German Martinez, Developer Relations at Safe, shared insights at EthGlobal on how developers can design and launch decentralized applications (dApps) on the Safe protocol.
Safe is a dedicated platform to enabling digital ownership of accounts through universal contract standards. It empowers developers to create applications and wallets within a modular smart account infrastructure.
Safe comprises three essential components. The first is the Safe Protocol, an open, modular framework ensuring the security, portability, and composability of smart accounts.
Secondly, the Safe AA SDK simplifies integration with external service providers, facilitating smart contract account management.
Lastly, the Safe API provides the necessary infrastructure for interacting with Safe account information, offering services like the Safe Transaction Service and Safe Events Service.
Challenges and Solutions:
According to German, modular smart accounts encounter three major challenges. Interoperability, discoverability, and security. Interoperability refers to the ability of different components or extensions in the modular smart account system to work together seamlessly.
German said that interoperability is needed to prevent “vendor locking,” where users become dependent on specific tools or providers.
Ensuring interoperability is vital to creating a unified ecosystem where various developers and tools can collaborate effectively.
He added that discoverability is the ease with which users can find and access the right extensions or modules for their accounts.
German noted that in the absence of proper discoverability, users may struggle to identify and utilize the available extensions.
This can lead to a fragmented ecosystem where valuable tools go unnoticed. Security is a top priority in the development of modular smart accounts.
According to him, this takes care of the need to protect users and their digital assets.
In order to tackle this issue, the innovative Safe Core Protocol emerges. While still in its alpha version (0.1), this protocol is designed for experimental purposes, paving the way for future production readiness.
Through its open-source nature, the Safe Core Protocol works towards expanding the functionalities of Safe accounts by incorporating a manager, a registry, and diverse modules.
Advantages of the Safe Protocol
Describing what Safe brings to the industry, the Developer Relations said that the Safe Core Protocol introduces a manager, which is essentially another smart contract placed in the middle of the account.
This manager orchestrates the flow of modules and maintains access to registries. These registries are owned by individuals, companies, or DAOs, and they manage the list of modules for the Safe account.
He noted that Modules in the Safe Core Protocol come in different types, including plugins, hooks, and functional handlers. These modules offer a range of functionalities, from recovery options to transaction guards and more.
They need to be added to registries and meet specific criteria defined by the registry owner.
He added that Modules may have different levels of access permission. Root access, for example, allows a module to perform actions that could modify the account’s signers or add/remove plugins.
This is a critical security feature to prevent unauthorized actions.
Furthermore, he said that developers can add a plugin to a registry, enable it in an account, and execute transactions through the plugin.
The manager handles these actions by checking permissions, ensuring the plugin is not flagged or blocked, and then executing the transaction.
In closing, German said that the Safe Core Protocol provides interfaces for plugins and the manager, allowing developers to create custom implementations while adhering to these standards.
He called on interested developers to explore the Safe Core Protocol on GitHub as the Safe Ecosystem Foundation is also offering $10,000 in prizes for hackathon participants, with opportunities for projects related to the Safe Core Protocol and Safe Core Account Abstraction SDK.
