This proposal is also available as PDF on IPFS here.
This proposal requests a renewal of the Tech Pod Residency for a four-month term to continue core development, technical maintenance, and community support for the Builder Protocol. Building on the successful handoff from the previous resident and the roadmap established during the first residency, the returning team proposes to continue their efforts through agile development, active community engagement, and transparent reporting. With proven feature delivery, this continuation ensures the protocol remains usable, competitive, and aligned with evolving DAO needs. Compensation remains consistent with the first term, and deliverables will follow community-driven prioritisation within a stable scope of work.
After filling the vacant role for the Tech Pod Residency on a short notice and introducing role sharing between a Product Owner (benedictvs.eth) and a Technology Lead in March, we turned the backlog into an actionable roadmap that could outlive us as residents. Our contributions have been instrumental in maintaining and improving the Builder Protocol as DAO-governed open-source software. Yet, ongoing upkeep and technical development is required for keeping Nouns Builder software functional, usable, and competitive. As proof of our work, we already delivered on agreed items:
As we involved the community to brainstorm needs and establish a roadmap, initiatives deemed as high priority were pushed back by the community or changed in scope. For example, we addressed the issue of Automated Auction Split, but the core user pain was identified to lie elsewhere (#513 & #594). We significantly improved the documentation, while improving the UX DAO creation, engagement, and proposal workflows were assessed as less pressing by the community. Other aspects of the improvement of Nouns.build, only took shape as the community saw immediate needs addressed. For instance, the community is only now coming to terms with the scope for adding legacy support for Droposals.
A comprehensive overview of the required work is provided by the Github boards for the Resident Cycle and the Feature Roadmap, which were established by the residents. For an exhaustive changelog, please consult closed PRs on Github or read up on the Builder Buzz Newsletter editions 54 and following. With this track record, we want to continue providing the necessary support, technical expertise, and product vision for Nouns Builder to succeed.
This proposal consists of three main parts, which are elaborated on in the Section Accountability of this proposal. Namely, communication and support, documentation and reporting, as well as technical development.
This proposal supports Builder DAO’s mission to develop DAO infrastructure as a public good, ensuring ongoing accessibility, robustness, and user experience improvements for decentralised communities. Completing the current backlog and enhancing key features directly benefits the Builder Protocol ecosystem’s long-term viability.
The proposed timeline for the extension of the residency is 4 months, running from August 02, 2025 to December 02, 2025. Payouts are tied to a steady delivery according to monthly milestones.
As the technology residency follows a community-driven and agile development structure, only tentative deliverables can be provided. However, the roadmap in the first subsection has been established with great care and passed community feedback and reflects certain priorities. The second category of issues are of lower priority and/or smaller size, thus MAY shift in response to new community feedback or severe to medium bugs that need immediate addressing. The last category of deliverables “Discussion Topics” reflects the technology residents' determination to engage, shape, and structure ongoing community feedback. Issues from this last category MAY NOT translate into direct technology developments, but are important for community oversight of the technical development.
While specific deliverables may evolve in line with the agile development approach of the residency, the overall scope of work and the responsibilities covered by the residency retainer shall remain unchanged unless formally amended by mutual agreement.
| Month | Item | Description | Owners | Weeks | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JUL 2025 | 574 and 575 | NPM library including utils and hooks | Tech Residents | 3 | Ongoing |
| JUL 2025 | 626 | Droposal legacy support on nouns.build UI | Tech Residents | 2 | Ongoing |
| AUG 2025 | 318 | Display "User votes", "User proposals", and voting history in a new "Activity" tab on Profile page. | Tech Residents | 2 | Planned |
| AUG - SEP 2025 | 463 | Stream payments via proposals, for example through Sablier or SuperFluid. | Tech Residents | 2 | Planned |
| TBD | NounsSite | Template Website | Community | TBD | TBD |
While we have crafted the above list of deliverables and roadmap with the utmost diligence and by involving the community, we are aware that priorities may change and that there are a plethora of issues in the backlog that need addressing. Therefore, we want to mention a number of issues we are aware of and have tentatively prioritised as alternatives and successors of the above scope, such as:
As introduced during the first residency cycle of the proposers, the residents will update the community as follows:
In continuation of previous Protocol Technology Lead compensation, we are requesting a monthly retainer of 1.67 ETH and 8652.81 OP per month (~12,500 USDC/ month on Jul 24, 2025) (adjusted pro-rata if necessary for limited duration). For the entire duration of the 4 months residency total compensation is 6.68 ETH and 34611.24 OP, released monthly according to milestones. The compensation is split between the residents as follows:
The treasury impact of this proposal is estimated to be 13.00%. The remaining funds will be covered separately, originating from OP grant funds.
After the prior Resident Protocol Lead funding ended prematurely, Dan and Ben took over on a short notice to maintain continuity in the upkeep of the Nouns Builder protocol and platform. Their first term is coming to an end on August 02 and was funded with Proposal 42.
The proposers will provide necessary tax reporting information in accordance with DAO administrative requirements.
Ben is a RaidGuild member and an expert on decentralised identity and Web3 infrastructure, who also reads for a PhD in DLT-based decentralised governance of small jurisdictions. As an entrepreneur, he successfully launched two Web3 consultancies in the past three years and received funding backed by the European Union on multiple occasions. His overarching objective is to bring DLT networks and society closer together.
Dan (Dhanwanthari) OneTree is a software developer focused on Web3 technologies, leading development at Smart Invoice and contributing to open-source projects. Passionate about blockchain, DAOs, and NFTs, he aims to drive positive change through technology.