Ever since the results of the Cardano 2024 developer survey went live, it has been evident that most developers face a steep learning curve when they first start building on Cardano. Among the top-expressed desired tools was a more capable transaction builder that could interact with smart contracts at the Plutus blueprint level, evaluate transactions, chain them, and more. Rapidly maturing into the network that powers the Web3 internet, the Cardano developer experience needs to be smooth for newbies and existing builders alike.
To address the difficulty in interpreting and debugging concise binary object representation, a standard data structure that uses a complex binary format in the Cardano blockchain, Cardano built Cquisitor to inspect and analyze CBOR-encoded transactions and scripts. In this article, we will look into the migration of Cquisitor to MeshJS, a more mature developer toolkit, the steps involved, and what this means for the Cardano ecosystem.
Blockchain Transaction Investigations with Mesh
How does Cquisitor accelerate development?
As a rich web application built with Rust and JavaScript, Cquisitor is a developer-friendly tool for inputting CBOR data, decoding it into a human-readable format, and analyzing and debugging transactions and scripts on Cardano. The tool is also available for local development and can be accessed through installation on the command line. Whether you’re working on either layer-1 or layer-2 applications, Cquisitior effortlessly validates your transaction inputs, eliminating the need for manual checks. It provides a clear visualization of your transactions in a visually appealing format that is intuitive to identify errors and bottlenecks.
What is MeshJS?
Building a Web3 application has never been this easy. — MeshJS.
As an open-source, MeshJS is a TypeScript library for building decentralized applications (dApps) on the Cardano blockchain. It offers a comprehensive enterprise-ready software development kit, including intuitive transaction builders, low-level APIs, wallet integrations, and data service providers designed to simplify the development process.
Across the Cardano ecosystem, MeshJS has gained recognition as one of the best methods to query the blockchain, attributions to built-in functions that enhance code succinctness and usability. One of its notable features is the support for smart contract templates like content ownership, marketplaces, NFT-minting, payment splitters, escrow, gift cards, swaps, and vesting. By providing ready-made solutions, MeshJS accelerates development timelines.
As one of the highest-quality open-source libraries in Cardano, MeshJS is backed by a strong team whose work has proven to be not only sincere but also the best. The team has constantly been delivering its promises in the Cardano developer ecosystem and holds expertise in decentralized applications (dApps) software development. The MeshJS team understands what users and developers need.
Why bring Cquisitor to MeshJS?
Migrating Cquisitor to MeshJS enhances its existing developer toolset. This upgrade will introduce Rust-based validation modules that improve developer error handling and provide clearer feedback, helping developers debug their applications efficiently. Improving developer experience by providing meaningful feedback accelerates their builds with Cardano. In turn, the Cardano developer ecosystem grows and benefits from increased productivity and innovation.
Key Stakeholders: The Project Team
This project is under the hands of two talented, active engineers in the Cardano community. One of them is a founding member of the Mesh SDK, while the other is a maintainer of the cardano-serialization library (CSL).
- Hong Jing (Jingles) — As the technical lead in this project, Jing is a machine learning engineer and a full-stack developer. He is pursuing a PhD in machine learning applied neuroscience and building the Mesh SDK, among other decentralized applications.
- Evgenii Listskii — A senior backend engineer at Emurgo, one of Cardano’s founding entities, Evgenii contributed (and is still contributing) to Cardano-serialization-lib, which is widely used in the Cardano ecosystem. He is also the mastermind behind the Cquisitor proof concept (built it without funding, though) — a 19-star repo on GitHub.
Bringing Cquisitor to MeshJS
This project proposal is part of Project Catalyst’s fund 13, requesting ₳200,000 to make this migration successful. The budget is shared equally among five milestones, all acceptable by links to public code on the Mesh GitHub repository.
The migration process is as follows: First, all Cquisitor features will be migrated to the Mesh Dev Tools website, and then dependencies will be updated to ensure compatibility with Chang. Next, a Rust validation module will be developed by identifying common validation issues, defining clear error messages, providing explanations and hints to developers for error resolution, and extending the Rust module for Plutus script execution. Third, the Rust validation modules will be brought into MeshJS for better debugging. Lastly, the MeshJS documentation will be updated to reflect the added functionalities. A better overview can be seen in the table below.
| Milestone and Timeline (2025) | Expected Output |
| Milestone 1, January – February | – Migrate all Cquisitor features to the Mesh Devtools website – Update the dependency, which makes the Cquisitor feature complete, and chang the compatible |
| Milestone 2, February – March | – Develop the Rust module for partial phase-1 validation – Identify and define error messages for common validation issues – Provide explanations and hints for fixing each error |
| Milestone 3, March – April | – Develop the Rust module for phase-2 validation – Integrate the module with aiken-uplc for Plutus script execution |
| Milestone 4, April – May | – Integration with Whisky and Mesh.js – Implement detailed error messages for Mesh.js |
| Milestone 5, May – June | – Final closeout report – Final closeout video – Deploy web UI to https://cloud.meshjs.dev/ – Updated meshjs docs |
Value for Cardano
On completion, the Cardano community benefits in several ways, including:
- Accelerated Development for Builders — By migrating Cquisitor features to MeshJS and integrating advanced Rust modules, developers will have access to more tools that make their work efficient so that they spend less time troubleshooting and validation. This means faster project delivery and more time for innovation in the Cardano community.
- Improved Error Debugging and User Guidance — Developers spend a lot of time writing code and twice as much time debugging it. With enhanced error-handling capabilities, developers access more meaningful and actionable feedback. Rather than struggling to interpret obscure error messages, they will get suggestions and clear explanations to resolve issues. Improving the workflow reduces the learning curve for developers moving from Web2 to Web3 and enhances the productivity of seasoned developers.
- Greater Adoption of Cardano Tools — Because this project focuses on seamless integration with Mesh developer tools and the Aiken-Uplc framework running Plutus scripts, it encourages developers to embrace Cardano-native solutions. Consequently, it fosters a stronger developer ecosystem around Cardano, where more use cases get built onto the blockchain.
Enhancing Cardano Development: Impact of Cquisitor Migration to MeshJS
The migration of Cquisitor to MeshJS and the validation enhancements mark a new era in the Cardano developer tools ecosystem. Once completed, this project will significantly reduce developers’ time troubleshooting code for their applications. Increasing developer efficiency leads to savings for developers and projects building in Cardano. If developers create reliable solutions faster and with fewer resources, the Cardano system will benefit from reduced upfront development and operational costs.
Keeping the Mesh SDK open source ensures that the suite is available for everyone and that the entire community can build upon it. This, as a result, maximizes project utility for current developers. It also maintains the long-term value of the Mesh toolkit, as future projects will have a reliable resource without incurring additional costs. Additionally, a smooth developer experience allows more time to focus on building innovative solutions and opening up more quality projects in Cardano.
To learn more about MeshJS, please check the official website and GitHub profile.
