TL;DR
Paperclip Labs is proposing to build Farcaster auction frames for all Nouns Builder DAOs. These will be similar to the auction frames we've built thus far (see an example below).
- Funding request: 7 ETH
- Timeline: 2.5 weeks
- Kickoff Date: April 29, 2024
https://warpcast.com/spencerperkins.eth/0xe55a5412
Proposal
We propose to build Nouns Builder auction frames aiming to provide the same functionality as an auction frontend (within the limitations of Farcaster frames). This means users will be able to view and bid on an auction directly from within their Farcaster feed.
Auction Frame Functionality
Auction frames will feature the ability to:
- View the current auction (art, current bid, time left, highest bidder).
- Bid on the current auction.
- Settle the current auction if required*.
- View previous auctions*.
*this feature is not in any of the auction frames we have built thus far
Nouns Builder Frame Architecture
Below is a general overview of the Nouns Builder auction frame architecture:
The transaction flow is expanded here:
Nound Builder Frame Design
The frame design will mirror that of the Nouns Builder auction pages—clean and simple.
Similar to Nouns Builder auctions, if a DAO desires a more custom experience, they will need to undertake this independently. We are happy to support any DAOs who choose to do this as a contractor, as we have done for Yellow Collective and Beans DAO:
https://warpcast.com/toadyhawk.eth/0x0fabb408
https://warpcast.com/maschka/0x21d70337
Auction Data
All data for the frames will be sourced from the Nouns Builder subgraphs and JSON RPCs.
Frame Server Hosting and Maintenance
Paperclip Labs frame server is built in Next.js and hosted at https://frames.paperclip.xyz.
Initial Four Months
To manage hosting and maintenance expenses while enhancing onchain analytics, we will activate referral incentives on the frames for the first four months following the launch. This means that Paperclip Labs will receive a small incentive for winning bids originating from our auction frame for DAOs with referral rewards configured. This approach helps offset operational costs and introduces usage-based incentives, aligning our efforts with the overall performance and success of the platform.
Future Hosting and Maintenance Strategy
After the initial four-month period, we will evaluate the effectiveness of the auction frames and incentive mechanism within the Nouns Builder ecosystem. Depending on the outcomes, Paperclip Labs may submit another proposal to cover maintenance and hosting for costs not covered by client incentives moving forward. Alternatively, this could be a natural point for Nouns Builder to take over hosting responsibilities and integrate the frame server into nouns.build. At this point we also propose exploring adding the frames directly into the nouns.build auction links.
Estimated Hosting Costs
Predicting hosting costs without detailed demand data is challenging; however, based on our experience with similar auction frames, we will provide a general estimate. Should these estimates be exceeded in a significant way, we are prepared to consider switching to another hosting service to maintain economic efficiency.
Hosting Cost Factors
The primary cost factors for our frame server include bandwidth and serverless function execution, which are critical for supporting the auction frames. Furthermore, there is additional costs for JSON RPCs (minimal), Neynar APIs, and analytics.
Estimated Server Usage and Cost for Active Nouns Builder DAOs
With around 30 active DAOs within Nouns Builder (ones where their last auction was bid on), we estimate the following needs based on similar usage patterns from previous deployments:
- Bandwidth: ~160GB per month
- Serverless Function Execution: ~76GB-Hrs per month
With this usage estimate, it would cost around $120/month for hosting.
Transaction Endpoints
The auction frames will support two different transactions: bid and settle.
We will utilize the frame transaction endpoints developed by Neokry and hosted on nouns.build: https://hackmd.io/@Vc6Y6iquTg2mutFXPZq08Q/SyaLwXKpT
Currently, the settle transaction endpoint does not exist, but we have requested its addition. If Nouns Builder opts not to maintain these transaction endpoints, we will create our own within our frame server (as we currently do for all other frame transactions).
Open Source Code
All code will be added to our open source frame repo on Github, which is released under the GNU General Public License v3 (GPLv3).
Usage Analytics
To help quantify impact, we will be adding custom event usage analytics. This will provide data similar to what we show below in the Auction Frame Traction section below.
Specifically we will track the number of:
- Auction refreshes
- Previous auction views
- Transactions initiated
- Transactions successful
- Transactions failed
We will share these metrics with Builder DAO every month for the first 4 months. After this time, we will figure out the long term plan (see section in server hosting).
How DAO’s Can Post Their Frame
Nouns Builder auction frames will be accessible at the frame server endpoint: https://frames.paperclip.xyz/nouns-builder/auction/<chain_id>/<token_address>
Any Nouns Builder DAO can post their frames to Farcaster by replacing:
- <chain_id>: with the chain id their DAO is on
- <token_address>: with the address of their DAOs NFT proxy contract (can be found on the contracts tab of nouns.build)
It will also be possible to post a frame for a specific tokenId using /<chain_id>/<token_address>/<token_id>. This means that even if this auction has ended, the frame will continue to show that <token_id>.
Auction Frame Traction
We have developed a number of auction frames for different nounish DAOs (~11), most of which were created before frame transactions were introduced to Farcaster. We have been tracking general usage metrics since their launch. Note that the “visitors” metric below is not overly insightful as this data is coming from Farcaster client servers (not directly from users).
Since launching the auction frames (right after frames were released), we have had approximately 35,000 auction frame refreshes. That is, the number of times users hit the refresh button on auction frames.
Since launching bid transactions within auction frames (Yellow Collective, Beans, and Nouns), we have seen ~550 auction bid transactions initiated. Note that not all of these bid transactions were actually sent (users could have rejected them, or not had enough funds), and unfortunately, we lack metrics on the number of actual bids originating from the auction frames.
Effort and Pricing
We are asking for 7 ETH to cover the costs to design, and develop these Nouns Builder auction frames. We estimate this work with take ~2.5 weeks.
Team
We are Paperclip Labs. We design, build, and ship crypto products and tools.
You can checkout some of our work here: paperclip.xyz
Past Relevant Projects:
Our frames are not yet included on our website, but here is a compilation of some of the ones we have built thus far:
- Mint frames
- Auction Frames (no bidding)
- Nouns
- Purple DAO
- Yellow Collective
- Lil Nouns
- Builder DAO
- Based management
- And more...
- Auction Frames (with bidding)
- Other
- Nouns Denver RSVP Frame
- And more…