Cracking the Midnight Code: Simplifying Wallets & Supercharging ZK Development

#devchallenge #midnightchallenge #web3 #blockchain

Midnight Network Challenge: Enhance the Ecosystem

This is a submission for the Midnight Network "Privacy First" Challenge - Enhance the Ecosystem prompt

What I Built

I built the Midnight DevX Dashboard, an open-source developer productivity suite designed to make it easier and faster for developers to build on the Midnight blockchain.

It combines:

A React + Tailwind dashboard with a block explorer, wallet connector, and ZK playground.
A Node.js CLI tool (midnight-cli) for scaffolding, deploying, and testing dApps.
Comprehensive documentation with tutorials and code snippets. Example starter projects (e.g., ZK Hello World, ZK Voting dApp).

This all-in-one toolkit solves the problem of fragmented developer workflows by providing everything in one place, boosting adoption and productivity for builders on Midnight.

Demo

Midnight Devx Github repo

Live Demo 🌐

How I Used Midnight's Technology

Integrated the Midnight SDK to connect the dashboard and CLI with the network.
Used Midnight’s zero-knowledge primitives in the Playground editor to allow developers to write and test ZK circuits directly in the browser.
Leveraged wallet APIs to enable a Connect Wallet feature for dApps.

Developer Experience Improvements

One-stop developer hub → explorer, wallet, playground, and docs in a single UI.
Fast onboarding → midnight init my-dapp scaffolds a project in seconds.
Better debugging → Block Explorer Lite provides readable transaction and proof data.
Learning by doing → Example ZK projects and tutorials included.

This dramatically reduces friction and makes building on Midnight as smooth as building on mainstream blockchain platforms.

Set Up Instructions / Tutorial

Prerequisites:

Node.js 20+
pnpm (recommended)
Install and run:

pnpm install
pnpm dev
Open http://localhost:8080

Useful scripts:

pnpm build # Build client and server
pnpm start # Run built server
pnpm typecheck # TS check
pnpm test # Vitest
pnpm midnight # Run CLI (see below)
Environment variables (optional):

VITE_MIDNIGHT_RPC – future real RPC endpoint if you switch Explorer/Wallet to live chain calls.
CLI: midnight
pnpm midnight init my-dapp # scaffold a starter dApp (vite react template)
pnpm midnight deploy # demo deploy (placeholder)
pnpm midnight test # demo unit tests (placeholder)