Dwell Protocol

Dwell Protocol turns physical presence into real-time micropayment streams, bridging ESP32 IoT hardware with Solana to make workspace permissionless infrastructure. Cursor Miami Hackathon 2026.

Comment

🏢 The Dwell Protocol

Decentralized, IoT-Verified Workspace Micro-Billing Powered by Solana & QuickNode

The Dwell Protocol turns physical workspace presence into a real-time micropayment stream. By bridging off-the-shelf IoT hardware (ESP32) with high-performance blockchain infrastructure (Solana Devnet), Dwell converts real estate into streamable, permissionless digital infrastructure.

🚀 Live Dashboard: https://dwell-protocol-six.vercel.app
📄 PRD & Hackathon Blueprint: https://dwell-protocol-six.vercel.app/prd

⚡ Problem & Opportunity

  • The Problem: Shared offices, hacker houses, and coworking spaces rely on rigid monthly leases. Casual visitors face high friction to access workspaces, and traditional card rails cannot support sub-cent, minute-by-minute physical presence payments due to high fees and slow settlements.
  • The Solution: Users connect a Solana wallet and deposit $DWELL tokens into a secure server-managed session escrow. An ESP32 hardware device placed inside the workspace scans for the user's BLE radio signals (RSSI). As long as the user is verified inside the room, micro-transactions of $DWELL tokens are streamed on-chain to the workspace owner. When the user leaves or ends the session, the remaining escrow balance is immediately refunded.

🏛️ System Architecture

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    actor User as Coworker (Phone BLE)
    participant HW as ESP32 Presence Node
    participant BE as Next.js Server (Backend)
    participant DB as local session-store.json
    participant Chain as Solana Devnet (Blockchain)
    actor Provider as Workspace Owner

    User->>BE: Connect Wallet & Deposit $DWELL (Start Session)
    BE->>Chain: Verify Deposit transaction
    BE->>DB: Initialize active session (Balance: 100 DWELL)

    loop Every 5 seconds
        HW->>User: Scan BLE Advertisement (MAC / UUID)
        HW->>BE: POST /api/presence { wallet, rssi: -55 dBm }
        alt RSSI >= -65 dBm (Occupied)
            BE->>Chain: SPL Transfer 1.0 $DWELL (Vault ATA -> Owner ATA)
            BE->>DB: Deduct 1.0 $DWELL, save tx signature
            BE-->>HW: Return { status: occupied, balance: 99.0 }
        else RSSI < -65 dBm or Away (Vacant)
            BE->>DB: Log "Away", pause billing
            BE-->>HW: Return { status: vacant, balance: 99.0 }
        end
    end

    User->>BE: Click "End Session" (Web UI)
    BE->>Chain: Transfer remaining $DWELL from Vault back to User
    BE->>DB: Set status: ended, balance: 0

🏆 Hackathon Sponsor Integrations

1. 🟣 Solana Network

  • Micro-Billing streams: Dwell leverages Solana’s sub-second finality and sub-cent fees to execute real-time SPL Token transfers for physical presence.
  • SPL Escrow Protocol: Implemented a secure session escrow flow that locks tokens in a vault and programmatically bills usage or refunds balances.

2. 🔵 QuickNode Infrastructure

  • Solana RPC client: Powered by high-speed QuickNode Solana Devnet RPC to submit token transfers and verify transactions instantly.
  • QuickNode Streams: Configured to monitor DWELL token transfers on the blockchain, sending real-time webhooks back to /api/webhooks/quicknode to sync UI states in under 1 second.

3. 🔴 Superteam / DePIN Narrative

  • Physical-to-Digital Bridge: Uses cheap, accessible $4 ESP32 hardware to verify physical location (Proof-of-Presence), enabling anyone to monetize their space on-chain.

💻 Tech Stack

  • Hardware: ESP32 Dev Module (C++/Arduino Core BLE)
  • Backend: Next.js App Router, API Routes
  • RPC/Network: QuickNode Solana SDK & Streams Webhooks
  • Blockchain: Solana Devnet, SPL Token Program, Web3.js
  • Frontend: React, Tailwind CSS, Solana Wallet Adapter, Lucide Icons

🚀 Installation & Local Setup

Prerequisite: Install dependencies

Clone the repository and install the npm packages:

npm install

1. Setup the $DWELL SPL Token

Run the deployment script to generate keypairs, request devnet SOL airdrops, deploy your custom $DWELL token mint, and auto-generate the .env.local configuration:

npx tsx scripts/setup-token.ts

Note: If the devnet faucet is rate-limited, the script will automatically activate **Mock Solana Mode* (NEXT_PUBLIC_USE_MOCK_SOLANA=true) so you can test all features offline.*

2. Run the Next.js Development Server

Start the frontend web application locally:

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

3. Flash the ESP32 Hardware

  1. Open the Arduino IDE.
  2. Open hardware/dwell_node.ino.
  3. Configure your WiFi credentials (ssid and password) and insert your Next.js server IP address.
  4. Input your phone's BLE MAC address under targetBleAddress.
  5. Connect your ESP32 board and click Upload.

🕹️ How to Demo (Fail-Safe Presentation Flow)

No hardware with you? No problem. The dashboard contains a built-in Fail-Safe ESP32 Simulator to let judges test the entire end-to-end flow from their browser:

  1. Connect Wallet: Click the Solana Wallet Adapter at the top right to connect Phantom.
  2. Airdrop Test Tokens: (If in Mock Mode) Click the Get 100 DWELL button to fund your local wallet.
  3. Deposit & Start: Enter 50 $DWELL and click Start Presence Billing.
  4. Trigger Presence:
    • Under the Dwell Hardware Controller sidebar, toggle Simulate ESP32 Ping to ON.
    • Watch the console: raw JSON packets will start pinging /api/presence.
    • Watch the dashboard: the workspace status will glow green "OCCUPIED", and the balance ticker will start streaming down.
  5. Simulate Movement:
    • Slide the RSSI slider down to -75 dBm (Weak/Away).
    • The status will immediately flip to "VACANT", and billing will pause.
  6. Refund Remaining: Click End Session & Refund to retrieve your remaining tokens.
Share this project:

Updates