Welcome to the fxhash documentation, here you can find everything that you need to know to get started on the open generative art platform!

The $FXH protocol is a powerful foundation for creating, collecting, and evolving generative art in ways that push artistic potential to new levels.

The protocol powers art coins: art-driven currencies that unlock a new medium called open-form generative art.

A new era for generative art

We’ve had long-form. We’ve had short-form.

Now, fxhash introduces open-form: a dynamic, evolving, participatory medium where the artwork is shaped in real time—by both artists and collectors.

This isn’t just a feature. It’s a new medium.

Seed evolution explained

Every locked edition becomes a seed—a source from which others can evolve. Evolutions generate mint fees shared across the lineage.

Great seeds earn. The better your curation, the more others build on it.

👇 Try out the for yourself to see how it works.

Art-driven Currencies

Each open-form collection runs on an art coin—an ERC20 cryptocurrency that can represent a project, a series, or your entire body of work. Art coins are not memecoins, shitcoins, or content coins.

Unlike other coins, art coins are intrinsically connected to the artwork at a contract level. They are meaningful forms of currency for art collections that blur the lines between art, finance, and utility.

Use one art coin across the years, or launch a fresh art coin with each idea. Projects launched with art coins can evolve, their codebases can be updated, and they can stay open indefinitely.

Art coins are built for how artists actually work. They enable interaction at scale, unlock new value around your work, and grow with your practice.

How value flows around the art coin system

Art coins turn interaction into income—for artists, collectors, and traders alike. When your art moves people, it moves coins.

Why art coins matter for…

– Collectors: re-roll, lock, evolve—every choice can shape the art and move the market

– Artists: release systems, not static drops—and earn from every layer of interaction

– Traders: speculate on coins tied to projects with real usage and visibility

– Everyone: a market shaped by creative action—not gatekeeping

$FXH has a supply of 1bn tokens—learn more about earning $FXH through our community incentives .

Welcome to the fxhash Quickstart Guide! This guide will walk you through setting up your wallet, adding funds, and connecting to fxhash so you can start collecting and/or publish your own projects. We'll link to the relevant sections of the docs throughout the guide, but if you don't find something you're looking for make sure to check the search box in the top right corner, or reach out to us over on discord.

At fxhash, we build tools that allow artists and collectors to pursue their passion for generative art. Our platform provides an intuitive and secure environment for artists, collectors, and curators to create generative art projects, buy, sell, and collect art — and share their collections with the world.

Digital artists have have faced challenging in securing a living from their art during the last twenty years. However, this paradigm is shifting gradually with the advent of blockchain and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Our mission is to accelerate this change by building fxhash into the world’s foremost generative art hub. In this place, the entire artistic community — including artists, collectors, curators, institutions— can access to meaningful tools to realise and share their art projects.

Our vision for fxhash is a place where global artists earn a living from their digital works of art, regardless of their geographic location, while using our tools that assist them to learn, grow, and excel in their generative art practice.

In our ecosystem, collectors, curators, galleries, and museums hold an equivalent status with artists in that their support, network effects, and feedback are vital to the artist’s success.

This is the reason we place equal importance on developing marketplace features, curation tools, and live minting implementations. So that collectors, curators, galleries, and museums can not only showcase but also elevate the generative art movement.

Onchfs provides a specification for turning directories and files into inscriptions, following a process suited for any blockchain, as the file abstraction layer is high enough so that blockchain-implementation specifics can't intefere with it.

Due to files & directories being fully content-addressed, a same set of files/directories will end up having a same set of pointers regardless of the blockchain on which they're stored. This is particularly usefull when looking at cross-chain compatibility of the protocol, because it means that one asset may reference a resource on another blockchain, even though such resource may not currently exist on the former blockchain. Onchfs proxies will be responsible for handling requests to fetch corresponding files if needed, but eventually such files can be moved to the blockchain on which the original asset exist for ensuring it will be stored in perpetuity.

This can become useful if there is a need to use a cheaper blockchain for storing bigger chunks of data to be accessed more expensive blockchain. While not a typical scenario, it's worth noting the built-in onchfs support for such cases.

• RFC 3986 / Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax

• RFC 1738 / Uniform Resource Locators (URL)

• RFC 5234 / Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF

• RFC 2718 / Guidelines for new URL Schemes

Over the next two chapters of the collectors docs we’ll provide you with everything required to get started on fxhash as a collector. In the first part we detail how to navigate the fxhash platform for acquiring tokens and adding them to your collection, whereas in the second part we go over some more advanced notions required for growing a collection and some of the notions of being a collector.

One thing that you want to do often and frequently while developing your fxhash project, is testing it across different browsers and different devices. Because different browsers are developed by different organisations and may be built in a way such that they interpret web standards differently, there can be variations in how a website or web application is displayed and behaves across different browsers.

Browser compatibility is particularly important for web developers and designers because it ensures that users have a consistent and reliable experience regardless of the browser they choose to use. This is also important in the case of an fxhash project, we want the code that generates our artwork to run consistently on every browser with no variance.

Content Availability

In contrast to other on-chain on-demand storage solutions, onchfs requires an http proxy to display the content of a resource, as it cannot reliably serve files directly from on-chain read calls. In essence, we consider this limitation to be fairly acceptable as this in-between http-proxy layer is very straightforward and can easily be ran by anyone with an internet connection, without even having to rely on a 3rd party service.

Read more

More infos about the .

Advantaged Buying

Advantaged buyers are considered those who have tools they have built themselves, or purchased from others, that give them an algorithmic advantage and automated buying capabilities from primary markets or secondary markets. This is colloquially referred to as botting and like in many communities, is considered taboo.

At fxhash, there is inbuilt anti-botting mechanisms included in the contracts to combat this behaviour. Small scale botting is allowed but is highly discouraged.

fxhash projects are web based generative artworks that display graphics in the browser. We’ve now had a look at all of the tools that fxhash provides to facilitate this endeavour, and also had a look at the fxhash API that provides helper functions to create a compatible generative artwork. Now we still need to discuss some notions that are related to developing a robust generative artwork, that displays itself properly in the canvas, works across different browsers, and implements some user friendly features. These things aren’t directly related to fxhash, but are quite important to get right.

In the following sections we will discuss some of the important notions involved in the creation of a generative artwork for fxhash:

There are primarily two technologies to create graphics in the browser, they are:

• The HTML Canvas: the html canvas element is a rectangular bitmap area (essentially a raster/grid of pixels) that can be displayed within an HTML page, and allows the control over individual pixels via javascript. It comes with an attached rendering context that provides several useful functions for drawing to that canvas. Most modern generative art makes use of this canvas element and its associated API. Furthermore, many libraries are built on top of this Canvas API that further facilitate the creation of graphics. We will talk in detail about this canvas element in the coming sections.

