Week One: From zero to a working product loop
We spent week one trying to turn SignalFire from an idea into a working on-chain product. Progress is moving along well.
TL;DR
- •Secured trysignalfire.com and deployed infrastructure on AWS, including Google Sign-In
- •Built the complete study creation and funding flow for game studios
- •Implemented on-chain escrow with working payout release to testers
- •Launched submission review queue with real Solana transaction settlement
What We Shipped
The product has a home
We secured trysignalfire.com, deployed the full AWS stack (DynamoDB, S3, App Runner, ECR), and have continuous deployment running from GitHub Actions. Investing in things like infra and correct AWS profiles and build pipelines early can be a pain when you want to move fast, but it always pays off in the end.
Studios can create and fund studies
The developer workflow is now real: sign in, create a study, configure targeting and session requirements, then fund the escrow with USDC. The funding transaction initializes on-chain escrow and locks funds until sessions are approved. They may be not be fully polished but this is the actual product loop for the developer-facing side of the product.
Testers can discover and complete missions
The tester experience is making progress: browse available studies, see exactly what each one pays, and understand the requirements before committing. When a studio approves your session, payment releases instantly to your wallet.
Seamless onboarding for studios
We built a frictionless sign-in flow for game studios. Google OAuth or magic link—no passwords to remember. Connect your Solana wallet when you're ready to fund the studies as well. Our goal is that a developer can get from landing page to first study in under two minutes.
Under the Hood
This isn't a mockup. Here's what's actually running:
- ✓Anchor-based Solana escrow program with study-scoped PDAs
- ✓Server-side payout signing with operator key isolation
- ✓Typed domain models with explicit state machines
- ✓Docker containerization with standalone Next.js output
- ✓GitHub Actions CI/CD with OIDC-based AWS auth