💸 Get up to $5k to build tooling for Solana Devs

Apply to the Glass Surfer Grants Program if you’re building cool stuff that is required and useful for other Solana Devs and Projects! The program focusses on projects which make it easy to build on Solana, easier to add functionality, easier to integrate features, education, etc.

Even though the primary focus of the grants is to fund dev-tools and big contributions to open source projects, we may also support the best of educational content that is aligned with the goals of the Grant program. Anyone with an idea or proof of work is welcome to apply and receive funding decision for a $1 - $5,000 grant.

🎯 Areas of focus:

• Infrastructure Tooling: Build tools that enable developers to interact with, and deploy to Solana mainnet faster. There are many existing tools we love which enable this including but not limited to Helius, Triton, Shadow Cloud, Ironforge, Quicknode, Alchemy, Thirdweb, but there is always scope to do more with:
  • Solana Indexing and Querying
  • Geyser as a Service (High-throughput data streaming)
  • Reliable RPCs and Archival data-lake
  • Webhooks & triggering actions based on on-chain events
  • Enhanced APIs: Build APIs that enable application developers to access and query key data and services on Solana ecosystems for NFTs (activity tracking, collection details, volume analysis, etc.), DeFi, Solana Name Service lookups, and other Analytics APIs like Flipside, Solscan, and SolanaFM.
• Application enablement tools: Building tools that enable and make it easy for developers to plug and play key features into their applications. Examples include, messaging (Dialect, Notifi) oracles & data feeds (Pyth), storage (Arweave), key management, DeFi (OpenBook), NFT workflows (Metaplex), and Automations (Clockwork). Creating micro-services like this that can help projects across the ecosystem add features easily can be highly valuable!
• Composability and Interoperability: Create solutions and protocols which enable developers to leverage SVM’s high speed and low cost while tapping other ecosystems. Application Rollups as a service, tools that make it easy to use Wormhole & bring in cross-chain functionality & messaging, etc.
• Inclusivity & Ease of Development: Make coding in Solana more inclusive and easier for developers around the world, those in ecosystems beyond Solana and of knowledge of languages apart from Rust.
  • Enable developers to deploy & code on Solana in other languages. e.g. Typescript, Python, etc.
  • Contribute to and build frameworks like Anchor or build extensions around them which make it easier to use Anchor.
  • Write standards and primitives for DeFi & NFTs, like how Solana Pay is for payments and Solana Games Kit is for games.
  • Create IDE, Guides, Testing, and Education platforms like soldev.
• Enterprise-friendly solutions: Build an aggregator of existing APIs or business blockchain platforms tailored for institutions or enterprises. The goal should be to enable faster and seamless integration of Solana dApps into Web2 Apps/platforms, enabling faster distribution of Solana products.

You can read more about the Solana Foundation Grants Program here, with some specific RFPs available here as well.

⚙️ How It Works:

1. Submit the application form (5 minutes).
2. The committee will do their best to respond within ~72 hours.
3. If approved, you'll receive an email notification for onboarding and further steps, and 25% of your requested funding in your SOL wallet will soon follow in our next payout.
4. Update the community once a week on your progress.
5. As you achieve your self-described milestones, receive the rest of your funding.
6. Submit finished work for feedback, review, and distribution.

🤝 Guidelines

1. Be Concise: Being clear and concise is always helpful.
2. Build what the ecosystem needs: Besides our Grant Proposals, we often see people on Twitter (and elsewhere) saying things like "Solana needs X" or "Solana would be better if it had Y". Use this information!
3. Open Source: Being clear and concise is always helpful. What makes decentralized applications so powerful is that it’s built on the premise of being open and composable. Therefore, this grant support teams that intend to open source soon after deploying on Solana’s Mainnet Beta.

❓Frequently asked questions

• Who is eligible to apply for an Instagrant?
  • Anyone!
• How fast is "Instant"?
  • Grant requests are typically approved in 72 hours or less.
• What criteria will the panelists use to evaluate grants?
  • We prefer projects that 1) yield results quickly and 2) are executable by the Proposing team.
• What conditions apply?
  • The only condition is that you keep the community updated on a regular basis as your project progresses.
• What is the philosophy behind the Instagrants program
  • Proof of Work > Credentials. Anyone is welcome to apply for Instagrants, given they have enough Proof of Work to make the review committee believe the work will get done.
  • Speed > Perfection. We want to give grants rapidly. Not perfectly. We trust people to get work done.
  • Believers > Consensus. As long as a minimum quorum of the reviewing committee believes it's a good use of funds, we will fund it.
• Will I receive feedback on my proposal if it is rejected?
  • Unfortunately, our sponsors do not have the ability to provide individualized feedback at this time.

🚁 Have a question that isn't answered here? Write to us at support@superteam.fun.