How to Architect a Community Proposal and Voting Dashboard

A community proposal and voting dashboard is the primary interface for decentralized governance, enabling token holders to submit, discuss, and vote on protocol changes. Unlike a simple frontend, its architecture must be robust, transparent, and resistant to manipulation. Core components include a smart contract layer (e.g., OpenZeppelin's Governor), a data indexing service (like The Graph), a frontend application, and often a notification system. The goal is to create a seamless flow from proposal creation to execution, ensuring every vote is verifiable on-chain.

The smart contract foundation is critical. Most systems use a standard like Governor Bravo or its OpenZeppelin implementation, which defines the proposal lifecycle: propose, vote, queue, and execute. You must architect your contracts to handle vote delegation, quorum requirements, and timelocks. For example, a proposal's state—Pending, Active, Canceled, Defeated, Succeeded, Queued, Expired, Executed—is managed entirely on-chain. Integrating with token contracts (ERC-20 or ERC-721) for voting power and designing secure proposal submission logic are the first technical hurdles.

On-chain data alone is insufficient for a good user experience. You need an indexing layer to efficiently query proposals, votes, and delegate histories. This is typically built with The Graph, which uses subgraphs to index blockchain events into a queryable GraphQL API. A subgraph for a Governor contract would map events like ProposalCreated and VoteCast to entities, allowing the frontend to quickly fetch all proposals with their current status, total votes, and voter breakdowns without making slow, sequential RPC calls.

The frontend architecture must prioritize clarity and security. Key views include a proposal listing page with filters, a detailed proposal page showing description, timeline, and live voting results, and a voting interface that connects the user's wallet. Use libraries like wagmi and viem for reliable Ethereum interaction. Crucially, the UI should display the user's voting power at the time of each proposal's snapshot, which is often a historical block number, to prevent confusion about vote eligibility.

Beyond the core vote, consider auxiliary features that drive engagement. These include: notification systems (using services like Push Protocol for alerts on new proposals or voting deadlines), discussion forums (integrating with Discourse or snapshot-based platforms like Commonwealth), and simulation tools (using Tenderly to preview a proposal's on-chain effects). The dashboard should also provide clear visualizations for vote distribution (for/against/abstain) and quorum status using libraries like D3.js or Recharts.

Finally, security and transparency are non-negotiable. All voting results and user interactions must be verifiable via on-chain data and explorer links. Implement thorough input validation for proposal submissions to prevent malformed data. For multi-chain governance, architect a system that can aggregate data from different chains, potentially using a cross-chain messaging protocol like LayerZero or Axelar. The completed dashboard doesn't just display data; it becomes a trustless and essential tool for community-led protocol evolution.

Before architecting a governance dashboard, you need a solid understanding of on-chain governance models. This includes knowledge of token-weighted voting, quadratic voting, and delegated voting systems as implemented by protocols like Compound, Uniswap, and Optimism. You should be familiar with the standard proposal lifecycle: temperature check, formal proposal submission, voting period, timelock execution, and implementation. Understanding these core concepts is essential for designing a dashboard that accurately reflects the governance process of your target protocol.

Technical proficiency with blockchain interaction is mandatory. You must be comfortable using libraries like ethers.js or viem to connect to Ethereum and other EVM-compatible networks. You will need to read data from governance smart contracts, which requires understanding ABIs (Application Binary Interfaces) and event logs to track proposal creation and votes. Familiarity with The Graph for indexing historical governance data or Covalent for multi-chain data aggregation can significantly streamline backend development.

A well-architected dashboard separates concerns between the frontend client, a backend indexer/service, and smart contract data sources. The frontend, built with frameworks like React or Next.js, handles the user interface. The backend is responsible for querying, caching, and serving aggregated blockchain data via a REST or GraphQL API to avoid frontend rate-limiting and improve performance. You'll need to decide whether to build a custom indexer or rely on existing data providers like Tally or Snapshot for off-chain voting data.

A community proposal and voting dashboard is a full-stack application that interfaces with a blockchain's governance smart contracts. The core architecture consists of three primary layers: the on-chain smart contract layer, the indexing and data layer, and the frontend application layer. The smart contracts, typically written in Solidity for EVM chains or Rust for Solana, define the immutable rules for proposal submission, voting power calculation, quorum, and execution. These contracts store the canonical state of all proposals and votes. The data layer, often powered by a subgraph using The Graph protocol or a custom indexer, listens to blockchain events, processes them, and provides a queryable API for the frontend, enabling efficient retrieval of proposal history, vote tallies, and user-specific data without direct RPC calls.

The frontend, built with frameworks like React or Vue.js, connects to user wallets (e.g., via MetaMask, WalletConnect) to authenticate voting power and submit signed transactions. It consumes data from the indexing layer's GraphQL or REST API to display proposals in real-time. Critical design considerations include vote delegation logic, where users can delegate their voting power to others, and snapshot voting, which uses a signed off-chain message to record votes gas-efficiently, with results settled on-chain later. Security is paramount; the architecture must prevent sybil attacks by correctly linking voting power to token holdings or NFTs and must ensure the frontend correctly displays the contract's execution state to avoid user confusion.

