On-chain Data Analytic Infrastructure for the EVM Pallet

Astar Initiatives dApp staking applications
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Hi everyone, we are Protofire.

We recently deployed an on-chain data analytic infrastructure for the EVM pallet on the Astar network. It’s called Astar Subgraph Hosted Service.

This project brings The Graph protocol services, the #1 open-source data indexing standard for all three Astar Networks: Astar, Shibuya & Shiden.

Motivation

To onboard developers, networks must provide developers with essential building blocks. We call them a “Minimum Viable Infrastructure.” Without offering essential services, the unique capabilities of Astar are not fully available to consume. The Graph is one of these essential blocks!

The goal of this project is to:

  • Provide a secure, timely & accurate on-chain data service to the network users & Dapps.
  • Have a scalable platform in a fast-growing ecosystem.
  • Rely on a robust decentralized infrastructure and simultaneously access high-availability data service.
  • Implement an infrastructure in the cloud based on the best practices.

About Protofire

ProtoFire helps decentralized protocols and developer platforms accelerate the growth of their ecosystems. By delivering hands-on coding and contributions, Protofire specializes in supercharging developer adoption and network usage.

We are an active member of The Graph ecosystem, the second-largest indexer on the public network. We also expand The Graph infrastructure where is unavailable or special requirements or dedicated support are needed.

About The Graph

The Graph is a decentralized protocol for indexing and querying blockchain data. The Graph makes it possible to query data that is hard to query directly.

Projects with complex smart contracts store data in such a way making it difficult to read anything other than basic data directly from the blockchain.

The Graph solves this with a decentralized protocol that indexes and enables the performant and efficient querying of blockchain data. These APIs (indexed “subgraphs”) can then be queried with a standard GraphQL API.

Developers build subgraphs and publish them to The Graph infrastructure. Then, they query live subgraphs with GraphQL to power their applications.

Project

During two months Protofire’s DevOps team worked hard to implement a thegraph cluster to index and query EVM-pallet from all three Astar networks.

To have a scalable, automated & flexible infrastructure we used Kubernetes to run the service, Terraform to automate all services and deployments, and GitHub to automate all your software workflows with world-class CI/CD.

Now we are providing the maintenance to keep these services running. This service includes the following activities:

  • Support regarding any incident related to The Graph Cluster.
  • Specific infrastructure tasks required by Astar.
  • Upgrades for any application running in the cluster like Datadog, Index and queries nodes, etc.
  • Infrastructure advisory service & updates about the infrastructure ecosystem.

With this infrastructure, the Astar community will be able to deploy subgraphs for their smart contracts and provide query services to their applications.

Screenshot 2023-08-30 at 09.36.25
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Here is the landing page to perform these actions: https://sub.graph.astar.network/

To learn more about subgraphs you can come to the TheGraph Academy or read this tutorial.

You can also reach us by email at contact@protofire.io

Being a part of the dApp Staking program would be an honor and the rewards will be a great mechanism to incentivize our node members to keep committed in order to proactively improve Astar’s ecosystem.

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Hi,

It’s great to see your motivation and interest in our ecosystem and I am looking forward to use your product but I have some question?

  1. What is the difference (pro/cons) between Subquery and Subsquid and Astar Subgraph Hosted Service?
  2. Do you plan to index substrate call/events and the contracts-pallet ?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

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It’s great to see the effort Protofire has put into implementing the Astar Subgraph Hosted Service 2 and integrating The Graph protocol for all three Networks. Got two questions:

  1. Could you provide more details on the specific features and capabilities of the Astar Subgraph Hosted Service 2, and how it enhances the user experience for both developers and Dapps within the Astar ecosystem?
  2. How does Protofire plan to collaborate with the Astar community and developers to ensure that the services and infrastructure you’re providing continue to evolve and meet the changing needs of the ecosystem over time?

Thank you.

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Yeah, I just want to ask the same question. What’s the different with Subquery since they supporting EVM Pallet too

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Join Astar dApp Staking
  • Yes
  • No
0 voters
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It will be great if you can provide more details about your project comparing with Subquery especially pros and cons? Thanks :pray::pray::pray:

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Astar needs more dApps on the ecosystem. However, the quality of the dApps that’s deployed on the network determine the success of Astar.

Could you please, highlight your team, the solution you’re providing, how it wil benefit and add value to Astar?

Thanks.

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Thanks for the interest in dApp staking and yes, the on-chain data analytic would be interesting, I have similar questions with GuiGou and Matt and others, I would like to know some more details about the importance of your project to Astar, how the normal user can benefit from your project, and any applications or work you have already done with the Astar community?
Thank you!

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Voted no to didnt answer any Question

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@DiegoTowers

It has been 7 days since you made this post and you have not attended to any of the questions from the community.

This is such a shame. I am not sure about how serious you are, but if you are not, please don’t waste our time.

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Hi GuiGou, thanks for the feedback!

We haven’t made a detailed case comparing Subquery, Subsquid & the graph. The three of them are great pieces of technology. I would say that the main difference is that the graph is a decentralized protocol, with tokenomics that incentivizes different actors (curators, delegators, indexers, and others) rather than only a technology stack! We see the Astar network integrated with the public network in the future. The hosted service is only the first step on a long way to go!
Regarding the second point, Yes we plan to index also the contract pallet! This is a phase 2 activity.

Thanks again for the comment!

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Hi Matt, thanks for these great questions.

  1. The main capability is to be able to deploy an on-chain data analytic service without the hassle of deploying your own infrastructure! This is key for most project providing that reduces the barrier of entry, reduces cost & time, and complexities. With this infrastructure, you will be able to query the subgraph and feed your Dapp Analytics from a single endpoint!
  2. Protofire is the second-largest the graph indexer, so we are on top of every upgrade! We usually test most of the new things the graph deploys! This hosted service implementation is only the first step of a long road map!

Thanks!!

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Hi souleater!

From a technical standpoint, even though they are both great tech, there are many differences. But we think that what matters is the outcome. Both provide a great query service that is secure, scalable, timely & accurate. And both are pretty easy to use either as a developer or data analyst!!

Thanks for the question!

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Hi Cmalize, yes of course!!

Protofire is a company with a long track record in web3! We are OGs in the most well-known projects like Maker, That Graph, and Gnosis, among others. Last year we started expanding our services to other networks, Polkadot is one of them. Since then we have created a team focused on Polkadot with Rust developers & DevOps! We went through the Blockchain Academy and developed a Dapps like contract wizard, and now we are working also in a wasm multi-sig!

This service (the hosted service) has proven to be very effective in easing the development of Dapp to the extent of becoming a must-have to drive serious adoption! The graph is a very demanded protocol so they don’t have enough bandwidth to add every network in a reasonable timeline! Here we come with this service that speeds up the access to the graph technology to networks like Astar!

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Hi DrCAO, I have just replied to them! if you have further questions please let me know!!

:grinning:

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Hi moonme, sorry for that! :melting_face:

I have just replied to every question!

Let me know if there is anything else!

Diego

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Hi BoomBLB. we don’t have such a comparison.

What I can tell you is that the three of them are world-class products!

I will talk with the team to make a basic table of comparison!

Thanks!!

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Thanks for turning up.

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Hi Astar Community!

We’re thrilled to announce that The Graph Hosted Service is up and running! :rocket:

Our team is here and ready to answer any questions you may have. Feel free to reach out anytime.

We’re eagerly looking forward to receiving your support for Astar!

Best regards,

Diego

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