Spade and Slingshot program overview

Spade (service) and Spade (dealer)

• Spade
  • Spade (service): data onboarding service that includes Spade (dealer), but also includes SP KYB and Validation software (Validation bot ++)
• Spade (dealer): the engine that makes deals and API for SPs and tenants to request and make deals
• Multiple tenants can use Spade (dealer)
  • Options: run own implementation or use an existing implementation
  • Spade-as-a-Service
    • Each tenant / program defines own rules
    • The rules of one tenant would not apply to another one
• Spade dealer provides a low-friction environment for Storage Providers (SPs) to receive Filecoin Plus (Fil+) denominated storage deals by doing the following:
  • Dealer aggregates storage requests (lists of CIDs) and metadata (policy) from Spade tenants
  • Dealer presents SPs with an API that aggregates all the possible CIDs that an SP is eligible to store at any given point in time, organized by tenant.
    • SPs can predictably build automation around this
    • The output is also designed to be easily human-readable
  • SPs consume this aggregated list and can trigger an instant storage deal proposal for any entry, as long as the proposal does not violate the terms set by the originating tenant
• Tenant / data supplier is able to define the following for the dealer (tenant policy):
  • Replication policy (replica distribution and count)
  • SP constraints (e.g., where located, organizations limits, be in a list, quality of service (RSR))
  • Desired list of PieceCIDs and their description
  • In some cases, make the corresponding CAR files available over HTTP or comparable stream-oriented protocol
• Spade takes care of the rest of deal proposal process, including selecting Storage Providers automatically if desired by the tenant
• Spade is focused on throughput and thus its design exclusively around a "pull" workflow
  • A deal proposal can only be initiated by the receiving SP and all deal proposals are, without exception, made for out-of-band data flow (not to be mistaken with offline deals)
  • This gives complete control to the SP operator over both the deal-transfer mechanism, and the timing of data injection into their carefully tuned sealing pipeline
  • From a tenant perspective the service provides a convenient way to disseminate a dataset to a group of storage providers while strictly following replication guidelines set by the tenant themselves

Spade dealer enforcing tenant requirements

• Has capability to enforce external tenant (programs) decision API
• V1 scope does not include real time enforcement of any SP quality of service / retrievability checks (some functionality already exists through Validation Bot, but loop will be closed in v2)
• However, Spade can consume a list of allowlisted SPs and only make deals with these SPs
  • Each tenant running Spade is able to update the list dynamically
  • Tenant will need to own the process of checking participants’ compliance and updating the list of eligible SPs

KYB process for SPs to participate in Spade

• Currently in place: Ground Control v1
  • Compares the IP location from on-chain multi-address to SP location stated in the application
  • Validates the stated power on chain
  • Storage Provider organization
• Future state
  • Validation Bot will be pinging SPs from geo-distributed nodes to check for potential use of VPN

Other

Becoming a Fil+ provider

• Data publisher applies for a FIl+ data cap