For scalability, the system should abstract gas costs for users through meta-transactions or utilize Layer 2 solutions like Arbitrum or Optimism for the governance contracts to reduce fees. A robust backend service may also be needed to trigger time-based execution of passed proposals, listening for the conclusion of voting periods and automatically calling the execute function. When architecting the data flow, consider caching strategies for proposal data and implementing real-time updates via WebSocket subscriptions to the indexer, so users see live vote counts. The final architecture must balance decentralization—keeping core logic on-chain—with user experience, achieved through performant off-chain indexing and a responsive interface.

Governance data is fragmented across different platforms. A robust dashboard must aggregate from on-chain voting contracts (like OpenZeppelin Governor), off-chain snapshot platforms (like Snapshot.org), and discourse forums (like Commonwealth). Each source requires a specific query strategy. For on-chain data, you'll interact with smart contracts using libraries like ethers.js or viem. For off-chain platforms, you'll use their public GraphQL APIs or subgraphs. The goal is to normalize this disparate data into a unified schema for your application.

Start by defining the core data model for a proposal. Essential fields include a unique identifier, title, description, status (pending, active, passed, defeated), start and end timestamps, vote totals (for, against, abstain), and the proposer address. You may also want to track related forum discussions and external links. This model acts as the target schema for your aggregation logic, ensuring consistency regardless of the source.

For Ethereum-based governance contracts, use the Governor contract ABI to query proposals. Key functions are proposalCount(), proposals(proposalId), and state(proposalId). Use a provider like Alchemy or Infura for reliable RPC access. Here's a basic ethers.js snippet to fetch a proposal:

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const proposal = await governorContract.proposals(proposalId);
const state = await governorContract.state(proposalId);

Remember to handle block confirmations and chain reorgs in your data fetching logic.

For Snapshot data, use its hosted GraphQL endpoint at https://hub.snapshot.org/graphql. The proposals query accepts parameters like space (the DAO name) and state (active, closed). You can fetch votes in the same query or in a subsequent batch request. Always implement pagination, as a single space can have hundreds of proposals. Rate limiting is generally generous, but implement error handling and retry logic for production resilience.

Aggregation requires deduplication and conflict resolution. The same proposal might be referenced by an on-chain vote and a Snapshot vote. Establish rules to determine the single source of truth, often prioritizing the on-chain execution. Store all raw data and your normalized view in a database (like PostgreSQL or Supabase) to avoid re-fetching on every page load. Schedule periodic background jobs to update proposal states and sync new data.

Finally, expose this aggregated data through a backend API or directly to your frontend via a framework like Next.js. Structure your API endpoints to allow filtering by status, space, or time period. This completes the data foundation, enabling you to build the visualization and interaction layers in subsequent steps. The reliability of your entire dashboard depends on the accuracy and freshness of this pipeline.

The first technical component is the wallet connection module. Modern dApps use libraries like wagmi (for React) or ethers.js to interface with browser wallets such as MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, or WalletConnect. The process involves detecting the injected window.ethereum provider, requesting account access via eth_requestAccounts, and establishing a connection. For a robust dashboard, you should support multiple wallet providers and networks, handling connection states (connecting, connected, wrong network) gracefully. Always use the official WalletConnect Cloud for secure mobile connections.

Once connected, you must fetch the user's voting power. This is rarely a simple balance check. Governance power can derive from multiple sources: - Token Balance: The amount of a governance token (e.g., UNI, COMP) held in the connected wallet. - Delegated Votes: Votes delegated to the user's address from others. - Staked/Locked Tokens: Tokens in vesting contracts or liquidity pools that confer voting rights (e.g., veCRV). You will need to query the relevant smart contracts using the connected wallet's address to aggregate this data.

For example, to fetch a user's UNI voting power for Uniswap governance, you would query the Uni token contract's getCurrentVotes(address account) function. For Compound, you would check the Comp contract's getCurrentVotes and also consider tokens delegated to the user via delegates(account). This data should be cached and updated on new blocks to reflect real-time balances. Display the total voting power prominently, and consider breaking it down by source (e.g., Owned: 500 UNI, Delegated: 1500 UNI) for transparency.

The UI must also handle gasless voting signatures via EIP-712 or EIP-1271 if supported by the governance system, like in Snapshot off-chain voting. This requires generating a structured data hash of the vote (proposalId, choice) and prompting the user to sign it with their wallet, which can then be submitted by a relayer. Implement clear signing requests and error handling for failed or rejected signatures. The connection and voting power display form the foundational user experience for any governance dashboard.

