Starting today, miniapp developers on Seam will earn Seam Points when users unlock their apps. This article details how the Seam miniapp marketplace works — both how developers earn for creating miniapps, and how users of Seam unlock miniapps.

We’re launching Seam Points for our miniapp marketplace because of our commitment to recognize and reward developers for their creative efforts. As a miniapp developer, you're not just a contributor; you become a crucial part of building the first community developed social platform.

Unlocking miniapps benefits not just the developers but also the users. It encourages a proliferation of unique miniapps in our marketplace, creating new ways to share and create music, art, and games. Every time users unlock a miniapp, they're directly supporting the developers, fostering a sense of community and shared success.

We believe this step symbolizes a significant advancement in Seam’s journey. It's not just about enriching the Seam platform with a range of diverse miniapps; it's about pioneering a new system for collaborative creation online, and a new non-ad business model for social networks.

Unlocking Miniapps

• To unlock a miniapp, you send 30 Seam Points to the creator of the miniapp. That’s how we reward the people who make fun new miniapps!
• All core miniapps made by @seam will be unlocked for free, forever.
• Once miniapps are unlocked, you can use them to create posts on Seam.

Earning Seam Points

• Signing up to Seam earns you 100 Seam Points to choose your starter miniapp. If you’re an original user of Seam, we’re adding an 100SP welcome back bonus.
• Users earn more Seam Points by completing daily miniapp challenges.
• We’re experimenting with new ways to earn and spend Seam Points, so stay tuned :)

Creating Miniapps

• Build a new miniapp by reading our docs at docs.getseam.xyz and making a pull request to our open-source miniapp repository.

FAQ

• Will Seam Points eventually be redeemable for real money? Will they be onchain?
  • Yes. We’re exploring and researching methods for the fairest way to exchange Seam Points.
• Does Seam take a cut of transactions to unlock miniapps?
  • Initially no, currently all proceeds flow to the creators of the miniapps to bootstrap the miniapp marketplace. However, as Seam grows, we’ll introduce a small transaction fee to support the development of the superapp.
• Why use Seam Points and not traditional currencies?
  • Using Seam Points allows us to experiment with new coordination models online, like awarding points for fixing bugs, suggesting miniapps, and collectively building the app together. More on this soon.

Seam is a community-developed social platform to create and discover open-source miniapps. It provides a platform for online creatives to showcase their work, curate inspiration, and collaborate with peers.