▶ Hackathon project
§ Project file

NodeSignal

The permanent record for this hackathon project: write-up, links, team, tags, and prizes.
Best Beginner HackHonorable Mention building consensus
A Signal-like messaging app for Bitcoin nodes, hence the name! After researching Core vs Knots, I have come to the conclusion that we need better ways to directly and efficiently discuss consensus, and what better way to do that than through Bitcoin nodes themselves?
The write-up

Has an informational visual area showing your peer connections, what they‘re signaling for, node implementation, and more! Allows you to import your node’s connections and send messages. If your peer also has NodeSignal, messages will show up on their end and can be exchanged over clearnet. Ideally, this would be adapted to Tor for obvious security, but clearnet was easier to implement in this short time. This program requires Node.js to run if you want to connect to actual nodes during the demo, as well as launching the bridge.bat file before trying to connect to nodes in the program.

I am happy to report that I was able to successfully connect to my own node, which is currently 846 miles away in Tuscaloosa, Alabama! This program successfully extracts node information directly from the connection itself and presents it in a really satisfying way. While bare-bones, I am very happy with how this turned out!

This idea is niche, but I believe it‘s awesome and could have genuine use cases if executed correctly from start to finish.