Overview
Analog Watch is a full-stack indexing and query protocol. Analog Watch makes Web3 data instantly and securely accessible over a GraphQL endpoint, allowing you to build and ship DApps faster. It includes two toolkits: Watch SDK and a hosted service Watch Portal.
Analog Watch will initially operate as a centralized service. However, our long-term goal is to decentralize Web3 data, ensuring it is accessible and trustworthy for all. We plan to achieve this by leveraging the Timechain to create cryptographic proofs (Watch Proofs) that independently verify the authenticity of retrieved data.
Why Analog Watch?
Blockchain data has notable vital features. First, it is ever-growing, and no record can be erased. Second, even though most blockchain data is immutable, the latest blocks can change due to conflicts arising from block finality, chain reorganizations, and uncle'd blocks that need to be resolved.
Long story short, think of blockchain data as consisting of an immutable cold tail (finalized blocks) and a rarely changing head state. The problem that the Analog Watch is solving is that while blockchain networks are great for creating Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) data, they are less efficient when it comes to slicing and dicing it over many axes.
Typically, most smart contracts would only allow you to retrieve data using a related unique identifier. You must know the unique identifier beforehand to query specific details about the smart contract (e.g., a list of operations that have affected an account). Alternatively, you could perform sequential access, traversing every block until you find the specific data element.
To build increasingly complex DApps, you need a reliable Web3 data infrastructure and tooling to process and query blockchain data faster. For example, with the Analog Watch, you can now abstract most of the Web3 data accessibility challenges via a few lines of code and achieve high-level functionalities like deploying Views and querying Views.
Discover the benefits of Analog Watch by exploring Core Features.
To start with Analog Watch, you can utilize the Watch Portal, our hosted service, or opt for a comprehensive SDK (i.e., Watch SDK). Both solutions ensure the indexed data is easily accessible through a unified GraphQL endpoint, offering the flexibility and power to build DApps.
Watch Portal
The Watch Portal is a hosted service that leverages the Watch SDK to let you publish and explore smart contracts and Views. It uses pre-built Watch SDK components and drag-and-drop interfaces to allow you to do what you want to do best - build. You can use the Watch Portal to:
- Generate API keys to interact with Watch SDK.
- Deploy and explore the Views.
- Listing and exploring smart contracts.
Watch SDK
The Watch SDK is a powerful and feature-rich JavaScript toolkit that streamlines the deployment and retrieval of blockchain data. The SDK lets you abstract numerous challenges that many developers constantly face when querying Web3 data by simplifying operations, such as: