devrel.md

Switchboard DevRel Take-Home (Solana)

Assignment 1 — Docs Review (Switchboard)

Review docs.switchboard.xyz and the Switchboard Examples repository.

Prompt

• Which sections lack clarity, feel incomplete, or are out of order?
• Propose 3 concrete improvements (titles, placement, code, diagrams, examples).
• For each, explain why it helps adoption and where it should live in the nav.

Deliverable

• docs-review.md (≤ 2 pages)

---

Assignment 2 — Oracle Use-Case Exploration

You’re building an on-chain app on Solana that uses an oracle.

Prompt

• Why choose Switchboard vs alternatives (technical + ops tradeoffs)?
• Which app types would you prioritize and why (price feeds, custom jobs, verifiable randomness, sports/weather, etc.)?
• Which dev resources/tools should Switchboard add or improve (SDKs, templates, dashboards, CLI flows)?

Deliverable

• use-cases.md (≤ 2 pages)

---

Assignment 3 — Build on Solana (Program + UI + Switchboard)

What to Build (choose one track)

A. Consume an existing price feed

• On devnet, read a Switchboard feed (e.g., SOL/USD). See https://explorer.switchboardlabs.xyz/
• Anchor program exposes record_price(aggregator_pubkey) that:
  • Verifies the price feed,
  • Reads latest result + slot,
  • Stores it in your program state (PDA) with the signer’s pubkey and block time.

B. Create & consume your own feed

• Use Switchboard to create a custom feed (e.g., HTTP price or off-chain metric),
• Same on-chain consume path as (A).

---

Required Features

1. Solana Program (Anchor)

   • initialize(...) to set config (e.g., authority, aggregator).
   • record_price(...) verifies the Switchboard account (no spoofing) and persists:
     • value (i128 or fixed-point),
     • caller pubkey.
   • Unit test reading a mock or devnet aggregator and asserting parse & storage.

2. Devnet Deployment

   • Deploy to devnet. Provide Program ID and an example tx that calls record_price.
   • Include Anchor.toml and IDL in target/idl committed.

3. UI (minimal, but real)

   • React/Next.js (or Svelte) single page:
     • Connect wallet (Phantom/Solana Wallet Standard).
     • Display live aggregator value (pulled from chain account or RPC) and last stored value from your program state (PDA).
     • Button “Record price” → sends record_price to your program; show resulting tx signature and toast success/error.
     • Show confidence interval and timestamp (humanized).
   • Nice-to-have: small chart of last N stored values from your PDA.

4. Switchboard Usage (required)

   • Program must verify the Switchboard account layout/signature fields you rely on (no blind reads).
   • Explain in README how you validated aggregator data (checking owner, discriminator/layout, permission gates, staleness threshold).

5. Repo & Ops

   • Monorepo or two folders is fine:

     /programs/price-recorder      # Anchor program
     /app                          # UI (Next.js)
     /scripts                      # local helpers (keypair, seed, tx)
     README.md
     

   • Provide .env.example for UI + scripts (RPC, program id, aggregator pubkey).
   • Add scripts:
     • anchor test (program unit/integration tests)
     • pnpm dev (or npm run dev) for UI
     • ts-node scripts/record.ts to invoke the ix from CLI
   • Include screenshots or a short screen-cap of the UI recording a price and showing the tx link.

---

Acceptance Criteria (we will verify)

• Program is deployed on devnet;
• At least one tx on devnet calling record_price with a valid aggregator; link provided.
• UI builds & runs, can connect a wallet, shows an aggregator’s latest value, and can send a tx to your program.
• Switchboard account checks are present (owner/program id check, data layout/discriminator checks, staleness/slot bounds, optional confidence threshold).
• README has exact steps to:
  • create/set feed (or choose an existing one),
  • build/deploy program to devnet,
  • run UI, invoke instruction,
  • verify state via solana account <pda> or a helper script.

---

Submission Requirements

• Public GitHub repo link containing all code, IDL, and README.
• Program ID (devnet) and at least one tx signature invoking record_price.
• Short demo (GIF/video or screenshots).
• Optional: Deployed UI URL (Vercel/Netlify) pointing to devnet.

---

Evaluation Rubric (100 pts)

Category	Points	Description
Docs Review Quality	15	Clear, actionable improvements with rationale.
Use-Case Depth	15	Realistic tradeoffs; specific Switchboard advantages.
On-Chain Correctness	30	Proper aggregator verification, data parsing, checks, clean state model, tests pass.
UI/UX	20	Wallet flow works, values render correctly, tx feedback is clear.
DevEx & README	10	One-shot setup, scripts, .env.example, troubleshooting notes.
Code Quality	10	Structure, types, error handling, small, focused modules.

---

Suggested Stack (non-binding)

• Program: Anchor (Rust), SPL types, deterministic PDAs, fixed-point via i128 or Decimal.
• UI: Next.js + Wallet Standard adapter, @solana/web3.js, small chart (e.g., Recharts).
• Tooling: pnpm