• SVGs - Scalable Vector Graphics: in contrast to the pixel based canvas element, scalable vector graphics are a resolution independent alternative to creating graphics in the browser. SVGs are based on XML and describes 2D graphics in a vector format. An SVG is essentially a document of shapes and paths that can be drawn, and the browser renders it as needed. There are also javascript libraries that facilitate the creation of these SVGs, and make it possible to make art with them, but it is overall a bit trickier than making art with the canvas element.

While for collectors the focus lies on ownership, curators are more concerned with the presentation of their collection. Curators aim to elevate the individual works they’ve added to their collection beyond their simple existence as “acquisitions” and leveraging them as vehicles to paint and present different narratives:

In this manner, art curators strive to tell stories, provoke thought, and spark dialogue through the careful presentation of art. This is often achieved by highlighting connections between works, contextualize the artworks within historical, cultural, or thematic frameworks, or by providing further context on the creation of the pieces and offering new perspectives on their interpretation. Additionally, curators play a vital role in preserving and promoting the artistic heritage that goes into making of individual artworks - which is crucial factor in the fast paced and ever-evolving NFT landscape.

In this sense, Web3 tech not only makes it much easier to be involved in the NFT art scene as a collector, but also creates new curatorial affordances. Hobbyist collectors can try their hand at art curation, while experts from the traditional art scene can exercise and leverage their experience in a digital framework. In what follows we will discuss what it means to be a curator in the Web3 setting and provide some guidance on getting started with this endeavor on your own.

Curatorial Approaches

In the NFT setting, the distinction between collectors and curators becomes blurred: NFT collectors, just like traditional art collectors, may be motivated by financial incentives or personal interest. Due to the digital nature of NFTs, collectors can also easily showcase and present their collections online, further simplified by many of the collection management platforms already having built-in curation features.

There’s a number of different approaches for creating groupings of distinct pieces in your collection, both in the traditional and digital Web3 setting, some common methods towards that end are:

• Thematic Curation: Selecting artworks based on a specific theme, idea, or concept. In generative art this could be based on a similarity in visual aesthetics, similarity in underlying algorithmic principles that bring the generative outputs to life, or even similarity in the non-code concepts behind the artwork.

• Comparative Curation: Juxtaposing artworks from different artists, can highlight their similarities and/or differences. Again, this can be from an aesthetic or conceptual point of view.

• Collaborative Curation: Sometimes collectors, curators, artists, and/or community members band together to create a shared vision for an exhibition or collection, pitching pieces from their own collections. Curating an artwork doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to own it - you can still emotionally and intellectually engage with an artwork even if it is not part of your collection.

Naturally, there’s more to creating a curation than just grouping different artworks together and calling it a day, the accompanying context, story, and narrative is of equal importance.

Tools for Creating NFT Curations

There are quite a few tools out there that allow you to create digital galleries, showcase the pieces in your collection, and create curations with ease:

1. : Deca is arguably the most popular tool for curation purposes. It covers both ETH and Tezos NFTs. It allows you to create a number of different types of digital galleries; essentially represented as different kinds of canvas-like boards on which you can position the artworks in your collection in arbitrary manners, and further supplement them with written information of your own.

   It also provides advanced filtering tools to search your collection for particular pieces to include in these galleries. Deca also provides social features, allowing you to follow your favorite artists/collectors/curators, and also has some mechanics that game-ify the curation experience. As a dApp you can simply connect your wallet to the platform and get started creating your digital galleries.

2. : Gallery is another popular curation tool - covering several blockchains other than ETH and Tezos as well it’s also quickly become a community favorite. It functions similarly to Deca in that it allows you to group specific pieces in your collection and display them in form of a board. Furthermore, Gallery is currently also compatible with Farcaster - meaning that you can simply login to it via your Farcaster account. Beyond that Gallery also provides a convenient companion mobile app in which you can view your collection on the go.

Beyond this we also encourage you to write about your curatorial efforts with the fx(text) feature, allowing you to mint your writing as semi-fungible tokens, in which you can natively link/showcase fxhash pieces in your collection. You can learn more about fx(text) here.

What are NFTs?

Imagine NFTs as digital certificates of authenticity and ownership for unique items. They're akin to virtual collectibles, each with its own special story and intrinsic value.

An NFT is like a one-of-a-kind painting. Just as no two paintings are exactly alike, each NFT is distinct and irreplaceable. This is in contrast to cryptocurrencies that are fungible tokens:

• Fungible Tokens: Regular money is fungible. One $10 bill can be swapped for another, retaining the same value. The same principle applies to cryptocurrency, which is a fungible token on the blockchain.

• Non-Fungible Tokens: A unique painting or a signed first-edition book can't be swapped for just anything else. They are valuable because of their uniqueness – this is what an NFT represents. It is a unique digital token that has unique properties making it distinct from any other token, such as a unique ID and metadata.

By virtue of blockchains being digital ledgers that have an immutable record of transactions, ownership of these Non-Fungible Tokens can be associated with specific wallet addresses. This also has the consequence that NFTs are financial assets:

• Ownership: NFTs affirm digital ownership, akin to holding a rare, collectible item.

• NFTs can be sold and traded: This ownership is recorded on the blockchain, allowing for transparent and verifiable transfer, exchanged for cryptocurrency or traded for another NFT via smart contracts.

• Authenticity and Provenance: The blockchain ensures each NFT's authenticity and provides a traceable history.

What are Smart Contracts?

Whereas blockchain technology provides the infrastructure to store and immutably record transactions, there needs to be a protocol for how these transactions are effectuated.

These protocols are called smart contracts, as their name suggests, are agreements executed between two parties on a blockchain. They typically dictate the rules for transaction execution, doing so in a transparent and secure manner.

Smart contracts, which come in various forms, are essentially the code that makes blockchain transactions possible. Most of the operations that you will effectuate on fxhash have some sort of smart contract running in the background. For instance, purchasing a GENTK from fxhash triggers a smart contract upon transaction confirmation in your wallet. This action records the transaction on the blockchain, transferring the cost of the GENTK to the artist and delivering the purchased GENTK to you.

NFTs in Generative Art

Smart Contracts and blockchain technology are crucial in enabling code-generated blockchain art and facilitate the ownership of these code-generated tokens. It is an innovative piece of technology which fxhash builds upon for the distribution of generative artworks.

When collectors acquire an iteration from a project on fxhash, this action generates a new Non-Fungible Token on the blockchain, representing the acquired asset. We cover how this works in more detail in the section.