The dashboard's UI is built with a component-first architecture using React and TypeScript. We structure the application into modular, reusable components that handle specific pieces of functionality. Key components include a ProposalList for browsing, a ProposalDetail view, a VotingWidget for casting votes, and a CreateProposalForm. Using a state management library like Zustand or Redux Toolkit is recommended to manage global application state, such as the connected wallet address, loaded proposals, and user voting power, ensuring data flows predictably through the component tree.

For the ProposalList component, we fetch data from our backend API endpoint (/api/proposals) and display it in a paginated table or card grid. Each list item should show essential metadata: the proposal title, current status (PENDING, ACTIVE, CLOSED), total votes, and a truncated description. Implementing server-side pagination and real-time updates via WebSocket subscriptions or polling is crucial for handling large datasets and reflecting live vote tallies. Use a library like react-query or SWR to efficiently manage data fetching, caching, and background refetching.

The ProposalDetail component renders the full proposal content, discussion, and interactive voting interface. It fetches detailed data from /api/proposals/[id]. This view must clearly present the proposal's description, voting options (e.g., For, Against, Abstain), and a live results chart using a library like Recharts. Security is paramount here; the component must verify the user's voting eligibility (by checking token balance or NFT ownership via the useAccount and useContractRead hooks from wagmi) before enabling the vote button.

The VotingWidget is a controlled form component that handles the transaction flow. When a user submits their choice, the component should: 1) Validate the user's eligibility and remaining voting power, 2) Construct the transaction data (e.g., calling the vote(uint256 proposalId, uint8 support) function on the governance smart contract), 3) Prompt the user to sign the transaction via their wallet (using wagmi's useContractWrite hook), and 4) Monitor the transaction status, providing clear feedback (pending, success, error) to the user.

Finally, the CreateProposalForm allows authorized users to submit new proposals. It includes fields for title, description, and an array of executable actions (target contract, calldata, value). Form validation is handled with React Hook Form and zod. On submission, the form data is sent to the backend API (POST /api/proposals), which handles the on-chain proposal submission. The UI should guide the user through each step and display an estimated proposal creation cost in ETH.

The core of the voting dashboard is the smart contract interaction layer. For a proposal created via a standard like OpenZeppelin Governor, the frontend must call the castVote function, passing the proposalId, support (0=against, 1=for, 2=abstain), and an optional reason string. Use a library like Ethers.js or Viem to construct the transaction. It's critical to fetch the user's voting power at the correct block number (the snapshot) before allowing a vote submission, which can be done by calling the governance token's getPastVotes function. Always handle gas estimation and provide clear transaction status feedback to the user.

Proposal state tracking is essential for UI updates. You must poll or subscribe to events to monitor the transition from Active to Succeeded, Defeated, or Queued. Listen for the VoteCast event to update live tallies in real-time. For execution, the execute function can only be called after the voting period ends and the proposal succeeds. The frontend should guide users through this multi-step process: first showing the successful proposal, then enabling the execute button, which bundles all the proposal's encoded function calls (targets, values, calldata) into a single transaction.

Security considerations are paramount. Implement checks to prevent replay attacks and ensure the user is voting with the correct, undelegated tokens. For gasless voting, integrate a meta-transaction relayer like OpenZeppelin Defender or Gelato. The execution step is particularly sensitive; always decode and display the calldata in a human-readable format (where possible) before the user signs, showing which contracts and functions will be called with which parameters. This transparency is critical for user trust.

A robust dashboard includes post-execution features. After a proposal is executed, emit and track the ProposalExecuted event. You should also display the resulting transaction hash and link to a block explorer. Consider implementing a history or archive view that stores proposal metadata off-chain (e.g., in IPFS via The Graph or a centralized backend) for permanent, fast retrieval, as querying all events directly from the chain can become slow over time.

You should now understand the architectural blueprint for a community proposal and voting dashboard. The system integrates a smart contract backend (e.g., using OpenZeppelin's Governor contracts), a decentralized data indexing layer (like The Graph for querying proposal state and votes), and a responsive frontend client (built with frameworks like React or Next.js). Security is paramount, requiring rigorous testing of contract logic with tools like Foundry or Hardhat, and careful management of private keys for transaction signing in the frontend using libraries like Wagmi or Viem.

For your next steps, begin by deploying and testing the governance contracts on a testnet. Use platforms like Tenderly or OpenZeppelin Defender to monitor transactions and set up automation for proposal lifecycle events. Implement the subgraph to index proposal creation, voting power snapshots, and cast votes. A critical integration is connecting to a token or NFT contract to determine voting power, ensuring your getVotes function aligns with your community's tokenomics, whether it involves simple ERC-20 balances or more complex mechanisms like delegation or time-locked weights.

Finally, focus on the user experience. Your frontend should clearly display active proposals, voter eligibility, and real-time vote tallies. Incorporate wallet connection via MetaMask or WalletConnect, and consider adding features like proposal simulation with Tenderly Fork API to let users preview outcomes. Always audit your smart contracts and consider a bug bounty program before mainnet deployment. For continued learning, explore resources like the OpenZeppelin Governance documentation and the Compound Governance system, which popularized this model.