Grant Application — ZecScope (Zcash network upgrade / ZIP tracker)

Community Grants Applications
1

Hey everyone

A few weeks ago I posted here sketching an idea: a Zcash version of [Forkcast](https://forkcast.org), the site Ethereum uses to track what’s in each network upgrade: ZIP status, upgrade roadmap, wallet readiness, that kind of thing. Didn’t get much response, which I’m taking as “no objections raised” rather than “everyone’s on board.” So I’m posting the actual application now to get real feedback before ZCG votes on it, since that’s what this stage is for.

Application: Grant Application - ZecScope (Zcash network upgrade / ZIP tracker) · Issue #418 · ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants · GitHub

Short version of what’s in it:

- A public, open-source site that tracks every ZIP — status, category, plain-English summary — kept in sync automatically with the zips repo

- A network upgrade roadmap grouping ZIPs by upgrade, with a timeline

- A wallet readiness matrix, so people can check whether their wallet supports an upcoming upgrade before it activates

- A funding/resourcing view showing which ZIPs have committed implementers or ZCG-funded work behind them, and which don’t

- Requesting $36,300, six milestones, roughly 25 weeks solo, full-time

Deliberately scoped this to the build and a stabilization window after launch — not open-ended maintenance of the wallet-readiness data, which I think is a separate ask once there’s a live site and real usage to point to.

If you work on a Zcash wallet, or you’re closer to the ZIP process than I am, I’d genuinely like to know before this goes to a vote: does the readiness matrix seem like something you’d actually keep updated, and is the zips repo consistent enough to parse the way I’m assuming? Full details and the milestone breakdown are in the linked issue — feedback there or here both work.

3 Likes
Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 9/14/2026
Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 9/14/2026
Zcash Community Grants (ZCG) Meeting Minutes 9/28/2026
The Zcash Daily
2

I’m also open to name suggestions :sweat_smile:.
Although I picked this name, but I find neither ZecScope, nor something like Zcast or ZecCast pleasent.

3

Hi @aryaethn, I’d love to see something like this but I think you may find much of this information doesn’t really exists as a document, spreadsheet, GitHub that can reliably be sourced and/or trusted without a lot of ongoing manual work. :thinking:

4

Hey, @GGuy ,

I think some parts of it can be automatically fetched. For example, ZIPs, or the ZCG funding spreadsheet, which are updated by the teams and proposers publicly.

Network Upgrade roadmap is not something that happens every week, and can be done manually through time. Also, if possible, I can come up with ideas through ZF on how we can make a reliable automatic path for the NUs.

The part that I’m most worried about is the wallet readiness matrix, which if not easily possible, can be removed from this milestone and later proposed as a retroactive grant work, after a communication with wallets on the best ways to automate it.

If this is in your interest, we can have a chat about the milestones and parts that makes you worry to make it possible. Because the forkcast for Ethereum made my day-to-day work as a researcher very easy, and I beilive it can do the same for all of us researchers and engineers in Zcash ecosystem.

5

Wait, if you want, I could show your the matrix tracker software our team uses, because I think it’d be compatible with what you need. F*ck, I don’t have it here, but once I setup a reverse proxy for public access, I’ll let you know so you can see it!

3 Likes
6

Although the reply was not directed at me, I would really appreciate it if I can see that. It may be very helpful for this project, and my mindset around it.

7

From a support perspective, a “last checked” date and a link to the wallet’s own announcement would be really helpful. If compatibility hasn’t been confirmed, clearly saying “not yet verified” would save users a lot of guesswork.

1 Like
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@GGuy, Hey there. Any comments on this?

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This reminded me of this thread, god, I forgot about this thread. I have been working on something else for weeks which I am going to announce soon lol- after that I will come back to this thread.

Sure!

10

Thanks, a lot.

Anything I can be helpful?

11

After I announce it, for sure! (Primary authorship concerns lol, cuz this is going on a paper)

1 Like
12

First of all, Thanks to @GGuy and @Hanh, for raising your concern about data availability in Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 9/14/2026 - #2 by ZCG.
I tested it with a light parser against zcash/zips (not a full version of parser), the ZC forum and ZCG records (spreadsheet), as a pre-run, to make sure this could be possible.

Good news: all 133 ZIP headers are machine-readable. Past upgrade membership is 98% recoverable (40/41), and ZC forum ZIP citations index cleanly (20/20 spot-checked).

Current Bad news for me, and my proposed fix:

  1. Abandoned vs. parked: 38% of open ZIPs can’t be classified from GitHub. ZecScope will tag them “not sure: abandoned or parked” until the ZIP itself gives a definite status.
  2. Upcoming upgrades: the repo holds NU contents only weeks before activation, and statuses lag (NU6.3 ZIPs still say Draft). The number of NUs per year are small and conversation around them is not a very fast-paced thing, so I can update this manually once a month for a small salary-style fund, until we can work out a better, automatic source with ZF.
  3. Funding links: grants rarely cite ZIP numbers. I’ll review the 35 candidate links that my automation test found, by hand, and kindly ask ZCG to add a “related ZIP number” field to the application form for future grants; or if not possible to reformat the whole spreadsheet, lightly write it in the name of the grant, so my parsers can find them.

Finally, for the wallet readiness matrix, as @hanh mentioned, this actually needs wallets cooperation and if this is something not seen by ZCG, the milestones and definitions dedicated to this part can be removed from this application, and I can try to communicate with wallets to create a structured data for this, and later add the wallet readiness feature to the product.

13

I would request the ZCG to stall making any decisions on this proposal until at least the next grant meeting, as we expect some significant updates on this thread once we and @aryaethn are able to discuss our other scoping software which does support features that mostly mitigate all four, in which case a proposed maintainer model (aka basically a partnership) could instead be approved.

@aryaethn I am still terribly sorry we couldn’t simply respond to you in so many days, but the project we are working on is also pretty big. I could tell you in private DMs, though!

1 Like
14

I have no problem with a collaboration/partnership, and another well-scoped application regarding this matter. If we can help Zcash and its community, I am well on-board with any suggestions.
If you want, and ZCG agrees, we can communicate on this one in DMs, and propose a new application.

I’d be honored to be a part of your project. Even a small help is a help :sweat_smile:
I am expecting you in my DM :grin:

15

Thank you for your submission. After consideration from ZCG and sufficient time for the community to provide feedback on the forum, the committee has decided to reject this proposal.

The committee appreciates your grant submission efforts and encourages you to continue as an active member of the Zcash community going forward! Meeting minutes.