The boilerplate is essentially a minimal, self-contained starting template that serves as a simple starting point for creating an fx(hash) project. It comes out of the box with all of the required files, and you|d just have to fill in the blanks to create an fx(hash) compatible generative artwork. You can download the starting template from this Github repository:

In the early days of fx(hash), artists needed to include a short snippet of code in their projects for them to be compatible with fx(hash) and function properly once uploaded. This snippet could be found on the fx(hash) site and had to be manually copy-pasted into the artist's project.

With fx(hash) evolving as a platform, and new features being added on a regular basis, this snippet quickly grew in size and had to be frequently updated to account for these changes. For the convenience of the artist, fx(hash) made a boilerplate available - a starter kit that already included this code snippet, becoming the go to method for kickstarting new projects.

Cloning the boilerplate from Github will download a zip file onto your machine - unzipping it will produce a folder with the following content:

This directory essentially contains the necessary files for creating a simple web page, just as we described in the previous section. It contains:

• An index.html file that will act as the project entry point.

• An index.js file ****that will contain the artist’s code that powers the generative artwork. This file should be completed by you, the artist, and should contain the code that creates the generative artwork displayed by the index.html. Right now, the boilerplate contains a bunch of code that produces the screen that we've shown above, you don't have to worry about what this information is at this point - it’ll make more sense after reading the Artist Tools section.

• An additional javascript file titled fxhash.js that contains the helper functions provided by fxhash. A standalone script provided by fx(hash) that exposes several functions required for creating platform compatible projects. The contents of this script file and its purpose are discussed in more detail in the section.

You can actually go ahead and open the index.html in your browser now - although it won't much sense at this point, the page shown below is an indication that the boilerplate is working correctly:

Welcome to the On-Chain for Http File System (ONCHFS) main documentation. ONCHFS is a permissionless unix-like content-addressable file system fully stored on-chain designed to be delivered through the http protocol, with cross-blockchain compatibility in mind.

ONCHFS is inspired by ethfs, ipfs, bitcoin ordinals recursive inscriptions, Unix filesystem, and aims at providing a general framework for working with files stored on-chain, following modern standards & practices.

Generative art doesn’t only exist on the digital canvas, but can often also take on a physical existence under the form of fine art prints, pen plots, 3D prints, laser cuts, and several other creative mediums.

With NFTs becoming a more popular medium for distributing generative art in a digital manner, there has naturally also been an increasing desire from artists, and collectors alike, to bridge between the digital and the physical and provide physical counterparts to the individually minted iterations for the generative projects on fxhash. Previously this had to be done manually through the artists’ website or an online form where collectors needed to enter their details and provide proof of payment in one way or another for the artist to prepare and send out the physical item.

An early example of this is the fxhash project Plottable Era by Greweb, where collectors could sign up to receiving a plotted version of the minted artwork through a form:

This process is however a hassle for both the collectors and the artists, as it requires a number of extra steps. This is where fxhash redeemables come into play. To address the needs of artists and collectors, fxhash created an extension that can be attached onto any existing project, to facilitate the distribution of physical counterparts for the minted iterations of a generative project.

In essence, redeemables provide a secure on-chain method for artists to distribute physical counterparts to their generative artworks. Redeemable projects can be identified by the “This project can be redeemed” subheading underneath its title:

Clicking on see more opesn a new page where the artist can provide additional information about the physical item:

The price of the redeemable is sometimes already included in the cost of the initial collect transaction, but can also be offered in exchange for an up-price when the token is redeemed. Sometimes it is the case that not every collector is interested in obtaining what the redeemable offers (or might in some case not be eligible for it due to their geographical location).

Redeeming a token executes a smart-contract and triggers an on-chain redeem event. Redeeming a token does not destroy it, nor does it remove the token from your wallet or ownership (it’s not like using up a ticket). The token remains a digital collectible just as before, and remains trade-able, saleable, and transferable in its own right.

Interested in creating your own redeemable, or have a cool idea for the feature? You can ping us on discord (@fxhash team) or send a mail at

One of the core principles of Web3 is decentralization: a paradigm that introduces many benefits over the previous iteration of the web, such as a censorship resistant environment without central authorities that users have to rely on, trustless environments with improved security, and the provision of users with greater control and ownership over their data.

In other words, Web3 envisions a more decentralized and user-centric internet, leveraging blockchain and decentralized technologies to empower individuals with control over their digital assets, including data.

In a decentralized system, data and processes are spread out among many nodes or computers, making the network more resilient, resistant to censorship, and less dependent on any single point of failure.

This shift toward decentralization in Web3 aims to empower individuals, giving them greater control over their data, identities, and interactions online, and reducing the dominance of centralized entities in the digital landscape.

In this setting, it doesn’t make sense anymore to have data stored on a central server owned by an entity or company. Centralized storage solutions need to be replaced by a different decentralized method.

Because Data cannot exist in vacuum and actually still needs to be physically stored somewhere, several solutions have been devised for this purpose. fxhash leverages IPFS and ONCHFS.

When does $FXH go live for trading?

After you’ve created a beautiful piece of generative art, tested it extensively, and made sure that it works properly, it is now time to release your project on fxhash and get it into your collectors' wallets.

Whether it's your first time, or you've already got a dozen projects under your belt, this is always a daunting step of the process; it takes careful preparation as there are many things that we need to consider. Here are some of the things that should be considered prior to releasing your project.

Assessing if your Project is Ready

Generative artworks are every changing beasts - sometimes it can be difficult to decide on a clear cutoff point. A quote from Zach Liebermann captures this very beautifully:

On fxhash there’s a constant influx of new works, as well as a varied catalogue of already created projects that might still be up for grabs - all that’s left to do is finding them. There’s a number of tools and resources to assist you in that regard, in no particular order:

1. The fxhash Marketplace: fxhash’s native marketplace allows you to browse listings and sort them by different criterias allowing you to discover some of the most sought after works throughout the history of fxhash, some of the recent smash hits, as well as recent listings:
2. fxhash discord

Verification systems and verification badges displayed next to users profiles on various platforms have established themselves as an important feature, they serve several purposes:

• Authenticity and Trust: They confirm that an account/profile belongs to the real person, brand, or organization it claims to represent. This helps to build trust and credibility with users, as they know they are interacting with a legitimate source.

• Combatting Impersonation: Verification badges can help to prevent impersonation and fraud, as it becomes more difficult for someone to create a fake account and pretend to be someone they are not.

On fxhash the verification system is put in place to indicate the legitimacy of artist profiles on the platform, which is crucial for collectors to verify prior to purchasing a token. Being verified on fxhash has two benefits:

fxhash is a platform that builds on top of Web3 principles and blockchain technology for the distribution of digital code generated artworks. To understand how fxhash makes this possible it is important to have a general idea of what the term Web3 means and how blockchains power this new era of the internet.

What is Web3?

