What is iCAN? -- The best easy-to-use Canister Management Platform on IC.

Background

1. Currently, developers can only manage their canister by the NNS wallet and the DFX command line.
2. The NNS wallet only displays basic information about Canister. And developers can’t easily use the NNS wallet to manage the Canisters.Only Canister id without other information makes it impossible for developers to use NNS wallet to manage their canisters conveniently.
3. Hard to manage canister status by the DFX CLI.

Intro

Easy to use UI interface to deploy and manage your CANISTERS

1. iCAN = IC + Canister. It is an on-chain Canister management tool built on IC.
2. iCAN helps developers manage the Canister by a graphical interface, to create contracts, download WebAssembly modules, manage Canister indicators, etc.

Functions

1. Detailed Management

   a. Dynamic change of Canister’s Settings

   b. More convenient Canister Management

   c. Detailed description of Canister

2. Status Detection

   a. Support top up canisters directly using ICP, and deposit Cycles to Canister directly

   b. Timely feedback on the status of Canister, so that developers can understand the current status of Canister and manage it in time

3. Creation and Deletion

   a. Graphical Canister management Interface

   b. Be able to create & delete Canisters, and automatically recycle Cycles

4. Support Import

   Import Canisters created before to your own hub.

5. WebAssembly Control

   Download the latest WebAssembly

Strengths

The iCAN Developer Platform helps developers manage Canister. The future goal is to become a comprehensive contract management platform on IC.

1. Create Management Hub in random subnet

   By the random subnet hub, you can choose which subnet you want your canister to be created.

2. Convenient Management

   You can name the canisters, tag them or give them a description so that you can manage them conveniently.

3. Trustless Management

   Hub Canister is only controlled by yourself, which supports a trustless hosting service.

Architecture Diagram

API

Introduce the public interface of iCAN Canister and Hub Canister.

Types

    module{
    
        public type Error = {
            #Invalid_Caller;
            #Invalid_CanisterId;
            #No_Wasm;
            #No_Record;
            #Insufficient_Cycles;
            #Ledger_Transfer_Failed : Nat; // value : log id
            #Create_Canister_Failed : Nat;
        };
    
        public type Canister = {
            name : Text;
            description : Text;
            canister_id : Principal;
            wasm : ?[Nat8];
        };
    
        public type Status = {
            cycle_balance : Nat;
            memory : Nat;
        };
    
        public type UpdateSettingsArgs = {
            canister_id : Principal;
            settings : canister_settings
        };
    
        public type TransformArgs = {
            icp_amount : Nat64; // e8s
            to_canister_id : Principal
        };
    
        public type DeployArgs = {
            name : Text;
            description : Text;
            settings : ?canister_settings;
            deploy_arguments : ?[Nat8];
            wasm : ?[Nat8];
            cycle_amount : Nat;
            preserve_wasm : Bool;
        };
    
        public type canister_settings = {
            freezing_threshold : ?Nat;
            controllers : ?[Principal];
            memory_allocation : ?Nat;
            compute_allocation : ?Nat;
        };
    
    };

iCAN Canister

iCAN Canister is used to create the Management Hub.

    // iCAN Canister Public Service Interface
    public type iCAN = actor{

        // get your own hubs' info (call this function use your identity)
        // @return array of (Hub Name, Hub Canister Id)
        getHub : query () -> async [(Text, Principal)];

        // get current hub wasm and cycle withdraw wasm in use
        // @return (hub wasm, cycle withdraw wasm)
        getWasms : query () -> async ([Nat8], [Nat8]);

        // get administrators of ican at present
        // @return array of administrators
        getAdministrators : query () -> async [Principal];

        // create canister management hub
        // @param name : hub name
        // @param amount : icp e8s amount
        createHub : (name : Text, amount : Nat64) -> async Result.Result<Principal, Error>;

        // add hub info to your hubs
        // @param name : hub name
        // @param hub_id : hub canister principal
        addHub : (name : Text, hub_id : Principal) -> async Text;

        // delete hub from your hub set
        deleteHub : (hub_id : Principal) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

        // transform icp to cycles and deposit the cycles to target cansiter
        transformIcp : (args : TransformArgs) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

    };

Hub Canister

It is the personal management canister deployed by users.

    public type Hub = actor{

        // get current version hub canister's wasm
        // @return Wasm Version
        getVersion : query() -> async Nat;

        // get owners of this hub canister
        // @return owners array
        getOwners : query() -> async [Principal];

        // get status of hub canister ( owner only )
        getStatus : query() -> async Result.Result<Status, Error>;

        // get canisters managed by this hub ( owner only )
        getCanisters : query() -> async Result.Result<[Canister], Error>;

        // get wasm of specified canister ( owner only )
        getWasm : query (canister_id : Principal) -> async Result.Result<[Nat8], Error>;

        // put canister into hub ( not matter if not controlled by hub canister ) ( owner only )
        // @param c : should be put into hub canister
        putCanister : (c : Canister) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

        // deploy canister by hub canister  ( owner only )
        // @return #ok(new canister's principal) or #err(Error)
        deployCanister : (args : DeployArgs) -> async Result.Result<Principal, Error>;

        // update canister settings  ( owner only )
        updateCanisterSettings : (args : UpdateSettingsArgs) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

        // start the specify canister, which should be controlled by hub canister  ( owner only )
        // @param principal : target canister's principal
        startCanister : (principal : Principal) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

        // stop canister ( owner only )
        // @param principal : target canister's principal
        stopCanister : (principal : Principal) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

        // deposit cycles to target canister ( equal to top up to target canister)
        // @param id : target canister principal, cycle amount : how much cycles should be top up
        depositCycles(id : Principal, cycle_amount : Nat, ) : async Result.Result<(), Error>;

        // delete canister from hub canister and withdraw cycles from it ( owner only )
        // @param canister's principal
        delCanister : ( id : Principal ) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

        // install cycle wasm to hub canister ( owner only )
        // @param wasm : cycle wasm blob (you can deploy your own cycle wasm to your hub canister)
        installCycleWasm : (wasm : [Nat8]) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

        // change hub owner ( owner only )
        // @param : new owners array
        changeOwner : (newOwners : [Principal]) -> async Result.Result<(), Error>;

    };

Roadmap

2022Q2 MVP launch.

2022Q3 Full support for the current Canister management.

1. Import Canisters Created Before
2. Support to deploy Actor Class Canister
3. Support to add more Administrators to Hub Canister ( Support Team Cooperation )
4. Open source iCAN and hand over to the community DAO

Support one click creation of specific types of canisters (asset canisters, NFT canisters) and uploading front-end assets.

2022Q4 Launch the Log Management Platform. Support data recovery.

2022Q4-2023 Become the best Canister management platform and developer infrastructure for IC.

Team

Mixlabs is a leading-edge technology laboratory in the blockchain direction composed of top universities and community developers in Asia. It is mainly engaged in cutting-edge technology research, incubation and ecological support in the blockchain direction.

Come to join us!

Email: team@icantool.app

Website: icantool.app

Twitter: @iCAN_DAPP

Discord:

Gitbook: