Introducing FIL-B: the catalyst for builders on Filecoin
Original source here.
We are FIL-B (FIL Builders), an independent public goods developer experience (DX) team for the Filecoin ecosystem.
We are dedicated to helping builders be successful in building on-chain solutions on Filecoin’s decentralized storage network. Whether you’re here to learn, ideate, experiment or launch, we got you!
Why Filecoin needs a great developer experience more than ever
Filecoin is one of the largest decentralized storage networks and foundational DePin infrastructure layers, with massive potential to offer alternatives to web2 cloud storage providers and revolutionize the web as we know it.
In 2023, Filecoin launched its virtual machine and enabled programmability on the Filecoin blockchain. This kicked off a whole new wave of builders and projects in the Filecoin ecosystem and unlocked new opportunities for Filecoin in DeFi, DePin, decentralized compute and more.
The Filecoin builder community is rapidly growing, which means its developer experience and developer community must evolve for builder success. As Filecoin builders ourselves, we at FIL-B understand how great DX can make all the difference.
Our mission is to be a catalyst for builders to get started and build successfully on Filecoin. Let’s dive into what we do! ⬇
How FIL-B can help builders
1️⃣ Builder resources
Filecoin’s tech stack can be complex, with rich innovation across various projects (e.g. Filecoin Virtual Machine, Interplanetary Consensus, IPFS etc.).
FIL-B aims to provide comprehensive documentation, tutorials and great tooling that devs are familiar with, to make it super easy to start building. We contribute heavily to the Filecoin docs and have started the FIL-Builders repo for user-friendly starter kits, such as the On-chain Payment dApp kit!
We also deliver technical workshops and you can catch us at web3 hackathons such as ETHGlobal, Encode and more 🎉
2️⃣ Technical guidance and the builder feedback loop
FIL-B is here to unblock builders by helping to triage builder issues, provide solutions and/or loop in the right technical experts. As builder projects mature in product vision and technical scope, FIL-B also works with teams in a deeper capacity for solution architecting and dedicated DX.
We work on a public board of identified DX challenges and are actively working with Filecoin development teams to improve them.
As FIL-B engages closely with builders, we take builder feedback seriously and collaborate with Filecoin development teams like FilOz, FilPonto and more, to help shape core technical roadmaps in Filecoin.
3️⃣ Filecoin Ethereum Virtual Machine (FEVM) stewardship
Building on-chain solutions on Filecoin requires interaction with the Filecoin Virtual Machine. FIL-B are stewards for the FEVM to optimize for seamless EVM compatibility. We collaborate closely with Lotus maintainers, ETH RPC providers on Filecoin, 3rd party integrations and more to ensure the seamless dev experience that smart contract devs expect.
For example, we recently shipped an ETH RPC benchmarking tool for builders to monitor activity of ETH RPC methods (blog post coming soon)!
4️⃣ Growing the Filecoin builder community
Building alone isn’t fun. We get that. FIL-B is here to grow the dev community on Filecoin and encourage meaningful connections across builders! Finding your team? Need mentorship? Want to celebrate the cool thing you shipped this week? We aim to build a thriving technical community that supports and inspires each other.
Online, FIL-B interacts with the Filecoin builder community through the @FILBuilders twitter community, highlighting docs, demos, feature updates and builder project spotlights (follow us!). The newly launched Filecoin Discord is also a great place for us to connect with builders 🙂
FIL-B also partners closely with Filecoin Foundation, Polaris and FilOz to design awesome developer programs and events like Fil Dev Summit, Filecoin Orbit, hacker houses, hackathons and more, to create more in-person touchpoints for Filecoin builders to connect.
Who we are
FIL-B has spun out of former Developer Experience teams from Protocol Labs, the R&D lab that launched Filecoin. We were part of Filecoin projects that launched on-chain features, such as Filecoin Virtual Machine and Interplanetary Consensus. We bring deep expertise and community connections with us to FIL-B and are proudly part of the public goods layer of the Protocol Labs Network.
Connect with us if…
We are excited to meet with builders 😃 especially if…
- You’re stuck building on Filecoin and/or have a technical question, we’re here to help!
- You have an existing project and want to bring it on-chain on Filecoin, let’s discuss!
- You lead a dev community and/or are part of one and would like to explore partnerships, let’s chat!
Get in touch!
🐦 @FILBuilders on Twitter
🟣 Filecoin Discord #discussions
🔵 Filecoin Slack #fil-builders
Happy building and see you soon! t’s been very nice to meet you and we can’t wait to see what amazing things you’ll build with Filecoin and FIL-B! See you around!
