WG 10.2: HEN Tools and the Ecosystem


Post-Hicathon Journey of Working Group 10.2

Laying the foundation of the Hic Et Nunc Developers’ Community 

Centred around the idea of Hic Et Nunc as an experimental dApp, Working Group 10.2 formed around the same ethos in exploring the surrounding tools ecosystem through a decentralised and self-organising manner. 

Building on this ethos, the team came up with the concept of a Working Autonomous Organisation (WAO), in which there is free collaboration around goals and ideas with no one to assign work to others; everyone is free to connect and contribute. 

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Credit: bors__nft

The team’s guiding principles are based on five pillars: curating external tools that integrate well with H=N; empowering diversity; creating quality tutorials and apps; advocacy for the developers’ community; and growing and supporting the developer community further.

In line with these principles, @crcdng wrote the first coding tutorial as part of a “Metaverse Tutorial Series” to bring a beginner from zero coding knowledge to building a workable dApp / virtual WebXR world at the end.  

In the tutorial, beginners would learn how to create a tiny interactive virtual world linked to an NFT. The objects in the virtual world would respond to the user and display the balance of an entered Tezos address.

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Meanwhile, @pamicel was fostering communication by maintaining the XTZ NFT Apps and Tools Twitter account that garnered over 600 followers by curating a list of tools and actively engaging with potential contributors in the dev community. Supported by @dianedrubay, @pamicel also started conceptualising and planning a developer-oriented event, the HIC Tooling Conference, documented here.

The team also continued work on Hicdex, a popular and essential indexer tool built by @marchingsquare; H=N used this tool as the backend along with dozens of dApps, including Henext and NFTBiker Tools. None of these dApps would have existed without the development of Hicdex.

Subsequently, @teztools stepped up to the challenge of taking over the backend infrastructure support, and Hicdex was further upgraded to integrate split contract indexing and accommodate rising traffic during this period.

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There were also lots of discussions on how to make the working group sustainable even after the Hicathon. This led the group to implement a bounty system, giving rewards to active community members who have contributed articles, tutorials, and dApps that have helped build up the H=N tools ecosystem. 

The first recipients of the bounty were @norulesjustfeels, who has created multiple in-depth tutorials, and @violetforest, in recognition of her work on the H=N wiki.

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Looking to the future, the team hopes to foster a positive and inclusive environment among developers and creators where everyone feels welcome and free to pursue their intellectual curiosity.  

If you are an aspiring tool-builder or coder, you can reach out to the team on Twitter to get involved with the community.



With HEN in its nascent stage, WG 10.2 tackled the issue of bringing structure to a diverse community of developers and artists. The group developed guidelines for the creation and integration of external tools with HEN, and sought ways to empower creators to build quality tools and apps through detailed tutorials, documentation, and wikis.

The foundation for the ecosystem surrounding HEN was thus set with a long-term vision drafted out, a form for registration of new tools, and core open-sourced tools such as the hicetnunc.tools platform and hicdex being released for public use.

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With free collaboration around goals and ideas, WG 10.2 focused on exploring and building the tools ecosystem surrounding HEN. In addition, the group published their first coding tutorial as part of a “Metaverse Tutorial Series” that guides a beginner from zero coding knowledge to building a workable dApp and virtual world at the end.  

In a decentralised and self-organising manner, everyone went about working on different tasks. For example, one group focused on upgrading and adding more support for Hicdex, an essential indexer tool used by HEN and other dApps. At the same time, another group engaged with the tooling community on Twitter and planned for an upcoming developer-oriented conference. 

The group also set aside bounties to reward active members who contribute to the community and hopes to foster a positive and inclusive environment for developers and makers to pursue their intellectual curiosity.

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View the work that WG 10.2: HEN Tools and the Ecosystem accomplished over hicathon!