Build DApps

Like Apps

Hedgehog is an open-source, client-side Ethereum wallet that uses a username and password.

Allow users to interact with your DApp just like they would any other website, no extensions required, without centralizing control of keys.

View on Github

The Pitch

Not All Transactions Are Created Equal

Current Ethereum wallets treat every transaction as if it were moving your life’s savings. Hedgehog was built for use-cases involving low-to-no financial value.

Note: The primary improvement to end-user experience is gained by hiding wallet complexity and not forcing users to confirm transactions - the opposite of what you’d want when moving significant money around.

No More Popups

Decentralized apps today require lots of technical knowledge to configure and use, limiting your user base and reducing the potential for growth.

testimonial
Will Wnekowicz
Principal Engineer at Kleiner Perkins

"Congrats Audius!
Hedgehog 🦔 is the DApp on-boarding
experience we’ve all been waiting for!"

Usage

Is Hedgehog Right For Your DApp?

Hedgehog isn’t right for every DApp. Massive improvements in user experience are only possible through tradeoffs. As a general rule Hedgehog should not be used for apps involving significant sums of money. As a bridge, one could start users on Hedgehog and suggest migrating to a more secure wallet if their stored value increases beyond a certain threshold. Hedgehog is interoperable with existing web3 providers too.

Little to no financial value

Examples Where Hedgehog Might Be Right For You

Securely Signing Data

If you’re building decentralized applications that rely on user signed data (for instance via EIP-712-esque signing schemes). Hedgehog could help simplify the experience if the stakes are low enough.

Decentralized Gaming App

If you’re building a fun gaming DApp, improving user experience is key to your platform’s growth.

Nothing ruins a good time quite like signing transactions.

Decentralized Music Player

If you’re building consumer-facing DApps, Hedgehog will dramatically improve user experience and significantly increase your potential userbase.
(A good example of this in action)

Significant Financial Value

Where You Should Not Use Hedgehog

We absolutely do not recommend using Hedgehog in situations like these:
Decentralized Lending, Banking DApp (Store-of-Value), Prediction Markets

If your DApp involves moving around significant sums of money, then the tradeoff in security is most likely not worth it. Hedgehog’s primary improvement to end-user experience is by hiding the wallet and not forcing users to confirm transactions - The opposite of what you’d want when moving money around.

Demo

So, How Does It Work?

Hedgehog is a package that lives in your front end application to create and manage a user’s entropy (from which a private key is derived). Hedgehog relies on a username and password to create encrypted auth artifacts, so it’s able to simulate a familiar authentication system that allows users to sign up or login from multiple browsers or devices and retrieve their entropy. Those artifacts, through hedgehog, are persisted to a backend of your choosing.

A private key is only computed and available client side and is never transmitted or stored anywhere besides the user’s browser.