We will focus on Security, Migration Support, and Sustainability at reduced capacity through October 2026

Summary

The current Tech Pod Residency is coming to the end of its March through June 2026 term. During this period we brought ETH mainnet contracts to parity with the L2 v2.0.0 deployments, launched the ERC721 redeem minter on mainnet, rolled out the community contributed dark mode and About page to production, restored and improved the Farcaster bot, continued work on updatable proposals and proposal candidates, rotated contract ownership, and initiated the Zora network winddown with migration planning and a self-service migration UI currently in review.

This proposal funds a short two month renewal for July and October 2026 at reducing from 40% to 20% capacity, as we are taking on the Nouns Builder rollout on Stellar. This preserves the Builder DAO treasury while maintaining the technical continuity the protocol still needs. The focus is on making the application safer, more reliable, and more sustainable. To that end, we propose resolving security and authentication concerns, improving devops, rolling out the contract updates, supporting migrations away from deprecated infrastructure, and moving toward the introduction of revenue-generating product features.

The short renewal also gives Builder DAO flexibility around the potential Stellar deployment. If that deployment comes through, the DAO will need experienced technical capacity available for implementing the proposed scope to Stellar. A one-month 40% engagement followed by three months at 20%, maintains continuity in the technical support.

Accordingly, this proposal funds continued technical support, security improvements, contract rollout, devops improvements, review of community contributions, and the potential introduction of platform fees. It guarantees a must have set of deliverables and keeps additional capacity reserved for urgent bugs, UX improvements pending protocol upgrades, Zora migration support, review of feasible community contributions, redeploying testnets, and work on revenue generation through platform features.

Context

The previous Tech Pod Residency under Prop #59 continued the technical stewardship started under Prop #42, Prop #45, and Prop #54. Over the past year, the Tech Pod has kept Nouns Builder operating as DAO-governed open-source infrastructure, while shipping protocol upgrades, frontend improvements, documentation, bot support, and direct technical support for DAOs and contributors.

The March through June cycle was deliberately used to gradually reduce capacity while concluding a large body of protocol work. In March we refactored the proposal creation flow, shipped Sablier airdrop support, improved profile customisation, restored the Farcaster bot, and completed a major documentation update. In April we moved deeper into protocol work, including the v2 mainnet upgrade, updatable proposals, Safe treasury registration, wallet profile previews, favourited DAOs, extra DAO links, bid comments, treasury filter toggles, and proposal risk warnings. In May we brought ETH mainnet contracts to parity with L2 v2.0.0 deployments, launched the ERC721 redeem minter, shipped dark mode and the new About page, and continued contributor onboarding and Stellar grant coordination.

Work running up to the close of the June milestone includes updatable proposals (#818, PR #962), deterministic DAO deployments (#864), proposal candidates (#930), the L2-to-L2 migration script and UI (PR #964), and review of the second Gnars milestone. The direction of this prior work is continued in the proposed July and August renewal. The priority is no longer feature expansion, but operational enhancements and devops, responsible rollout of the new contract updates, and sustainability.

The platform is also in a sensitive state, considering the Zora network winddown requires migration support for affected communities, including a self-service migration UI. Recent security disclosures require the hardening of the platform and coordination of the technical response. Issues around transaction simulation, authentication, and rate-limiting need to be addressed in the short term. At the same time, Builder DAO needs a credible path toward sustainability, which could include near-term patronage from larger DAOs on the platform and a staged move toward fees for premium or high-value add-ons.

For a detailed overview of priorities, see the Github boards for Resident Cycle and Feature Roadmap. For a full changelog, check closed PRs or Builder Buzz Newsletter.

Proposal

This proposal consists of three main parts, which are elaborated on in the Section Accountability of this proposal, namely, documentation and reporting, communication and support, as well as technical development.

Documentation and Reporting

• Continue maintaining a prioritised roadmap here and agile development sprint planning here
• Share bi-weekly roadmap/features to be worked on, with emphasis on security, devops, contract rollout support, migration support, and revenue work
• Update documentation where required for contract upgrades, migration flows, and any sustainability-related product changes
• Active engagement in the OPs working group’s organisational structuring and strategic initiatives
• Continue governance updates through Propdates and Builder community reporting

Communication and Support

• Provide direct troubleshooting support for DAO members with the service level agreement outlined in the Section Status Updates
• Maintain bi-weekly office hours and monitor Discord to proactively identify and resolve issues, as defined in the section Status Updates of this proposal
• Attend Ops Group and BuilderDAO meetings to stay aligned with operational needs
• Provide technical support for affected DAOs during the Zora network wind down and migration period
• Provide technical input and contingency planning should the Stellar deployment work come through during the renewal period

Technical Development

• Prioritise security improvements, devops, contract update rollout, and migration infrastructure over discretionary feature work
• Continue agile development cycles according to the prioritised backlog for resolving existing and new issues
• Review, test, and provide feedback on community contributions, including contributor work such as Improve user profiles #953, and potentially Improved search experience #952 and rarity display on bidding pages #596
• Reserve reasonable capacity for urgent bugs, technical coordination, and up-time related incidents

North Star Alignment

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.

Accountability

Timeline

The proposed timeline for the extension of the residency is four months, running from July 2026 through October 2026. The residency is scoped at 40% capacity in month one and decreases to 20% for months two to four. Payouts are tied to steady delivery according to monthly milestones.

Deliverables

We continue to follow a community-driven and agile development structure, but the scope of this renewal continues on the 50% capacity from the end of the previous proposal. Given treasury constraints and the current state of the platform, the priority is not broad feature development. Highest priority take technical responses to recent security disclosures (not contract-related), devops improvements, contract rollout support, migration support for the Zora winddown, and remodelling existing features for revenue-generation.

