nook

Decided today that we’re not going to be working on /nook anymore. It was originally meant for us to play around with and learn new tech and has served that purpose. 

We don’t really see a path forward in continuing to build the client, so we’re going to explore some non-Farcaster ideas instead. More soon!

A client has a one-way dependency on Merkle. The only growth option for a client is to acquire new users. Building in crypto is hard enough, no need for the dependency.

Interesting I guess I take the other side of this - Merkle dependency is good IMO.

Makes the need to boostrap social graphs from day one much lower. Focus less on onboarding and more on sticky products since Merkle's biggest focus is user acquisition.

What's the alternative?

Sad to hear but totally understand and respect this decision.

What makes it unviable and what are some reflections you would share for other teams working on clients?

Excited to see what you build next!

1000 $DEGEN

Senior Dev: dalresin.xyz
Creator: /dbee 🐝
EX: /farswag /farkitchen /farhelp /crazy-penguins dalresin.xyz/chrome

long live /nook, thank you for creating it. 🫡

I’d pay for a client that lets me group users and channels (using and/or logic) into specific lists aka my own cozy corners. 

The spam problem will not be solved at the protocol level. Wish I’d be wrong but don’t see it

Just not viable anytime soon. Had to be realistic before wasting more time. We also have had a few other ideas queued up

wowow, you seemed so excited not long ago. Is there something that you learned about that turned you off from building on top of Farcaster?

disagree

I think clients will manage to compete, but it's going to take a strong team with funding + patience, a differentiated beachhead, and possibly an existing user base (ex: zora/metamask/... add a farcaster client interface). 

Unfortunately builders underestimate the difficulty of getting DAUs (myself included)

Farcaster is a place for side projects right now, not serious companies. Maybe will change in a few years. But I don’t believe we will ever see another client compete with Warpcast, which makes it all the less interesting to me with the lack of client decentralization.

props for shipping quick and making hard decisions

how has building a client affected your opinion of farcaster? did you consider other revenue streams on top of nook (outside of sign ups?)

i'm sure a lot of fc builders would benefit a ton from your insights!

Building dynamic.xyz | @dynamic | One SDK for every wallet interaction | Demo: demo.dynamic.xyz

Not tied to crypto, but likely so since that’s our background

Nook is an awesome product. I’m sad but excited to see what you guys build next! Non-Farcaster but still in crypto?

building farcaster | surfing @ venice, ca | eating @ gjusta / gjelina | “lucky me, lucky mud” 🤠

damn you guys shipped quickly and really impressed with what you built as a fun side project, excited to see what you do next!

i’m confident whatever the next thing is will be equally awesome.

Mad respect for pulling the plug quickly and not wasting time if you didn’t see a viable path forward.

This is incredibly disheartening news. I've always admired /nook 's user-customizable feeds as a valuable addition to Warpcast. Whatever challenges led to its abandonment, I'll continue to support and eagerly await your future endeavors. 🫡

been super cool to follow the journey & see you guys iterate quickly/in public, excited to see what’s next!

prev: /nook, protocol @ opensea, co-author seaport & stuff.
professional @slokh and @0xalexander fanboy

The best iterators in the game - endlessly bullish on you and @emo.eth

respect! y'all shipped and iterated quickly. looking forward to see where this pivot takes you

wow that's too bad. respect the quick pivot. you guys are elite builders and are an inspiration. looking forward to what you do next!

i have also been thinking a lot about the viability of a client recently...

bummed! but i am sure you’ll pivot to something cool

any learning you’d want to share? it will benefit greatly to those building on top of fc

thanks for your tremendous contributions to the ecosystem!

excited that y’all are going to be able to try new things — never stop learning!

You have an incredible team able to build at such a high pace, can’t wait to see what you build next

It's sad but totally understandable. Building a client, especially something like a Warpcast clone, is tough. The hard part isn't the tech, it's the business side. There's not enough profit to support a full-time team in foreseeable future.