With the terms Web1, Web2, and Web3, we are essentially referring to different phases of the World Wide Web - they are different paradigms in which people interact with the internet, and with each other via the internet.

Web3 refers to the newest of these paradigms: it is focused on decentralization, blockchain technology, and user empowerment. Here it is beneficial to briefly tackle the previous iterations of the internet to get a better understanding:

Art and artistic expression is at the core of our fxhash. We believe that each artist has the potential to contribute unique and inspiring generative artworks to the collective body of work on fxhash. By putting forth your best effort and committing to excellence in your craft, you not only elevate your individual skills but also enrich the entire community. Here's what this commitment entails.

Your creative output has the power to influence and inspire others. By putting in the effort to create meaningful and impactful generative artworks, you contribute positively to the overall atmosphere of the community. Your work can serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement for fellow artists.

A good introduction to IPFS in video format can be found here:

What is a license?

A license allows someone else to use, modify, or share software or creative works, under certain conditions set by the owner. It outlines how the work can be used, distributed, modified, and under what conditions. Licenses are crucial for defining terms of use and interaction with intellectual property. Essentially, a license specifies:

1. Permissions and Restrictions: A license details what you can and can’t do with the work, like using, changing, or sharing it.

2. Attribution: Many licenses require that the original author or copyright holder be given credit for their work. This is often referred to as attribution.

3. Distribution: Some licenses set rules for how you can share the work with others.This may include whether the source code must be made available, whether modifications can be distributed, and if there are any restrictions on distribution methods.

In this sense licensing your fxhash projects is incredibly important, since they are essentially pieces of software, and at the same time publicly visible and accessible once uploaded to IPFS or minted on ONCHFS. A clear license informs others how they can use your code and the project's outputs, and legally protects you against misuse of your work.

Types of Creative Commons Licenses

Creative Commons (CC) licenses allow creators to share some rights with the public while retaining others. These licenses provide a flexible range of permissions for authors, artists, and other creators. Here's a quick list of some of the most popular CC licenses that have different degrees of restrictions on reuse of your project:

1. CC BY (Attribution):

   • Allows others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and derivative works based upon it, but only if they give the author or licensor the credits in the manner specified by these.

   • This is the most permissive CC license in terms of what others can do with the works.

2. CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike):

It's important to choose the Creative Commons license that aligns with how you want others to use your work. The licenses are designed to be easy to understand and use, promoting a balance between sharing and protecting the rights of the original creator.

Other Permissible Licenses

CC licenses are generally used for a wide range of creative works, including images, music, literature, and other artistic expressions. Whereas CC licenses are more flexible and adaptable to different types of content and creative endeavours, there are other popular permissible licenses that are frequently used for software:

• GNU General Public License (GPL): GPL is a widely used open-source license that allows users to use, modify, and distribute the software freely. Any derivative work must also be distributed under the GPL.

• MIT License: The MIT License is a permissive open-source license that allows users to do anything they want with the software as long as they provide proper attribution and don't hold the developers liable.

• Apache License: The Apache License is a permissive open-source license that allows users to use the software for any purpose, to distribute it, to modify it, and to distribute modified versions under the terms of the license.

About Modifying Licenses

If you need specific terms that are not covered by existing licenses, it's usually better to choose a license that aligns closely with your intentions and then supplement it with additional terms or permissions outside of the license itself. You can include a separate document or agreement that outlines any additional conditions or permissions.

For critical modifications or if your needs are not met by existing licenses, you may want to seek legal advice to draft a custom license or to explore alternative licensing options. Creating a new license or modifying an existing one requires a deep understanding of intellectual property law to ensure that the resulting license is legally enforceable and achieves your desired goals.

Overall, these are just some considerations, depending on your needs, requirements and restrictions that you would like to impose, and depending on what libraries you include in your project you might need to use a different license.

In the previous sections we've had a look at the structure of an fxhash project, introduced the boilerplate as a minimal starting point for new projects and also had a first look at the CLI as an alternative method to setting up blank projects.

Both the boilerplate and the CLI are a part of the fxhash Project SDK—essentially a number of resources that fxhash provides, with the aim of facilitating the development and creation of projects for the platform. This encompasses this documentation, the CLI, the Boilerplate, and most importantly the fxhash.js script. This script file is also referred to as an API.

In other words, the fxhash API is simply a fancy term to refer to the functions that the fxhash.js script exposes within the scope of an fxhash project. These functions provide useful functionality for artists to build deterministic generative artworks that work properly and are platform compatible once uploaded to fx(hash).

How does this API work? Why do we need to use it? And moreover, how do we use it? All of these questions should be answered by the end of this page. If you’re more experienced, know what an API is, and simply want to have an overview of the different functions it provides you can jump to the following , and .

Why do we need to use the API?

The fxhash API is a code library designed for developing deterministic generative systems. It provides a pseudo random number generator (PRNG) that can be used as the primary source of randomness throughout a generative token's code. Moreover, it automatically seeds this pseudo random number generator with the hash that is injected into the code.

Furthermore, depending on what kind of token you want to develop, and depending on how the randomness should behave, the SDK provides a couple of options for that as well. It provides a number of functions to generate different kinds of random numbers and/or make random decisions throughout the code.

What does the fxhash.js script file do?

When we had a look at and introduced , we’ve seen that the index.html should reference the fxhash.js script within it’s head tag. By doing so the fxhash.js script is run when the webpage is viewed in a browser. Although there is a lot of code inside of the fx(hash) script file, the main purpose of it is the creation an $fx object and attaching it to the window object as a property.

This $fx object is essentially a container for the functions of the fxhash project API, making them available for usage in the artist script, namely the index.js file.

What is this $fx object?

If you’ve already installed the CLI and created a new blank fxhash project, we can see for ourselves what this $fx object is. While keeping all of the files unchanged, we’ll only delete the contents of the index.js file, and replace it with a single line of code that logs this $fx object to the console:

If we now open the index.html in our browser, we'll get a blank, white browser window (because we deleted the previous code), but if we check the console however, we'll see that something has been logged:

This is the content of the $fx object created by the fxhash.js script. There's a bunch of stuff inside of it: a number of properties, functions, and other objects. All of these are now accessible in the artist script and available for our convenience to build a generative artwork with.

One last note here, it is not recommended to change the code inside of the fxhash.js script for your generative token to work properly:

A complete run-down of all API functions can be found in the A detailed explanation of these functions can be found in the .

Generative artworks on fxhash are self-contained web projects that run in the browser. In other words, fxhash projects are mini web pages that display generative graphics, which are served inside an iframe whenever they are requested by a user in the interface.

An fxhash project needs to follow a specific structure—at the bare minimum it needs to consist out of:

Whereas the Starting Template provided a simple and minimal starting point for creating new projects, the CLI will allow us to get a bit more hands on and provides a number of useful functionalities for the purpose of developing a project, running it locally, as well as testing it.

