dApp Pre-launch Checklist

Below are considerations for building your Tezos dApp or before publishing it. These pointers help prevent bugs and improve your users’ experience.

Infrastructure

Use a reliable RPC node

Running your own RPC node is often the best choice, especially if you anticipate significant traffic. Using a paid hosted node is also a great option. See the list of public Tezos nodes.

Specify fees and storage limits

Hard-coding fees and storage limits for smart contract calls has two advantages:

• Your dApp makes fewer calls to the RPC node, making it faster
• Fine-tuned gas and storage values reduce the likelihood of backtracked operations

Performance

Enable local pack

Local Pack reduces bigmap search time by 50%. Enable it by providing a MichelCodecPacker instance to the setPackerProvider method of TezosToolkit.

Optimize HTTP requests

JavaScript frameworks provide lifecycle hooks for DOM updates (React useEffect, Vue beforeUpdate, Svelte afterUpdate). If these trigger calls to Tezos nodes or indexers, optimize them carefully. Unnecessary HTTP requests increase server traffic and slow down your dApp.

Handle big numbers

Michelson uses arbitrary-precision numbers that can become very long. JavaScript switches to scientific notation for large numbers, which can confuse users. Use bignumber.js to handle potentially long numbers from the blockchain.

Wallet integration

Test with popular wallets

Testing with Kukai and Temple wallets is essential. Testing with all wallets is recommended.

Create a single BeaconWallet instance

Reuse one BeaconWallet instance throughout your dApp. JavaScript frameworks offer solutions to share data between components:

• React: Context API
• Vue: Pinia (Third-party)
• Svelte: Stores

Creating multiple BeaconWallet instances may cause errors when forging transactions.

User experience

Confirm operations and check results

Wait for operation confirmation and check whether it succeeded or failed. This information is crucial for users to know if their transaction went through.

Display user-friendly error messages

Inform users about skipped, backtracked, and failed transactions. A lack of visual feedback when transactions fail can be confusing.

Enable error reporting

An error reporting tool like BugSnag helps you understand issues your users face.