The guaranteed deliverables for the July and October renewal are:

• Improve user authentication (#963), including sign-in-with-ethereum, session validity, simulation access constraints, and review of existing rate limits
• Migrate transaction simulation from Tenderly to Alchemy (#966), including cost review and migration implementation
• Update dao.nouns.build to bring it up to par with the latest Builder developments (#942), ensuring the DAO page is current before related upgrades are handed over to Gnars under their proposal scope
• Complete and support DAO migration tooling for the Zora network winddown, including the L2-to-L2 migration script and self-service UI (PR #964)
• Redeploy and verify testnet environments, ensuring they are linked to the current UI and available for testing contract upgrades, migration flows, and related governance actions

Security, DevOps, and Contract Rollouts

Recent work surfaced areas where the application can be made safer and more operationally robust, especially around user authentication, session handling, transaction simulation, rate limits, and proposal-related flows.

During the renewal, the Tech Pod will also support the rollout of contract updates that are already implemented on a contract level, including updatable proposals, proposal candidates, deterministic deployments, and related frontend support as applicable. However, they still need to be made available on the frontend in a responsible manner, allowing communities to opt in, while educating them on the risks in the upgrade flow to avoid accidental upgrades. This work will be accompanied by dedicated support for any DAOs that want to upgrade, including providing risk assessments, operational upgrade support, and documentation.

Additionally, the testnet contracts connected to the staging environment testnet.nouns.build need to be replaced in an effort to consolidate control over the platform infrastructure under the current technical, community, and operations team of Nouns Builder. This will require some dedicated developer outreach to inform them of the deprecation, as well as refactoring the staging deployment in production.

Zora Network Winddown and Migration Support

The Zora network wind down remains a concern for Builder communities deployed there. A self-service migration script and UI are currently in review, and affected communities will need technical support, documentation, troubleshooting, and confidence that migration paths are understandable and executable. The Tech Pod team is already in contact with the affected communities to support them in the migration.

This renewal reserves capacity to support that transition, including migration UI review, bug fixing, community support, and operational coordination. This work is necessary maintenance for communities already depending on Builder and should take precedence over optional feature work.

Sustainability and Revenue Workstream

Builder DAO needs to reduce reliance on treasury-funded development and move toward a clearer sustainability model. During this renewal, the Tech Pod will support an immediate and practical revenue workstream. The rationale behind this work scope is that when Nouns Builder is used for revenue generation by its DAOs, a modest annual or monthly contribution based on community size seems appropriate. Even data availability providers outside of the Ethereum ecosystem charge a subscription fee for basic services. For example, the Mercury indexer on Stellar charges USD 87 per month just for API access. This work is intended to provide a measured approach to the introduction of fees, while maintaining the sustainability of Builder as free and open source software.

Community Contributions

Through Tech Office Hours, community product sessions, and direct contributor onboarding, the Tech Pod has helped move Builder toward more decentralised contribution. That work still requires technical review, testing, product feedback, and integration support from maintainers who understand the full application and protocol surface.

During this renewal, we will continue to review and give feedback on community contributions, including work such as Improve user profiles #953, and wherever issues lend themselves to scoped community implementation. We will also continue to support milestone work from Gnars or other contributors. This supports decentralisation without leaving the platform without quality control.

Contingency Capacity for Stellar

The Stellar deployment remains a potential opportunity for Builder DAO, but it also creates uncertainty. If it comes through, the DAO will need technical implementation and rollout. If it does not come through, the Tech Pod capacity should optimise for runway length under the current treasury constraints and prioritise revenue generation.

Status Updates

As introduced during the first residency cycle of the proposers, the residents will update the community as follows:

1. In monthly delivery reports given as Propdates to the respective milestone
2. During the bi-weekly DAO-wide community meeting
3. As Tech Pod updates in every Builder Buzz Newsletter
4. In regular, prompt, and structured responses in the community Discord server
   • 48 hour response time on tickets raised
   • Issues raised through tickets are prioritised
5. Documentation and dissemination of outcomes of community product sessions
6. Updated documentation, as done in the past
7. Reports and roadmaps as specified above
8. Availability for questions during weekly office hours and public channels

Treasury Impact

Compensation

In continuation of previous Protocol Technology Lead compensation, we are requesting a monthly retainer of ~12,500 USDC per month at 100% engagement, which is adjusted pro-rata according to the schedule below:

1. Month 1 at 40% (2.75 ETH)
2. Month 2 at 20% (1.37 ETH)
3. Month 3 at 20% (1.37 ETH)
4. Month 4 at 20% (1.37 ETH)

For the entire duration of the 4 months residency total compensation is 8.23 ETH, released monthly according to milestones. The compensation is split between the residents as follows:

• 60% to Resident Protocol Technology Lead
• 40% to Resident Protocol Product Lead

Impact

Only the first two tranches are to be covered from treasury funds, with the remaining funding allocated from funds awarded to Nouns Builder by a third party. Thus, the treasury impact is estimated at The treasury impact of this proposal is estimated to be 44.81%.

Transparency

Disclosure

• Work under this proposal is non-exclusive
• No personal financial interests outside the DAO scope are attached to the execution of this work

Prior Funding

Dan and Ben took over the role of Tech Residents at the end of March 2025 (Prop #42). Their residency was renewed through Prop #45, Prop #54, and Prop #59.

Authors

• Resident Protocol Product Lead: benedictvs.eth
• Resident Protocol Technology Lead: dan13ram.eth

Tax Information

The proposers will provide necessary tax reporting information in accordance with DAO administrative requirements.

About the Authors

benedictvs.eth

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.

dan13ram.eth

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.