If you’re relatively new to programming, the learning curve of what follows might be a bit steep, as there's a number of new notions that we'll have to familiarise ourselves with, and will have to set up a couple of things on our machines. But we'll tackle one thing at a time. To provide a quick overview, in this section we will:

• Learn about Command Line Interfaces (CLIs)

• Learn a little about Node.js and the Node Package Manager (NPM) with which we’ll install the fx(hash) CLI

The Secondary Market refers to the fxhash marketplace where collectors can buy, sell, and trade already minted iterations amongst themselves.

Once a an edition of a project is minted, it can commence its lifecycle on the secondary market. Minted editions become their own standalone NFTs, tradeable just like any other non-fungible token on the blockchain. This allows fxhash to provide a secondary marketplace in which collectors can trade among each other, resell their acquisitions, or acquire desired pieces from other collectors.

In this way collectors to expand their collections in a targeted manner, hunt down specific artworks that they’d like to own, or scour for select pieces that align with pre-defined collection themes or desired aesthetic qualities. In certain cases, some collectors collect exclusively on the secondary market. fxhash provides the necessary interfaces to facilitate these transactions. In this section we provide an overview of the relevant UI elements, and explain the different methods to sell and acquire tokens on the secondary market.

Artists often choose to add additional user interaction options to their generative artworks, for instance the option to export the artwork in various formats by means of a key press, the ability to switch between different resolutions, toggling on a debug mode, as well as all kinds of other experimental user interactions. These are often nice features to have and can greatly elevate the project.

In this section we will discuss some of the methods for exporting the canvas as an image via a key press as well as other interaction options.

Exporting the Canvas

Although the canvas can be saved as an image through the right click menu in the browser, it's a good idea to add in a dedicated key for that purpose. Just like we previously resized the canvas with an event listener, we can also use event listeners to detect key presses:

While the Canvas API is already quite versatile, it can at the same time be a little clunky and hard to work with. In this section, we'd like to introduce some of the popular libraries that can be used to create various kinds of graphics in the browser and streamline certain approaches for making generative art.

Including Libraries in your Project

With the integration of mainnet ETH and the Base L2, fxhash started using a solution call Splits to optimize the fund distribution. TLDR: To receive your project earnings, log into with the wallet that is supposed to receive the funds.

About & Withdrawing Funds on ETH

When publishing a project on mainnet ETH or the Base L2 network, funds received from the sale of the project’s editions do not directly/automatically get sent to your wallet, as you might be used to from releasing your projects on the Tezos side of fxhash - but rather get sent to a special contract that pools these funds from which they have to be manually withdrawn.

fx(params) is a different way for collecting GENTKs on fxhash, where the collector plays an active role in the configuration of the GENTKs appearance. fx(params) is the name of the module that enables artists to relinquish control over certain variables in their code and exposing them to the collector at mint time, such that collectors can modify and customise the artwork to their liking before collecting their unique iteration.

This customization process happens through a special minting interface, where collectors can modulate toggles and sliders to vary the values of those code variables to shape the artwork to their liking.

However, fxhash also allows artists to create their own custom minting interfaces with code driven parameters, which greatly extends the possibilities of fx(params). Overall, fx(params) is intended to amplify artistic powers of expression and enables collectors to become co-creators of the art.

While fxhash embraces an open model, this open nature also makes it a perfect target for malicious individuals and bad actors. Back in 2021 when fxhash was still at the start of its journey, copyminters took advantage of the momentum and the good energy in the community to scam enthusiastic collectors.

Because of the open nature of fxhash, no curation of the content is made prior to projects being minted. Regulating such malicious behaviour becomes difficult. And although verification is a first step in the prevention of malicious mints, more tools have been deployed since - one of them being the “Report and Moderation System". A set of features added to the front-end to protect collectors from malicious projects.

Allow Lists and reserves provide artists with a general-purpose framework for controlling the overall mint access to their generative projects:

While the two terms “Allow List” and “Reserve” are frequently used interchangeably to refer to the same feature, they are actually not the same thing. As stated, an allow list refers to the actual list of wallet addresses that are eligible for minting from a reserve - where this reserve refers to the number of editions/iterations from the generative project that have been set aside, and can only exclusively be minted by the addresses on the allow list:

The fxhash API exposes a $fx.context flag—a string value that specifies in which execution context fxhash is running your code. The $fx.context variable can currently assume one of four values:

How to use $fx.context in your project code

Since the $fx.context property is a flag that indicates the context in which the code is executed—in most cases you will want to have a conditional block in your code that checks for the different contexts and then renders the artwork according to the use-case:

This is useful when you want to display your artwork differently in each context. If your artwork display the same everywhere, you can simply not use $fx.context at all, and invoke the preview when the artwork has finished rendering.

Capture contexts work the same way in both long-form and open-form projects—during the check-files step of the creation flow you can toggle between the different contexts to check that they are working properly and the way you have intended with your code.

fxlens will also let you set this execution context to verify that your code is working properly.

Capture & Preview Settings

In the configure-capture step of the creation flow, you will set up how fxhash creates the preview images of the artworks that your code generates, whenever a collectors mints or evolves a new edition:

There’s two different methods for triggering the capture module:

• Programmatically with $fx.preview(): The capture module will wait until your code calls the fxpreview() function. As soon as it is invoked, the capture will be triggered. The placement of this function in your code is up to you, but usually it should be placed towards the end of your code, when all of the graphics have been rendered. If the piece is animated you might want to trigger it after the initial frame has been drawn.

  If your project is loading asynchronous requests from the project's folder, always consider that these resources may be slow to load—please always use fxpreview() to trigger the capture in this case.

In the case of our example token we’re using the programmatic trigger since it is a static artwork where we want to trigger the capture after all shapes have been rendered to the canvas. After setting the capture trigger we also need to indicate the target of this capture; this can be a canvas element, or the entire viewport.

In this example we only want to capture the canvas element, and not the entire viewport—selecting the From <canvas> option will reveal a third input field that lets us point the capture module to the HTML canvas element we want to capture:

Otherwise, if you choose to capture the entire viewport, you can specifiy the dimensions of the viewport at the time of capture (the size of the browser window essentially, in which your code runs):

Using GPU accelerated captures

If your project requires a GPU to render, you should use enable GPU-supported rendering for your capture.

Booting up the GPU capture can be slow however, and can take up to a couple of minutes to finish rendering.

GIF captures

We now also support GIF preview captures, that enable animated thumbnails for collected editions of your project. Currently GIF captures are limited in that fxhash will simply record your selected target or viewport for a set number of frames and at a specified interval—rather than programmatically triggering individual frame captures from your code (but this is in the works!)

