🏮 NIMQ LANTERN

Turn a NIM payment into a wish that lights up a shared sky.

🌌 Live Demo: Coming soon

🎥 Demo Video: coming soon

Lantern is a Nimiq Pay mini app where a small wallet action becomes a public moment. A user writes a wish, signs it with their Nimiq wallet, sends a tiny amount of NIM as postage, and the server verifies the message before raising that lantern into a shared night sky.

Why it exists

Lantern is built for people who want crypto to feel human again.

The target audience is:

• Nimiq users who want a playful, social wallet experience
• crypto-native communities who value visible, shared moments
• creators and community members who want to send a message, not just a transaction
• people who like lightweight social rituals and public, low-friction participation

With Lantern:

• a user writes a wish in 1–80 characters
• they choose a color and postage amount
• their wallet signs a nonce-bound message
• the server validates the wallet proof and NIM payment before accepting the lantern
• enough community tips turn the lantern into a star

The sky is intentionally server-authoritative, so a modified client cannot cheat the display.

How it works

1. Make a wish

Write a short message for the sky.

2. Sign with Nimiq

Use the wallet to prove the wish is yours.

3. Send postage

Pay a small amount of NIM to raise the lantern.

4. Light the sky

The lantern rises for everyone to see.

5. Become a star

Tips can turn a lantern into a permanently glowing star.

Submission pitch

Most crypto transactions disappear the moment they are confirmed. Lantern makes them visible.

Every small NIM payment becomes a wish floating into a shared sky. Wallet signatures provide identity, payments provide participation, and community tips transform lanterns into stars.

Lantern turns NIM from a transaction into a shared social experience.

Features

• full-screen lantern sky with live WebSocket updates
• preview mode for local browser testing without wallet signing
• wallet-based signing and postage flow with Nimiq Pay
• tipping flow that promotes lanterns into stars
• single-process Node server that serves the built client and API

Local development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• npm
• a browser with Nimiq Pay for live wallet testing

Install and run

npm install
npm run dev

This starts:

• client UI on http://localhost:5173
• sky server on http://127.0.0.1:8787

For a production-like local run:

npm run build
LANTERN_TREASURY='NQXX ...' npm start

On Windows PowerShell:

npm run build
$env:LANTERN_TREASURY="NQXX ..."
npm start

Production deployment

Lantern is designed to run as a single Node process with a built frontend and an API server.

Required environment variables

• PORT — server port, default 8787
• LANTERN_TREASURY — the NIM address receiving postage and tips
• LANTERN_MIN_LUNA — minimum accepted postage/tip value in Luna, default 1000

Production startup

npm install
npm run build
LANTERN_TREASURY='NQXX ...' PORT=8787 npm start

Deploy to a Node host

This project can be deployed to any Node-compatible host such as:

• Render
• Railway
• Fly.io
• an Ubuntu VM / VPS
• a container host

Typical Node deployment pattern:

1. clone the repository
2. install dependencies with npm install
3. build with npm run build
4. set LANTERN_TREASURY and other env vars
5. start with npm start

A minimal host command is:

npm install
npm run build
PORT=8787 LANTERN_TREASURY='NQXX ...' npm start

Mini App integration details

Lantern uses the Nimiq Pay Mini App SDK for:

• init() to connect to the wallet
• listAccounts() for identity lookup
• sign() with a nonce-bound LANTERN v1 message
• sendBasicTransactionWithData() for postage and tips

The server issues one-time nonces so the same wallet signature cannot be replayed.

Testing

npm test

For the full validation pass:

npm run check

Competition checklist

This project is well-positioned for a Nimiq mini-app submission because it includes:

• a polished dark design with a clear first impression
• a fast, single-purpose interaction loop
• real wallet signing and NIM postage flows
• repeat-value behavior through tipped lanterns and visual sky activity
• a built-in local validation path with automated tests and a release check

For a stronger submission, the main extra work is distribution and storytelling: a small demo video, a public repo, and a concise pitch explaining why a shared sky made of NIM-powered wishes is useful and memorable.

Built with Nimiq

Lantern uses the Nimiq Mini App SDK for:

• wallet identity via init() and listAccounts()
• signing with sign() using a nonce-bound LANTERN v1 message
• NIM transfers with sendBasicTransactionWithData() for postage and tips
• Mini App integration in a wallet-native environment

Why this could grow

Lantern is designed to be more than a single one-off interaction. It creates a repeatable social ritual that could expand into:

• community sky events
• seasonal or festival lantern collections
• trending wishes and themed skies
• wallet-based history and identity
• sponsored or community-run lantern worlds

GitHub

git remote add origin https://github.com/<your-username>/lantern.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

License

MIT