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Glossary

Use this glossary when a term in the docs is blocking your reading. Each entry answers the same practical question: what does this mean here, and where should you go next if you need to use it?

Entries are deliberately short. When a term maps to a tool, package, contract, or guide, the entry points you to the resource that helps you take the next step.

Platform and entry points

Product

An application published to the Devnet under a .dot domain and opened inside the Polkadot app or the web gateway. These docs say "Product" wherever the published, named artefact is meant rather than a generic web app. See App delivery.

Polkadot Products Devnet

The public developer preview this documentation describes. It runs on the community-operated Paseo network, with Product developers mainly using Asset Hub for contracts and assets, People for identity, and Bulletin for app bundle storage.

Polkadot app

The end-user client for the platform, available on mobile and desktop. Apps run inside it, and the app brokers signing, storage, chain access, and identity on the user's behalf. Download links are in More resources.

dev-dot.li

The web gateway that serves .dot apps in an ordinary browser, reachable at https://dev-dot.li. It resolves a .dot domain, fetches the app bundle, and renders it in a sandboxed iframe.

Naming and discovery

.dot domain

A human-readable name, such as survey.dot, that maps to a deployed app bundle. For most users it works like an app name. For developers it is the name you register, update, and publish through DotNS tooling.

DotNS

The .dot naming system. Use DotNS when you need to register an app name, point that name at content, or look up where an app is published. See the naming architecture.

Browse / Publisher

Browse is the app-discovery directory for the Devnet (https://browse.dev-dot.li). Use it to find published Products, or to check that your own app appears after you list it. Publishing requires ownership of the .dot domain and may require personhood checks.

Contracts

PolkaVM / revive

PolkaVM is the contract execution layer on Asset Hub, exposed through pallet-revive. If your Product needs custom on-chain logic, this is the contract environment you will most likely target.

CDM (Contract Dependency Manager)

The build, deploy, registry, and dependency tool for PolkaVM contracts. Use CDM when you want to publish a contract package that other Products can resolve by name. See the contracts architecture.

Storage and delivery

Bulletin

The Bulletin chain stores published web-app bundles and contract metadata. Uploads require storage authorization, and stored content is addressed by CID.

Note

Because storage is authorization-gated, a deploy account needs a live storage authorization before it can upload. Authorizations can expire and must be refreshed.

CID

The content identifier of a stored bundle or file. A .dot domain resolves to a CID, and the CID is what the client actually fetches. See App delivery.

Statement store

A People-chain store of short signed statements. The app uses it as the transport for encrypted chat messages and call signalling. See Messaging & calls.

Developer SDKs

Product SDK

@parity/product-sdk is the main TypeScript SDK for building Products. It gives your app access to host-provided wallet, chain, storage, contract, and identity services. The SDK is designed to run inside the Polkadot app or the web gateway, not as a standalone wallet. See Packages & tools.

Host API

@novasamatech/host-api is the protocol between a Product and the Polkadot app host. Use it directly when you need lower-level access to host capabilities such as accounts, signing, storage, chat, payments, or remote chain access.

Deploy CLI (pad)

@polkadot-community-foundation/polkadot-app-deploy (bin: pad) is the CLI that publishes a built static bundle and points a .dot domain at it.

Tip

Use the devnet preset for this environment. pad and dotns take it with --env devnet; CDM uses -n devnet.

Identity and personhood

Proof of personhood

The mechanism by which an account is recognized as a distinct human without revealing who they are. It has two tiers, and either can unlock product flows such as app listing, naming, rewards, or rate limits.

  • Lite — an attested username; the tier most users hold.
  • Full — stronger one-account-per-human assurance, reached by redeeming an invitation. See Username & proof of personhood.

Alias

A per-application pseudonym derived for your account, so an app can recognize a returning person without learning who they are or linking them across apps. See Identity & personhood.

People / Asset Hub

Two of the system parachains the product suite targets. Asset Hub hosts contracts, assets, and DotNS. People hosts identity and personhood.

Accounts and addresses

SS58

The Substrate address format an account is shown in (Devnet prefix 42). Faucets and chain tools take the SS58 address; contract tooling uses the mapped EVM 0x… address instead. See Addresses & registries.

Money

CASH

The end-user display name for a Devnet digital-dollar asset. Users can obtain CASH through in-app flows, rewards, or supporting faucet flows, depending on the current build.

PAS

The native token of the underlying Paseo network, used to pay transaction fees and keep an account alive. It is not CASH, and comes from the faucet — see Create an account & get funds.

Pocket

The wallet surface in the Polkadot app: the screen holding your balances, including the CASH card and its top-up button.

Coinage

The privacy-preserving payment system on the People chain that CASH is spent through. See Money (CASH & funding).

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