When toggling on GIF capture for your project, you don't need to trigger $fx.preview(), it will simply start recording from when your code runs.

In other settings where GIF previews are not available, the middle frame of the GIF will be used a thumbnail. For example, if the GIF has 20 frames, it will use the 10th frame as a thumbnail.

Notes about the fast-capture context

There are a few limitations to the fast-capture context:

• The GPU is disabled during fast-captures

• GIF captures are not available as fast-captures

This is simply because both of these capture methods can not be generated very quickly—if this doesn't suit your project, you can either ignore the fast-capture context or build a creative intermediary preview into your artwork that reveals something about the artwork before the actual preview is rendered.

Additionaly, the fast-capture will also be taken according to the capture trigger method you have selected for your project:

• If you're using $fx.preview() as a trigger method, simply call $fx.preview() when you want the fast capture to be taken—preferably as early as possible—in a fast-capture clause in your code.

• If you're taking the capture after a timed delay, the fast capture will trigger when the selected delay has elapsed, or at a maximum of 1 second.

And in case you are using the GIF capture for your previews, you still need to call $fx.preview() as a fast-capture trigger.

fx(lens) is a web page designed to load and allow the interaction with fx(hash) projects in your local development environment. In a nutshell, fx(lens) is an interactive fx(hash) project viewer. Via a minimalistic user interface it provides a number of controls, toggles, sliders, and buttons that make it possible to interact with, tweak, and test a generative token while it is being developed.

Building a generative token for fx(hash) is often a big and complicated undertaking. Prior to fx(lens), artists would often create their own testing interfaces for the purpose of making sure that all aspects of the project’s code are functioning as intended.

fx(lens) also helps artists get a feel for the breadth of the parameter and output space of a generative token.

Running fx(lens) via the CLI

If you’ve already installed , you can launch fx(lens) with the fxhash dev command. This command needs to be executed from within your project directory and requires an index.html file to run.

Running this command will automatically open up a new tab in your default browser, showing a control panel on the left-hand side of the browser window, with the generative token next to it on the right. Depending on whether you’ve already written some code for your generative artwork or not, this new tab will display the default generative token that the boilerplate comes with out of the box, or your own artwork:

Using the fxhash dev command also automatically checks for updates, if you get an error you might have to prepend this command with `sudo`. fx(lens) will still work nevertheless, it is merely indicating that it couldn't check for the update.

Again, you can also achieve this with npx.

Standalone fx(lens) via npx

You can also run a standalone version of fx(lens) without installing the CLI, also through npx. This would still require Node.js to be installed (refer to the section for installation instructions) for us to run fx(lens). The only difference here is that we can now manually run fx(lens) without using the fxhash dev command.

We can get fx(lens) with the following npx command:

Make sure to give your project a meaningful name by replacing your_project_name with a title of your choice. After that, navigate into the newly created directory and run:

This will install all of the necessary modules required for running fx(lens). Installing these dependencies finalizes the setup of the standalone version of fx(lens), and it can now be run with:

This will open up a browser tab with fx(lens) running inside of it just like before.

How does fx(lens) work?

Booting up fx(lens) runs not one, but two local servers on your machine: one that serves your generative project, and another one that serves fx(lens) itself.

After running fx(lens), open another tab in your browser, and in your search box paste in this address http://localhost:3301. This will open a page that simply runs your generative artwork by itself. If you enter the following address http://localhost:3300 it should show you fx(lens), with a blank screen instead of the artwork next to it. This is because we didn't indicate where the project should be fetched from. We actually need to point the local fx(lens) server to the server on which the project is running.

This is done by passing in the generative token's server address as a URL parameter:

Overview of the fx(lens) Interface

What can we do with fx(lens)?

Not only does fx(lens) let us run our code, it also lets us pretend as if these tokens were running on fx(hash) in different contexts. This means that fx(lens) exposes certain parameters inside our code that would otherwise only be available once uploaded to fx(hash). All of these input parameters can be configured via the left-side UI:

Moreover, we can tweak and control these parameters - let's have a brief look at the different sections of this interface.

Current Seed

With the current seed we refer to the hash that fx(hash) injects into project’s code for it to generate a specific output. In fx(lens) we can simulate and control this exact seed via the current seed field, where we can manually input specific alphanumeric strings, or generate new ones at random:

This is very useful when testing the determinism of the generative artwork since the randomness in the generative artwork should be derived from that hash, and given the same hash/seed, your code should always generate the same output. Hence, while testing your artwork and rerunning your code in fx(lens), it should generate the exact same output when this hash/seed is fixed. If not, you need to revise your code and figure out which parts of it are introducing variance in this behaviour. You can read more about this in the section.

Minter Address

The minter address simulates a wallet address, as if the currently displayed output has been collected by a collector. Some of the randomness in the project can also be derived off of the collector’s wallet address (via it’s own PRNG), which makes it handy to be able to fix and regenerate this simulated address, just like the hash.

Execution Context

The execution context is a flag that is passed into the code as a URL parameter and indicates in which context it is run, there are three possible values for this context:

• standalone: (default) when the final output should be displayed, on the main project page for instance

• capture: when the code is executed in the capture environment, to get an image preview of an iteration

• minting: when the code is executed during the minting flow of the collector

Sometimes it can be useful to run special parts of the code only in a specific context, for instance if we want to configure the image previews in a certain way and execute a function only during the image capture.

Params

fx(params) is a large topic, we cover it in the section of the docs.

Params, short for parameters, are essentially certain variables in the code that the artist chooses to expose for the collectors to tweak at mint time, giving them the ability to modulate certain aspects of the generative token and create custom iterations completely to their liking. All of these exposed parameters will appear under this section, and will look differently from project to project:

Iteration

The iteration number is a special value that is unique for each collected iteration of a project, and as its name suggests, indicates the index of the collected output relative to the entire collection. For example, the iteration number for the very first collected iteration of a project will be 0, the second will be 1, and so on. If any parts of the code take this value into consideration, we can tweak and test this behaviour with this field.

Features

Features are special, artist chosen attributes that describe the randomly chosen qualities of a collected iteration. They are entirely optional, and have to be declared from within the code. If the artist chooses to use features, the will appear in this bracket of the interface:

Live Reload

Last but not least, the interface also provides a way to automatically update and refresh the generative artwork displayed on the right-hand side whenever any other controller/value in the fx(lens) interface changes:

It is not possible to anticipate what kind of displays or browsers your audience on fxhash may be using to view your art, they might be browsing collections on small smartphone screens or on large high resolution retina screens - it is crucial that your code always displays the generative artwork properly within any given browser window, no matter how large or small.

