Proposal: DamlHat — Unified Canton Developer Toolchain & Local Devnet

Proposal File

proposals/damlhat.md

Summary

DamlHat is a Hardhat/Foundry-inspired developer toolchain for the Canton Network. A single CLI scaffolds Daml projects, spins up a full multi-node local devnet in Docker, generates typed client SDKs for TypeScript and Python, and ships a transaction trace viewer for debugging. It directly targets the #1 pain point from the 2026 Canton Developer Experience Survey — infrastructure complexity (41% of respondents) — and the most-requested missing tool: a unified CLI framework.

Submission Requirements Checklist

• [x] Proposal documentation placed in /proposals/
• [x] Clear definition of project phases and corresponding budgets
• [x] Measurable criteria for successful completion
• [x] Documentation of how the initiative supports Canton's strategic direction

Notes for Reviewers

• Scoped around the application developer inner loop (scaffold → local devnet → typed SDK → trace → deploy). It is intentionally complementary to operator-focused tooling such as cantonctl and does not overlap.
• Total request: 150,000 USD equivalent in Canton Coin, milestone-based across ~22 weeks.
• All code will be developed in the open from day one (Apache 2.0), with weekly progress updates on the forum.
• Maintenance commitment: 12 months of Canton version compatibility updates and bug fixes post-v1.0 at no additional cost.
• Contact: riccardo.ravaro@datatamer.ai