and cater to the varied needs of data consumers.
The ability to provide specialized services, such as real-time data streams or advanced AI-driven queries, will attract new users to The Graph, growing the opportunities through which Indexers can earn rewards. Additionally, the integration of making queries with SQL, among the most popular query languages, could open a new market of developers or data analysts who are accustomed to these tools, creating new demand and earning potential through expanded service offerings.
Let’s visualize how new Indexer opportunities might materialize.
The graphic above shows three possible scenarios for Indexers.
- Indexer A runs their own infrastructure and opts for subgraphs that use it. They’ve got a archive node, an archive node, and a few Firehoses (Ethereum, Arweave, and Polygon).
- Indexer B runs some infrastructure: an Ethereum Firehose, plus they’re using the Arweave Firehose from Indexer A and the Polygon Firehose from Indexer C.
- Indexer C doesn’t run any at all. They are a Firehose provider for a suite of blockchains, including Polygon, Arweave, NEAR, and Cosmos, so that others can access subgraphs via a public API and don’t have to manage their own Firehose.
Given the ever-expanding amount of blockchain data, it's impractical for individual Indexers to cover all chains. Firehose and Substreams address this challenge by enabling a shared infrastructure model, where Indexers can leverage each other's data processing capabilities.
This collaborative ecosystem allows for the efficient distribution of the workload across multiple blockchains, ensuring that no single Indexer is burdened with the impossible task of indexing everything.
Some Possible Areas of Specialization for Indexers
Expanding data services introduce new opportunities for Indexers to specialize and custom-tailor their indexing operation. Indexers can potentially provide any of the new data services coming to The Graph Network, including Firehose, Substreams, LLMs, and non-deterministic data sources.
Here are some examples of how Indexers may choose to specialize.
- Areas of expertise:
- By becoming experts in Firehose, Substreams, AI, or another new data service.
- Diversity in expertise ensures developers can access data indexing services tailored to their needs.
- Specialization in data streams:
- By focusing on real-time data streams for near-instant data processing and serving.
- Service providers for infrastructure support:
- Smaller Indexers may use service providers like Pinax for Firehose or RPC endpoints to help manage increased data flow and storage demands.
- Simplifying the technical requirements makes it easier and more accessible to become an Indexer, resulting in a more diverse network of Indexers that enhance decentralization and ecosystem resilience.
- Blockchain integrations and support range:
- will include many more blockchain integrations.
- Differentiation among Indexers will be based on the range of chains supported for subgraph indexing.
- Larger Indexers, like Pinax, may plan to index subgraphs across virtually all available chains, catering to a broader market. Smaller Indexers may focus on a select few chains, offering specialized services.
Collaboration Among Indexers
Collaboration within The Graph's ecosystem will enhance the protocol and bring benefits to all Indexers. By , Indexers can share insights, strategies, and resources, leading to a more robust and efficient indexing process. This collective effort can improve the accuracy and speed of data retrieval, making the entire network more attractive to developers and participants. This approach reduces complexity and resource needs for Indexers, fostering a more efficient and collaborative blockchain data management ecosystem.
The use of Firehose's flat file system for storing blockchain data, organized by block number, simplifies the process of sharing and processing this data among Indexers. This system not only enhances the scalability of data management across multiple blockchains but also fosters a cooperative environment where Indexers can leverage each other's infrastructure. By sharing these flat files, Indexers can efficiently distribute the workload of processing vast amounts of blockchain data, augmenting redundancy, and improving the overall efficiency of the ecosystem.
The Role of Core Development Teams
teams play a crucial role in shaping the future of The Graph. They work in parallel to add new data services, further supporting and influencing the role of Indexers. While these changes present opportunities for Indexers, they also come with challenges like ensuring compatibility and smooth integration.
The core development teams are not just expanding the protocol's capabilities—they are also working on improving its efficiency and reliability. They’re exploring ways to enhance data availability and fault tolerance, ensuring that the data indexing ecosystem remains robust.
Preparing for the Future
To prepare for their evolving role, Indexers can adopt several strategies:
- Stay informed: Keep up with on The Graph and the blockchain space. This includes staying informed about changes in data services, newly supported chains, and emerging query markets.
- Adapt and specialize: Prepare to adapt to new data services and specialize in areas where you excel. This may involve investing in the necessary to support real-time data streams or developing expertise in AI-driven data querying.
- Engage with the community: Actively engage with The Graph community to gain valuable insights and collaboration opportunities. Participate in discussions, share knowledge, and collaborate on projects to contribute to the ecosystem’s growth.
Developers, Indexers, and core development teams are all essential contributors to this dynamic ecosystem. By embracing these changes and working together, we’re paving the way for a more robust and efficient blockchain data indexing ecosystem.
The Graph's expansion of data services is bringing new opportunities, and the role of the Indexer is in transition as a result. If an Indexer simply wants to continue serving subgraphs, then they can continue to do so. However, new data services like Firehose, Substreams, and AI are moving us toward a more comprehensive data service ecosystem, and if Indexers adapt, collaborate, and specialize, they will thrive in this evolving landscape. This transformation not only enhances the scope of services Indexers can offer, but it could also significantly boost their potential for higher earnings through increases in, for example, query volume and specialized offerings.
Share your thoughts, insights, and questions on the evolving role of the Indexer. Join our vibrant communities on , , and . You can also meet members of the Indexer community every Tuesday in The Graph Discord for . We're excited to hear from you!
About The Graph
is the source of data and information for the decentralized internet. As the original decentralized data marketplace that introduced and standardized subgraphs, The Graph has become web3’s method of indexing and accessing blockchain data. Since its launch in 2018, tens of thousands of developers have for dapps across 70+ blockchains - including Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Polygon, Celo, Fantom, Gnosis, and Avalanche.
As demand for data in web3 continues to grow, The Graph enters a with a more expansive vision including new data services and query languages, ensuring the decentralized protocol can serve any use case - now and into the future.
Discover more about how The Graph is shaping the future of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) and stay connected with the community. Follow The Graph on , , , , , and . Join the community on The Graph’s , join technical discussions on The Graph’s .
oversees The Graph Network. The Graph Foundation is overseen by the . , , , , , and are eight of the many organizations within The Graph ecosystem.