Moreover, your project should also be responsive and resize themselves automatically when the browser window's dimensions change.

fxhash projects primarily fall into two categories: dynamic generative artworks that span and take up the entirety of the browser window, and artworks that have fixed dimensions with a specific aspect ratio. In this page, we'll discuss some of the methods with which we can display them properly.

Centering and Scaling a fixed aspect ratio Canvas

Projects that aim to generate outputs with a fixed aspect ratio are the more common of the two, and the more popular type of generative token. A fixed aspect ratio means that the canvas has a specific width and height. In this setting:

• The artwork should always be neatly centred within the browser window without any part of it being cut off or extending beyond the browser window.

• The artwork should maintain its aspect ratio and not be stretched along either of its axes.

• The artwork should scale with the browser window when it is resized while maintaining its aspect ratio.

CSS is an elegant and lightweight solution to centring a canvas element within the browser window. Given the following HTML body structure:

We will handle the positioning of the canvas element with the following CSS rules:

The above CSS should be the content of the styles.css file in your project's directory.

Here we're mainly considering three elements: the body of the webpage that the generative artwork is displayed in, a container element that is used as a wrapper for the canvas element, and the canvas element itself.

One preliminary thing that we need to do is to remove the default margins that the <body> tag comes with. Having done so, we will set the canvas container to fill the entirety of the web page by setting its height and width to a 100vh (view height) and 100vw (view width) respectively.

We will indicate that this container div is a flexbox by setting its display property to flex. The CSS Flexbox, or Flexible Box Layout, is a popular oCSS layout model. It is designed for the arrangement of items within a container, providing a more efficient and predictable way to distribute space and align content.

This flexbox layout unlocks two further properties, namely: align-items and justify-content. These two CSS rules allow us to control the positioning of elements along the two axes of the container. By setting both of them to center, the canvas container taking up the entirety of the webpage, AND the canvas element being the only item inside of this flexbox, this will result in the canvas element being positioned exactly at the center of the browser window.

Now we also want the canvas element to not be cut off when the window gets smaller than the actual maximum dimensions of the canvas. This can be remedied by setting the canvas' max-width and max-height to a 100%, indicating that we want it to stay contained within its container.

And in action this would look as follows:

Here we also reintroduce a small margin between the canvas and the container with the following CSS rules (added to the container element):

This margin is entirely up to personal preference.

The only drawback of this CSS approach is that the canvas element will not expand beyond its maximum dimensions when the browser window grows exceedingly large, there is unfortunately no straightforward pure CSS solution to this that doesn't require a lot of additional rules. If your GENTK has large enough dimensions this shouldn't be noticeable, except on very large screens or when you modify the zoom of the browser window.

A solution to this is with some additional Javascript Code - we can scales the canvas to the size of its container with the following code:

Here we create a function resizeCanvas() to handle this.

The original dimensions of the canvas are constant values and entirely up to the artist, and depend on the desired aspect ratio of the output. We need them to calculate how the canvas should be scaled to fit the browser window.

We also require the dimensions of the browser window. We can fetch these via the window object's innerWidth and innerHeight properties. These are always equal to the browser window's current effective width and height respectively, and are updated automatically when the window is resized.

The next step is a little convoluted. To explain it intuitively, we are trying to determine if the canvas should be scaled horizontally or vertically, depending on which axis allows for more space. We do so by comparing the horizontal canvas width to window width ratio with the vertical canvas height to window height ratio, subsequently using the correct one to scale the dimensions of the canvas by setting its CSS width and height through Javascript.

We run this function once at the very start when the artwork is displayed and then also pass it to a Javascript event listener that triggers whenever the browser window is resized, ensuring that the canvas is scaled when this happens.

And in action this will work with any aspect ratio, here’s an example of a portrait aspect ratio canvas:

Naturally, this is not the only possible solution to this end, there are numerous other methods with which you can scale the canvas.

Dynamic Fullscreen Projects

Generative graphics are not always simply static canvases with a fixed aspect ratio, sometimes they're interactive experiences or display animated visuals. In these scenarios it makes more sense to display things fullscreen and cover the entirety of the browser window.

Here's one solution that makes the canvas as large as the browser window without scaling or stretching the graphics:

The graphics here don’t scale because we redraw them whenever the window is resized - in this manner we can consistently keep graphics at their respective coordinates without stretching or scaling them.

Here the canvas resizing code is even simpler:

We simply set the width and height of the canvas to the width and height of the window object. Here we can also do without any of the CSS as we're manually setting the dimensions of the canvas. The same would be true in the case of animated graphics.

Library specific solutions

If you're using a library like p5, it might already have some native methods out of the box to adjust the dimensions of the corresponding canvas element. In p5 a popular method to scale an artwork is by drawing the graphics to a separate graphics buffer, and then displaying this graphics buffer like an image in the webpage.

Libraries sometimes already have native, out of the box methods for the purpose of scaling the dimensions of the canvas element. P5 for instance has a method called windowResized() that automatically triggers whenever the browser is resized, inside of it we can call resizeCanvas() with the new window dimensions as parameters:

This makes it very straightforward to create a fullscreen sketch:

In the same manner, this function is also handy for displaying artworks with a fixed aspect ratio. Especially when used in conjunction with P5's createGraphics() function that allows us to create a secondary canvas. Here's an example of this:

The code that achieves this is a little more involved than before, but conceptually it's very simple.

We create a secondary canvas - a graphics buffer - with a fixed size aspect ratio that will serve as the canvas onto which we draw our graphics. This secondary buffer will not be directly scaled or resized, we will actually treat like an image that will be drawn onto the original canvas. This original canvas will then be resized neatly while maintaining its aspect ratio.

While the fxhash team does their utmost to provide a platform and community that is both safe and enjoyable, there is no guarantee that there will not be malicious actors trying to scam you out of your funds or crypto assets - it is important that you stay vigilant and exert scrutiny when you collect projects on fxhash and interact w dapps and other platforms in Web3.

Verify before Collecting: Artists and Tokens

Before purchasing an edition from a project on fxhash’s primary market, always make sure that the artist is actually the creator of the project. Likewise, always make sure that projects you collect are actually original works and not stolen code repackaged as a generative artwork.

While for some of the bigger artists, that are household names on fxhash, it is pretty straightforward to tell, it might sometimes be a bit more difficult for new and emerging artists. If you are not entirely certain about the originality or legitimacy of a project, this is why fxhash has put in place a verification system, that artists can apply to, to obtain a checkmark badge next to their profile picture on fxhash.

Not all artists on fxhash are verified however, in that case some of the other methods to verify the legitimacy of a project are:

• Track Record and previous projects: Checking out an artist's previous projects gives a strong indicator of their track record.

