Last Update：16/09/2024
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have emerged in the Web3 ecosystem. They enable these communities to self-govern their projects. On ETH, major DeFi DAOs like Uniswap and MakerDAO collectively manage billions of dollars in smart contracts, underscoring the significant traction behind on-chain governance.
The Internet Computer itself is governed by the Network Nervous System (NNS), an on-chain DAO that manages everything from protocol upgrades to network economics. Building on this foundation, the ICP Community also introduces the Service Nervous System (SNS) framework to extend decentralized governance to individual dapps. Technologically, the Internet Computer also offers unique support for fully decentralized organizations. Unlike the traditional smart contract platforms that often rely on off-chain cloud servers for front-ends data, ICP can host entire applications (FE, BE, and storage) 100% on-chain. This means a DAO on ICP isn’t limited to governing a few contracts, but it can directly control software updates and features of a live web service. In conclusion, the ICO Ecosystem provides a robust foundation for next-generation DAOs that can serve entire communities directly from the blockchain.
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is already a popular concept in the Web3 World. The system allows people to create a community that can manage their works transparently.
This rigidity limits community innovation: if a group devises a novel voting scheme or a treasury management tweak, how would they do it?
SUDAO addresses these gaps by being is a decentralized autonomous organization platform on ICP Ecosystem that extends core governance with modular, plugin-based architecture built in Motoko. We hope that members can extend and shape their DAO to better serve their community goals.
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The name is inspired by sudo in Unix, which grants elevated privileges. SUDAO symbolizes a DAO Framework that gives super-level control to communities, enabling them to govern not just treasury but the entire functionality of their organization.
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We targets web3-engaged individuals who understand blockchain principles and community governance but lack the coding skills to implement technical solutions.
Our target users is basically social entrepreneurs who have access to tech and motivated by a mission on their community.
These types of people will be early adopters of SUDAO, which will have iterative development of the group.
While SUDAO can be used by all kinds of communities, our platform is especially appealing to activist movements and local communities. The group often need unique decision-making models. They also have customized treasury rules, like allocating a percentage to funds or social programs, or rotating leadership roles. See our market here.
SUDAO’s helps you create your community Website, deployed on its own isolated IC canister stack and runs whatever you need. Motoko canisters for backend logic, TypeScript/JS bindings for canister interfaces, and a React/Vite frontend for user interaction. The system is designed for the Internet Computer (IC) ecosystem, supporting DAO and AMM functionalities.
At a glance, DAO Creation follows this sequence described by the diagram.
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Steps 2-4 runs asynchronously so the DAO ID is returned immediately after step 1; The actor can fetch DAO information + deployment status afterward.
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END TO END SEQUENCE
Immediate DAO ID Assignment & Progress Feedback
When a user submits the DAO creation form, the frontend immediately receives a dao_id from the backend (factory canister). 🌟 Purpose: This allows the UI to show progress and status updates, even while the actual canister deployment and initialization are still running asynchronously.
Canister Creation via Factory (Explorer) The DAO Factory (Explorer) is responsible for orchestrating the creation of all required canisters. The factory calls Internet Computer (IC) management APIs to create three separate canisters:
Code Installation After the canisters are created, the factory installs the appropriate code (WASM modules) into each canister.
Canister Initialization The factory then initializes each canister:
The Token/Ledger canister performs an initial mint, sending tokens directly to the AMM canister.
Asynchronous Completion & Status Polling
Asynchronous operations and status updates are managed in Motoko backend files, with progress exposed via canister methods.
WIPs
Currently, the DAO Creation Flow asks for payment to be made after the deployment has successfully finished. This is honestly a workaround.
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This hinders from the error that if the deployment fails at any stage (e.g., during canister creation, code installation, or initialization), the payment will not be consumed. This exposes users to the risk of losing cycles in the event of an incomplete deployment.
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In the future, the system will be extended so that payment required to be made up front before the deployment process begins. To mitigate this issue, we would also add:
This enhancement will ensure that user payments are not wasted due to temporary errors and that DAO deployments can reliably complete end-to-end without manual intervention. Explore more here for our future roadmap.
In SUDAO, plugins are modular extensions that add or modify the functionality of a DAO. Every core feature—including proposals—is delivered as a plugin, ensuring the system stays lightweight and flexible. Communities can install published plugins directly to extend their DAO and developers can build and publish new ones to be shared or sold in the marketplace. This structure allows anyone to integrate governance tools, analytics, or community apps with a simple installation, while giving creators the ability to monetize their contributions.
This is when a developer wanted to code a new plugin. They run sudao new <project>. This generates a sudao.json template metadata that contains something like:
{
"name": "plugin",
"version": "1.0.0",
"creator": "abcd"
}
It also defines plugins specific routes/components.
{
"routes": [
{ "path": "/analytics", "component": "Dashboard" },
{ "path": "/analytics/reports", "component": "Reports" }
]
}
Plugin Bundling and Publishing Once the plugin logic and UI are implemented, it is packaged into a Plugin Bundle. This bundle is the distributable format that can be uploaded and shared through the registry. The bundled plugin is then published into the Plugin Registry. The registry acts as a central hub, storing plugin metadata, versions, and references, similar to an app store.
Plugin Retrieval by DAOs
When an individual DAO needs a plugin, its frontend calls getPlugin() to fetch the required plugins from the registry. The registry returns URLs or references that allow the DAO to dynamically load and use the plugin. Finally, the DAO frontend integrates the retrieved plugin into its interface. This allows the community to instantly extend DAO functionality (e.g., dashboards, analytics, reports) without changing the DAO’s core.
To publish your own plugin in SUDAO, you begin by creating a new project with sudao new <project>, which generates a sudao.json template containing the plugin’s metadata and route definitions. After implementing your logic and UI, the plugin is bundled into a distributable package and uploaded to the Plugin Registry. Once published, it becomes available for any DAO frontend to discover, fetch, and integrate dynamically, enabling communities to extend their functionality instantly without altering their core system.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have been growing at an estimated 30% annual rate since 2021, indicating it has robust expansion. The global market has validated the need for tools that enable decentralized governance.
As of 2025, over 13,000 DAOs have been established globally, collectively managing around $24-25 billion in treasury assets and involving over 11 million governance token holders. One clear trend in the DAO space is the demand for user-friendly, no-code platforms that allow non-developers (general Web3 enthusiasts, community leaders, entrepreneurs) to create and manage DAOs.
To strengthen our digital presence, we leverage our official YouTube channel SUDAO Core Team (http://www.youtube.com/@sudaocoreteam) for storytelling, tutorials, and community updates, as well as our X account (https://x.com/sudao_org) for active engagement, timely communication, and movement building.
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*These can change during development process.