Open Grant Proposal: IndieNode - Decentralized E-Commerce Storage on Filecoin

[MrTeacher-tech]

Open Grant Proposal: IndieNode - Decentralized E-Commerce Storage on Filecoin

Project Name: IndieNode

Proposal Category: Storage, Integrations

Individual or Entity Name: Individual - Andrew Verrilli

Proposer: MrTeacher-tech

Project Repo(s): private as of now but you can see a demo of the Dapp at https://www.indienode.net/get-started

Do you agree to open source all work you do on behalf of this RFP under the MIT/Apache-2 dual-license?: Yes

Project Summary

IndieNode is a decentralized e-commerce marketplace that enables users to create and host online shops using IPFS. However, using just IPFS presents problems for users needing long-term, verifiable storage. Currently, sellers using IPFS risk data loss due to the lack of incentives for others to store their shop data. My hope is that by integrating Filecoin, IndieNode ensures persistent and incentivized storage for shop metadata, images, and listings.

IndieNode is already an automated data onboarding tool for sellers, it downloads and installs IPFS, runs a node and pins data, allowing users to easily store their shop data without needing any technical skills. We hope to create the same level of abstraction for Filecoin. Not only would this create more Filecoin nodes, but it would provide another incentive for users to switch from traditional web hosting to hosting their online shops with IndieNode.

IndieNode is trying to address a major pain point in decentralized marketplaces: ensuring persistent and verifiable data storage. Without economic incentives, IPFS-only marketplaces suffer from data loss when shop owners (who are not technical) accidently turn off their computers, fail to pin their data, or in most cases, when they do not incentive other nodes to host their data. Filecoin solves this by introducing an incentivized storage model, making decentralized commerce sustainable.

This project benefits the Filecoin ecosystem by driving real-world adoption, expanding the use case for scalable storage markets, and showcasing Filecoin’s viability as a backbone for decentralized commerce. Without a solution like IndieNode, Web3 marketplaces may struggle to compete with centralized alternatives due to unreliable data persistence.

Outcomes

• Automated Filecoin onboarding tool for shop owners.
• User-friendly UI to manage storage deals without direct interaction with Filecoin smart contracts.
• IndieNode marketplace integration, ensuring all shop metadata is stored persistently.
• Retrieval optimization, allowing fast and reliable shop data access.
• Fully open-source repository with a clear documentation roadmap.

Adoption, Reach, and Growth Strategies

The target audience includes the traditional web3 demographic: Web3 entrepreneurs, digital creators, and decentralized commerce adopters. However, what we really aim to do is get non-technical people using web3. Our initial engagement strategy includes:

• Early adoption from IPFS-based shops transitioning to Filecoin for better storage guarantees. (this is the non-technical crowd)
• Web3 communities and DAOs incentivized to use decentralized commerce tools.
• Developer outreach through hackathons, blog posts, and integration guides. (Once our Filecoin integration is complete and open source, we would love for other Dapps to start using Filecoin as the backbone of their storage systems)

Development Roadmap

Milestone 1: Filecoin Storage Integration (Month 1)

• Develop a simple Filecoin node manager in GOLang with an API. This is what will eventually become open source and shared.
• Implement automatic storage deal management via Estuary or Filecoin storage providers.
• Deliverables: GOLang file, API documentation, working MVP, testnet deployment.
• Funding: $15,000

Milestone 2: Shop Management UI & Smart Contract Integration (Month 2)

• Integrate Filecoin node manager into the current IndieNode Dapp to let shop owners track, renew, and manage Filecoin storage deals.
• Implement basic smart contract logic for tracking shop storage commitments.
• Deliverables: Frontend UI, smart contract repo, demo video.
• Funding: $20,000

Milestone 3: Retrieval Optimization & Scaling (Month 3)

• Optimize shop data retrieval via CDN-like caching Lotus retrieval markets, or a decentralized indexing mechanism, to ensure faster access to shop metadata and product images.
• Implement retrieval provider incentives to encourage efficient serving of stored shop data.
• Expand IndieNode’s marketplace integration to ensure Filecoin-backed storage is default.
• Deliverables: Fully functional marketplace integration, benchmarking reports.
• Funding: $15,000

Total Budget Requested

Milestone #	Description	Deliverables	Completion Date	Funding
1	Filecoin Storage Integration	API, MVP, testnet deployment	Month 1	$15,000
2	Shop Management UI & Smart Contract Integration	UI, Smart Contracts, Demo	Month 2	$20,000
3	Retrieval Optimization & Scaling	Full integration, benchmarks	Month 3	$15,000
Total	-	-	-	$50,000

Maintenance and Upgrade Plans

• Ongoing monitoring of Filecoin storage deals and retrieval efficiency.
• Community contributions via open-source development.
• Potential future monetization by offering storage deal automation as a service.

Team

Team Members

• Andrew Verrilli – Founder, Developer, & Web3 Architect

Team Member LinkedIn Profiles

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-verrilli/

Team Website

• https://www.indienode.net/

Relevant Experience

Andrew Verrilli is an experienced software developer and educator with deep knowledge of Web3, decentralized storage, and e-commerce solutions. He is the sole developer of IndieNode, a decentralized e-commerce platform.

Team code repositories

• https://github.com/MrTeacher-tech

Additional Information

• How did you learn about the Open Grants Program? Filecoin ecosystem research.
• Best email for discussing the grant? [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
• Additional Notes: This project is aligned with Filecoin’s long-term goal of expanding decentralized storage solutions beyond traditional use cases leading to wider adoption of Filecoin.