Origin Demo DApp

The sharing economy without intermediaries.

NOTE 2018-03-11: We are in the midst of transitioning this demo to use our origin.js library. This work is currently on the develop branch but will soon be merged.

Project Overview

Origin is a sharing economy marketplace that enables buyers and sellers of fractional use goods and services (car-sharing, service-based tasks, home-sharing, etc.) to transact on the distributed, open web. Using the Ethereum blockchain and Interplanetary File System (IPFS), the platform and community are decentralized, allowing for the creation and booking of services and goods without traditional intermediaries.

We are specifically building a large-scale commerce network that:

• Transfers direct financial value (listing, transaction, and service fees) from large corporations like Airbnb, Craigslist, Postmates, etc. to individual buyers and sellers
• Transfers indirect financial and strategic value (privately aggregated silos of customer and transaction data) from those same corporations to the entire ecosystem
• Creates new financial value for marketplace participants that contribute to the growth of the network (e.g. building new technology for the Origin network, bootstrapping new product verticals, and referring new users and businesses)
• Is built on an open, distributed, and shared data layer to promote transparency and collaboration
• Immediately allows buyers and sellers across the world to do business with each other without difficult currency conversions or tariffs
• Promotes personal liberty by not allowing a central corporation or government to impose arbitrary and oftentimes onerous rules on how to do business

To accomplish these ambitious goals, the Origin platform is being launched with incentives from the outset to encourage other technologists, businesses, and consumers to build, contribute, and extend the ecosystem with us. We imagine a broad collection of vertical use cases (e.g short-term vacation rentals, freelance software engineering, tutoring for hire) that are built on top of Origin standards and shared data. Together, we will create the Internet economy of tomorrow.

To learn more about this project, please visit the Origin website and download our whitepaper.

Try Demo Dapp on the Rinkeby testnet

This demo is currently running on the Rinkeby testnet.

• Overview and step-by-step instructions
• Live Demo

Core Technologies

If you're new to the space, it may be helpful to first familiarize yourself with some of the core technologies that we're using to build Origin.

• JSON Schema
• IPFS
• Ethereum

Install and run Demo DApp locally

NOTE: This installs the DApp locally for use with the Rinkeby and Ropsten test nets. See below for developing with a local test chain or for hosting on a server. If you need some Rinkeby eth, you can get some at this faucet.

1. Check node version

Make sure you have node version 8.5.0 or greater

node --version

2. Set up the dapp

In a new tab:

git clone https://github.com/OriginProtocol/demo-dapp origin-demo-dapp && cd origin-demo-dapp
npm install
npm run start

A browser will open to http://localhost:3000. You're not quite done though! You'll need metamask if you don't already have it. See next step.

3. Set up Metamask

• Install Metamask Chrome Browser Extension.

• Follow the instructions to set up your wallet.

• Click where it says "Ethereum Main Network" and select "Rinkeby". This takes us off of the real ETH blockchain and onto the Rinkeby test net.

Be careful not to mix up your test wallet with your real one on the Main Network.

4. Try it!

Create a listing and post it to IPFS and Ethereum.

Developing with a local chain

1. Set up and run origin.js locally

Follow these instructions to setup and run origin.js. Origin.js is needed to run a local blockchain and make it accessible to your dapp.

2. Set up the dapp

In a separate tab:

git clone https://github.com/OriginProtocol/demo-dapp origin-demo-dapp && cd origin-demo-dapp
npm run install:dev
npm run start

The install:dev script performs the regular install and then links to your local origin.js.

3. Connect to your local blockchain in Metamask

• Install Metamask Chrome Browser Extension.

• Click the Metamask icon in the toolbar, accept terms, and then click Import Existing DEN

• Enter the seed phrase (Mnemonic):

candy maple cake sugar pudding cream honey rich smooth crumble sweet treat

This is the default seed phrase for truffle development.

• Click where it says "Ethereum Main Network", select "Custom RPC" and enter http://localhost:9545/. Click the back arrow to return to your account.

Be careful not to mix up your test wallet with your real one on the Main Network.

• You should see your first test account now has 100 ETH. (Address of 0x627306090abaB3A6e1400e9345bC60c78a8BEf57) Additional generated accounts will also have this amount.

Hosting on a server

If you want to host the demo dapp on web server such as EC2 you will need to configure things differently. Browsers can not connect to a test chain on the EC2 server, so you will need to connect to our existing contracts on the test networks or deploy your own.

To use the contracts deployed by Origin, modify the file build/contracts/Listing.json and add lines to the networks entry so it begins like this:

  "networks": {
    "3": {
      "events": {},
      "links": {},
      "address": "0xe66c9c6168d14be4c3c145f91890740cbdf9ec8b"
    },
    "4": {
      "events": {},
      "links": {},
      "address": "0x94de52186b535cb06ca31deb1fbd4541a824ac6d"
    },
    <...Possibly other networks for local test chains>

(Ropsten test network is id 3, and Rinkeby test netork is id 4)

Get involved

We'd love to have you join us on this project. We're still in the super early stages, but join our Discord channel or email us to get started.