primer · midnight

Four ZK primitives, demystified.

Every idea in this repo leans on one of four Midnight primitives. Each runs against the Midnight preview testnet — a real ZK L1 funded by a tDUST faucet, so you can ship a provably private demo with zero hosting and no real DUST spent.

The five secrets

Add these in your Lovable project (Settings → Secrets) before pasting any mega-prompt:

VITE_NETWORK_ID`preview` (or `preprod`). Matches Lace's network setting.open ↗
VITE_INDEXER_URLMidnight GraphQL Indexer for public ledger reads.open ↗
VITE_INDEXER_WS_URLWebSocket endpoint for realtime ledger subscriptions.open ↗
VITE_PROOF_SERVER_URLLocal Docker proof server (port 6300) — required for tx submits.open ↗
VITE_DEFAULT_CONTRACTPre-deployed contract address so users skip the deploy step.open ↗
PINATA_JWTOptional. Only for ideas that pin artefacts to IPFS.

Terminal (one-time): install the Compact toolchain (compact update), run compact compile, then start the proof server:docker run -p 6300:6300 midnightntwrk/proof-server:latest midnight-proof-server -v

onchain logic

Compact ZK contract

250 ideas use this

kernel

a Compact `.compact` contract compiled to ZK proving/verifying keys and deployed to the Midnight preview testnet, with public ledger state readable from the Indexer

how it drives the UI

a 'verified on Midnight' badge with the live contract address and a Midnight explorer link

EXAMPLE IDEAS

zero-knowledge

Private witness proof

250 ideas use this

kernel

a Compact `witness` callback that keeps a user secret local while a ZK proof asserts a property of it — the proof lands on Midnight, the secret never leaves the browser

how it drives the UI

a 'proved without revealing' chip that flips green after the ZK circuit accepts the witness

EXAMPLE IDEAS

wallet UX

Lace wallet + tDUST

249 ideas use this

kernel

detect `window.midnight`, call `initialAPI.connect('preview')`, let Lace balance the transaction with tDUST and submit it via `midnightProvider.submitTx`

how it drives the UI

a 'Connected via Lace' status pill, the shielded address, and a Proving → Submitting → Confirmed transaction trail

EXAMPLE IDEAS

decentralized storage

IPFS content + on-chain CID

247 ideas use this

kernel

pin creative artefacts to IPFS via Pinata, then commit the CID to the public ledger through the Compact contract so provenance is verifiable but the file itself stays on IPFS

how it drives the UI

a 'pinned to IPFS · logged on Midnight' chip with the CID, gateway preview, and a Midnight explorer link

EXAMPLE IDEAS

networks

Preprod vs Preview vs Mainnet

Midnight ships three networks. Addresses, faucets, and SDK versions differ by suffix — the wallet you derive from a seed will look different on each.

	Preprod	Preview	Mainnet
Purpose	Stable testnet mirroring the current mainnet release train.	Bleeding-edge testnet for upcoming SDK / protocol changes.	Real network. Real value.
Address prefix	`mn_addr_preprod1…`	`mn_addr_preview1…`	`mn_addr1…`
Token	tNIGHT → tDUST (free test tokens)	tNIGHT → tDUST (free test tokens)	NIGHT → DUST (real, purchased)
Faucet	Nethermind preprod faucet	Midnight preview faucet	None
SDK version	Stable, matches current mainnet.	Next release candidate — may break between drops.	Stable, audited.
Use for	Demos, hackathon submissions, integration tests.	Trying features before they hit preprod.	Production dApps only.
Reset policy	Occasional resets around major upgrades.	Reset frequently without notice.	Never.

Which one for the hackathon? Preprod is the default in this repo — it tracks mainnet behaviour, the faucet is reliable, and the deploy script + wallet JSON default there. Only reach for Preview if you need an SDK feature that hasn't landed on preprod yet.

Network endpoints ↗Release notes ↗Acquire tokens ↗