Taski!

Inspiration

In a world where household chores are a constant source of friction and "I'll do it later" often means never, we saw an opportunity to transform simple to-do lists into a gamified, localized economy. Our inspiration came from the efficiency of the gig economy and the transparency of Web3. We wanted to create a solution that doesn't just list tasks but enforces them, securing the "contract" of a chore with the same rigor as a financial transaction, whether it's for university roommates, families, or local community boards.

What it does

Taski is a native decentralized marketplace that bridges the gap between everyday household tasks and the Solana blockchain, automatically verifying work before releasing payment. It has 4 main features:

Decentralized Marketplace: Users can post chores like "Mow the Lawn" with a bounty in USD, which Taski automatically converts to Solana (SOL) and lists for others to claim.
Smart Vault Escrow: When a task is created, funds are securely locked in a decentralized Team Vault on the blockchain, guaranteeing that the money exists and is ready for the worker.
AI Verification: To claim the bounty, the worker must snap a photo. We use Google Gemini's multimodal capabilities to analyze the image and structurally verify if the task was actually completed based on the description.
Instant Crypto Payout: Once Gemini verifies the proof-of-work, the smart contract automatically executes and releases the funds directly to the user's wallet without any manual approval needed.

Additional features

Dual-Currency Engine: Seamlessly converts and displays all values in both USD and SOL (e.g., "$5.00 (0.02 SOL)") to make crypto accessible to non-technical users.
Robust State Synchronization: Features a "Smart Polling" system that intelligently watches the blockchain state to ensure wallet balances are always 100% accurate, eliminating "sync lag."
Interactive Bidding: Allows users to bid closer to the asking price if they want to secure a task immediately.

How we built it

Our tech stack combines native mobile performance with decentralized infrastructure:

Frontend: The UI is built entirely with SwiftUI, utilizing a modern glassmorphic design system to ensure the app feels premium and native on iOS.
Blockchain: We interact directly with the Solana Devnet using low-level RPC calls. We engineered a custom service in Swift that handles KeyPair management, raw transaction serialization, and Program Derived Address (PDA) calculations for the vault logic.
AI Processing: Taski leverages Google's Gemini API for its visual reasoning capabilities. We stream captured image data alongside task context to the model to perform "impartial judge" verification.
Backend Logic: Instead of a traditional server, our backend logic lives on the chain and in our client-side SolanaService,
Real-time Updates: We implemented an optimistic UI with pessimistic confirmation, using custom polling loops to handle the asynchronous nature of blockchain block times without freezing the user interface.

Challenges we ran into

Blockchain Latency: Balancing the instant feel of a mobile app with the 400ms-2s latency of blockchain confirmation. We had to build a robust "Processing" state manager.
Library Limitations: Existing Swift libraries for Solana lacked support for our specific smart contract data layout. We had to reverse-engineer the instruction format and build raw transactions manually.
Concurrency Control: Preventing users from "double-spending" or creating duplicate tasks by tapping buttons rapidly before the network acknowledged the first request.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Seamless Integration: We successfully hid the complexity of cryptography behind a friendly user interface that looks like a standard productivity app.
Functional Smart Vault: We successfully implemented a logic where funds are truly held in escrow, preventing the "poster" from running away with the money and the "worker" from getting stiffed.
Real-time AI Judge: Watching the AI correctly accept a clean room and reject a messy one felt like a true step forward in automated accountability.
Polished UX: Achieved a smooth, crash-free experience with proper error handling and distinct visual states for every stage of the transaction.

What we learned

Deep interaction with Solana RPC: How to construct and sign raw transactions byte-by-byte.
Multimodal Prompt Engineering: How to structure prompts for Gemini to get consistent "True/False" verification results for image analysis.
Async State Management: The importance of decoupling the UI state from the network state to prevent glitches during varying network conditions.
The value of feedback: Converting "loading spinners" into informative status updates ("Confirming...", "Payout Complete!") significantly improved user confidence.

What's next for Taski

Future enhancements we're planning:

FULL ON-CHAIN INTEGRATION
- Dynamic Team Creation: Currently, we use a shared "Team 1" vault for the demo. We plan to fully wire up the backend to allow any user to deploy their own unique "Household Vault" directly from the app.
- Auction Settlement Logic: The UI currently demonstrates the bidding experience ("Highest Bidder" badges). The next step is connecting this directly to on-chain settlement, so the smart contract automatically refunds losing bids and locks the winner's deposit.
Location Based Proof
- GPS Geofencing to prove you were at the grocery store.
- Time-locked tasks that must be done during specific hours.
Decentralized Governance
- Staked Disputes: A system where users stake tokens to vote on ambiguous tasks that the AI cannot decide on.
- Community-driven exchange rates and fee structures.
Scalng
- Mainnet Launch: Moving real value on the Solana Mainnet.
- Taski for Business: Adapting the "Team Vault" for small businesses to automate payouts for gig labor.
- Recurring Bounties: Smart contracts that automatically refill and repost weekly chores (e.g., "Trash Day").