| name | xl1-patterns |
| description | Prescriptive design patterns for XL1 dApps. Covers browser UX, chain data indexing, commit-reveal schemes, in-page datalakes, prediction markets, atomic exchange (multi-party escrow), inscription substrates, and fungible tokens. Activates when building application-level features on XL1 that require structured data access, multi-party fairness, atomic asset exchange, client-side chain queries, ownable artifacts, token protocols, or dApp UI conventions. (Testing and headless verification now live in the xl1-testing skill.) |
| metadata | {"version":"1.1.29"} |
XL1 Design Patterns
This skill provides prescriptive, recipe-style patterns for building common application features on XL1. Where the lower layers document what XL1 is, this layer documents how to build things on it.
Skill identity. This skill's version is exposed in this file's frontmatter under metadata.version. When reporting which skills informed your work, format as <skill-name> v<version> (e.g. xl1-patterns v1.1.19). When multiple skills from this plugin are active, each may be listed.
Lower Layer Skills
These patterns compose primitives from the full skill stack:
- XL1 Knowledge — chain data model, datalakes, gateway (generic, browser, and Node)
- XYO Knowledge — payloads, bound witnesses, modules, identity
- XY Toolchain — build tooling, ESLint, TypeScript config, Vitest
- Development — coding conventions, Git, testing, workflow
Table of Contents
REQUIRED reading for any dApp with a UI — which is nearly all of them. Covers wallet connection lifecycle (ConnectAccountsStack), the useConnectAccount singleton pitfall, lifting connected address into app state, capability-aware components, dApp UI structure, and display conventions (hash/address clamping, copy-to-clipboard). The UX layer that sits on top of Browser Gateway construction. Skip only if the work is genuinely UI-less (a pure indexer service or a CLI).
Read when a dApp needs to request permissions from the XL1 browser wallet beyond what ConnectAccountsStack handles by default — or when you are tempted to ask for "datalake permissions" and need to know why that is the wrong path. Documents the four registered RPC permissions, the two that are publicly supported (xyoWallet_getAccounts, xyoSigner_address), the hard rule against requesting xyoDataLakes_* (internal-only), and the SDK hooks (RequestPermissionsButton, usePermissions, useAccountPermissions) for going below ConnectAccountsStack.
REQUIRED reading whenever the dApp has both a React app and a companion HTTP service (the default monorepo flow). Names the prescriptive port pair (:3000 app, :3001 service), the /api/* base-path convention, the Vite dev proxy that keeps everything same-origin, and the prod single-domain reverse-proxy story. Same-origin by default means no CORS middleware on the service. The escape hatch for genuinely cross-origin layouts is documented but treated as an exception. Skip only when there is no service (a pure read-only React app or a service-only project with no UI).
Chain Data Indexing — by role
The first pattern in the layer to follow the protocol/client/service split. Read the protocol file first; then the role file matching what you're building.
Conceptual rules for retrieving, filtering, and watching application-specific chain data — schemas, anchoring choices (Path A/B/C), Destination as Protocol (sentinel addresses), the four scan strategies, and finalized-vs-latest semantics. Environment-agnostic; both clients and services rely on it.
Browser-side reads — but only for ephemeral, single-user, trivial cases. The useChainData React hook for polled reads, capability detection in components, and a sharp boundary on what does and does not belong in the browser. Anything multi-user, durable, or reorg-sensitive needs the service file instead.
Long-running indexer service. Process model (sync/persist/serve loops), state persistence and atomic checkpoints, restart-resume semantics, exposing results via HTTP API, signer indexers, deployment shape (process supervision, single-instance, healthz, network from env).
Read when building any feature where multiple parties make simultaneous decisions and seeing another's choice first would be unfair. Covers the two-phase commit-reveal workflow, schema design for commits and reveals, on-chain recording, hash verification, and timeout handling.
Read when your React dApp needs read-only access to chain data without requiring a wallet connection. Covers the in-page gateway architecture, querying datalakes from React components, and combining read-only access with wallet-gated writes.
Read when building a game, prediction market, or any application with a stake-commit-reveal-settle lifecycle. This is a composite pattern that combines commit-reveal, chain data indexing, and in-page datalakes into a complete recipe. Uses nbf/exp validity windows, configured outcomeAuthorities, lean settlement payloads, and $sources linkage between phases.
Read when two or more parties need to exchange assets atomically — neither side gets what they want unless every side has irrevocably committed. The dApp-shaped projection of the XYO/XNS escrow flow: multi-party paired secrets, multi-signer BoundWitnesses, configurable authority lists for appraisals and receipts, lean outcome payloads, and the strict rule that missing reveals prevent settlement (rather than forfeiting). Composes commit-reveal as a gating mechanism for asset release rather than a hidden-choice protocol.
Read when your application needs persistent, transferable, owned objects on XL1 — the equivalent of Bitcoin's Ordinals. Covers the artifact-vs-event split, content-addressed inscription IDs, single-step signed transfers, finalization-only indexer replay, and ownership ledger derivation. The substrate that higher-layer protocols (fungible tokens, collections, recursive content) compose on top of.
Read when building a fungible token on XL1 in the style of Bitcoin's BRC-20 — open ticker registration, capped mints, address-to-address transfers, off-chain ledger from on-chain events. Layered directly on the inscription substrate. Covers deploy/mint/transfer schemas, the dual-pass indexer, canonical ordering rules, and the deliberate divergence from BRC-20's two-step transfer.
Headless verification → moved to xl1-testing
Headless dApp verification now lives in the xl1-testing skill as Headless testnet verification — proving a dApp's chain interactions end-to-end via an in-process seed-phrase signer (GatewayBuilder.buildRunner()), for agentic development, CI smoke tests, and regression scripts. It remains a required part of the dApp Definition of Done below.
REQUIRED before reporting any XL1 dApp work as complete. Not optional, not "if you have time" — walk it explicitly and call out pass/fail per relevant section in your completion summary. The checklist enumerates the rules and anti-patterns documented across the skill stack (gateway usage, datalake setup, wallet integration, SDK-first compliance, payload design, indexer floor block, provider architecture, display conventions, commit-reveal correctness, settlement authorities, multi-party co-signing, headless verification). Sections marked "(if applicable)" can be skipped only when truly out of scope — state which and why.
