Pop CLI: An All-in-one Tool for Polkadot Development
Beneficiary:Pop CLI was initiated in late 2023 by R0GUE, a team of ex-Parity engineers deeply experienced with the Polkadot ecosystem. Recognizing the complexity and fragmentation faced by developers, the team identified a critical need for an all in one tool for Polkadot Development. In mid-2024, Pop CLI received a Decentralized Futures grant from the Web3 Foundation, evolving into a production-grade tool with strong ecosystem adoption (read the full story).
“Collaborating with the R0GUE team was highly positive—the robust documentation, user-friendly Pop CLI, and excellent support to deploying teams were consistently impressive.” — Web3 Foundation
The Pop CLI supports the full development lifecycle for both Polkadot chains and smart contracts. It features secure transaction signing, integration and partnership with the Polkadot Deployment Portal (PDP), integration with OpenZeppelin and includes advanced features for testing, benchmarking and much more. More recently it has been recognised in Polkadot's documentation.
This proposal seeks funding to further enhance Pop CLI's functionality, usability, and infrastructure. Specifically, funding will support local network bootstrapping with live state, full-stack starter kits and OmniNode integration, state query functionality, AI integration, contract verification, continuous maintenance and UX improvements, and focused developer education, distribution and community collaboration.
You can review all the details of the proposal in the following Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jdfnwWAW4EIBu2UFiXmFry1NXTu3QO20lkjjVpF_4q4
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Change Log
Section: AI integration
Date: 30-06-25
In response to feedback from 0xTaylor (at KusDAO), we’ve made updates to clarify and strengthen our approach to AI integration in the Pop CLI. While our original proposal emphasised a single-prompt interface, we agree that this alone doesn’t reflect how developers actually want to work. We had already been exploring more flexible options, including conversational interaction and the use of an MCP server. These changes clarify our intent to support both modes of interaction and to lay the foundation for more powerful, agentic AI workflows.
IMPORTANT: Nothing has changed in terms of the total amount of time needed and thus the costs.
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Go R0GUE
Comments (18)
Proposal Passed
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of 3Summary
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Aye (83)0.0 PAS
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Nay (16)0.0 PAS
Comments (18)
Thanks to the R0GUE team for putting together such a comprehensive and visionary proposal. Pop CLI is clearly a critical tool for onboarding and empowering developers in the Polkadot ecosystem. Here are some friendly suggestions that might help strengthen the proposal and boost community confidence:
1. More Detailed Deliverables per Module
Items like AI Integration and Omninode sound very promising, but it would be even more convincing if there were concrete examples or visual references included. For instance, what exactly does Omninode entail? Is it just CLI flag consolidation or does it include runtime interactions as well?
2. Clearer Exit or Sustainability Plan
Six months of maintenance is a great start, but if Pop CLI aims to become a standard tool, it would be helpful to outline plans for long-term maintenance, such as involving the community or onboarding external contributors. This can build more trust for voters and stakeholders.
3. Open Feedback Loop
Since this tool will be widely used by developers globally, consider incorporating regular community calls, RFCs, or light polls to gather developer feedback throughout the development process. This can ensure the tool evolves in line with user needs.
4. Consider Modular or Milestone-Based Funding
Although the $578k budget seems reasonable for the scope and experience of the R0GUE team, splitting the funding into phases (e.g., two 3-month tranches) could provide milestone checkpoints. This approach can increase voter comfort and build trust over time.
5. Broader Ecosystem Collaboration Opportunities
The proposal touches on exciting future initiatives like Pop Platform, Polkadot Cloud, and JAM. In future phases, R0GUE might explore partnerships with education and onboarding programs such as the Polkadot Blockchain Academy or DevX to maximize ecosystem synergy.
Overall, this is a very promising proposal with a clear focus on improving developer experience and tooling for Polkadot. With a few tweaks around structure and communication, this could become one of the most impactful projects this year.
The Rogue team in our opinion are a key member of the Polkadot Ecosystem. Their Pop CLI helps new builders play around and explore with the technology but also offers those who are a bit more advanced options to quickly launch secure roll ups. They have always been very supportive to the Xcavate project including recent debugging support for our oz template.
Thanks to the R0GUE team for putting together such a comprehensive and visionary proposal. Pop CLI is clearly a critical tool for onboarding and empowering developers in the Polkadot ecosystem. Here are some friendly suggestions that might help strengthen the proposal and boost community confidence:
1. More Detailed Deliverables per Module
Items like AI Integration and Omninode sound very promising, but it would be even more convincing if there were concrete examples or visual references included. For instance, what exactly does Omninode entail? Is it just CLI flag consolidation or does it include runtime interactions as well?
2. Clearer Exit or Sustainability Plan
Six months of maintenance is a great start, but if Pop CLI aims to become a standard tool, it would be helpful to outline plans for long-term maintenance, such as involving the community or onboarding external contributors. This can build more trust for voters and stakeholders.
3. Open Feedback Loop
Since this tool will be widely used by developers globally, consider incorporating regular community calls, RFCs, or light polls to gather developer feedback throughout the development process. This can ensure the tool evolves in line with user needs.
4. Consider Modular or Milestone-Based Funding
Although the $578k budget seems reasonable for the scope and experience of the R0GUE team, splitting the funding into phases (e.g., two 3-month tranches) could provide milestone checkpoints. This approach can increase voter comfort and build trust over time.
5. Broader Ecosystem Collaboration Opportunities
The proposal touches on exciting future initiatives like Pop Platform, Polkadot Cloud, and JAM. In future phases, R0GUE might explore partnerships with education and onboarding programs such as the Polkadot Blockchain Academy or DevX to maximize ecosystem synergy.
Overall, this is a very promising proposal with a clear focus on improving developer experience and tooling for Polkadot. With a few tweaks around structure and communication, this could become one of the most impactful projects this year.
The Rogue team in our opinion are a key member of the Polkadot Ecosystem. Their Pop CLI helps new builders play around and explore with the technology but also offers those who are a bit more advanced options to quickly launch secure roll ups. They have always been very supportive to the Xcavate project including recent debugging support for our oz template.