• The artist’s Social Media Profiles: checking the artist’s social media and whether or not they have talked and mentioned the project in the past

• Artist’s Portfolio/Website/Blog: The artist’s personal pages and blog can also be an indicator if you want to collect their project. These pages might also be indicators about the artist’s persona informing you if they share similar values as you.

We recommend also applying these same principles when collecting on other platforms and not just fxhash.

Separation of Concerns: Hot vs. Cold Wallet

Besides being careful on what you collect, you can even go a step further and set up two separate wallets: a hot wallet that is used on a daily basis for effectuating transactions and interacting with dapps, and a cold wallet that is used as a vault for storing your assets. Here’s more information about the difference between the two:

• Hot Wallet: A hot wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the internet. These are ideal for daily transactions and interacting with NFT marketplaces because they offer ease of access and convenience. Browser extension and software wallets like MetaMask, Temple, and the Coinbase wallet are essentially hot wallets. However, hot wallets are more vulnerable to online threats due to their constant internet connection and their interaction with various platforms and tokens. Still haven’t set up your software wallet? Here’s how to get started.

• Cold Wallet: A cold wallet, on the other hand, is an offline wallet that provides enhanced security by being disconnected from the internet. This makes it an ideal choice for long-term storage of valuable NFTs and other cryptocurrencies. With cold wallets we usually refer to hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor which are popular options. By using a cold wallet, you significantly reduce the risk of your assets being compromised through online attacks.

  A good guide on getting started with a hardware wallet can be found over in the metamask docs:

The metamask docs are also generally a great resource for learning about all sorts of scams and how to protect yourself against them.

Wallet Safety Tips

We’ve already mentioned this when in the resource that tackles setting up your software wallets, however, we’d like to reiterate this information as it is highly important:

• Never share your private keys and seed phrases with anyone: treat your private keys and seed phrases as highly confidential information. If anyone ever ask you for this information, assume that they are trying to steal your funds and assets.

• Avoid storing your private keys and seed phrases digitally: Is it not advised to store this information in digital formats such as on your phone, computer, or online cloud services where they can be vulnerable to hacks or leaks. Also don’t store your private keys on compromisable devices, but rather, use physical backups for storing them - either on a notebook that is stored somewhere safe, or as some recommend, engraved on a metal plate (or other durable material).

If you ever lose access to your wallet, this information is the only way to restore access. Otherwise your funds and crypto assets are lost forever.

Interacting with dApps and miscellaneous Tokens

Whenever you effectuate a transaction via your wallet, it is important that you are careful while doing so. Depending on what kind of transaction different kinds of code (smart contract or other) is run in the background - some transactions can therefore be malicious.

In Web3 there’s many different decentralized applications, many of them will require you to connect your wallet for you to make use of the functionalities they provide, like the Objkt and OpenSea marketplaces that let you primarily trade your tokens, or other collection management and token curation tools like Deca for instance.

While it is safe to connect to some dApps, others might be malicious and connecting to them could potentially be very dangerous, as connecting to them will instantly execute some code that will drain your assets to another wallet. For this reason we urge that you:

1. Never connect your wallet to an unkown platform: don’t only judge platforms based on their looks, it is relatively simple to spin up a website that looks professional. Verify that the dApp is trustworthy, and that you are connecting to the correct domain (as indicated by the URL in your browser)

2. Never confirm unknown transactions that you have not manually instigated: Never confirm a transaction when your wallet randomly prompts you with one. In case of doubt always reject the transaction. Even when you effectuate a transaction manually, still make sure what the transaction is actually prompting you to confirm.

Furthermore, it can also be dangerous to interact with tokens that have been airdropped to you - selling them on a DEX (swapping them for another token) can be used to execute some malicious code. It is best to ignore unknown/unidentified airdrops. Same goes for airdropped NFTs as well as other assets.

Interacting with Others

There are many malicious actors, not just in Web3 where there’s many financial incentives for scamming others, but also on the internet in general. Scams might not necessarily be done via a decentralized platform or some elaborate token schemes, but can equivalently be done via phishing scams or malicious links sent to you. Here’s some thing to always keep in mind when interacting with others on the internet:

• Avoid Links: Be cautious of links sent via email or social media; when someone sends you a link, never immediately click on it. Always access fxhash and other marketplaces through the official links/socials. Try to avoid clicking links in general and double-check URLs. Verify the domain first, and ensure it is a legitimate URL to avoid phishing scams.

• Beware of “Too Good to Be True” Deals: If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Exercise skepticism and do your own thorough research. When something seems suspicious or feels off, it is often better to be safe than sorry.

• Staying informed and asking others: engaging with others and staying up to date with the space can help you identify potential scams early on.

In conclusion, navigating the Web3 landscape safely and successfully requires a good amount of personal vigilance. While fxhash is committed to fostering a secure environment, the ultimate responsibility for protecting your assets rests with you. By adopting the best practices outlined here – verifying artists and projects, employing a dual wallet strategy, staying alert online, and meticulously reviewing transactions and interactions – you empower yourself to fully enjoy fxhash and the Web3 eco-system in general, while minimizing the risks involved.

That's a lot to take in at once, let's address each point individually:

1. Permissionless: Anyone can write data, create files & directories, & reference files stored on the file system.

2. Unix-like: this simply means that onchfs is inspired by the unix-file system, where data is organized in a hierarchical tree-like structure of directories and files.

3. Content Addressable: content is addressed by unique identifiers derived from the data itself.

4. On-Chain: files are entirely stored on the blockchain, making them immutable and persistent as long as the respective blockchain is alive.

5. Designed for the http protocol: the ONCHFS protocol makes it possible to address and retrieve the stored assets with the http protocol that powers the modern web.

6. Cross-Blockchain: ONCHFS works on any chain, and files stored on one chain can reference files stored on other chains.

7. Extensibility: ONCHFS is built in such a manner that it can easily be extended and other technologies to be built on top of it.

ONCHFS is inspired by , , , , and aims at providing a general framework for working with files stored on-chain, following modern standards & practices.

Link to revdancatt’s vid

Why store files on-chain?

Before we dive into the specifics: why would we want to store files fully on-chain?

Ever since NFTs have become more popular, the on-chain vs. off-chain discussion has become more and more heated. One cherished aspect of blockchain technology is longevity, security, and immutability, especially when it comes to transactions which play a big role in making generative art as collectible digital tokens possible. In the previous page, we’ve covered the IPFS storage solution, which has characteristics that closely align with Web3 technology, in turn making it a popular solution for storing content and data in the setting of NFTs. Towards the end, we learn that it also introduces an element of impermanence, which requires additional effort from artists, collectors, and platforms to ensure the availability of the content.

This could in theory all be solved by storing files directly on-chain. But there are two problems that come in tandem with this approach, firstly, the high cost of uploading and eternalizing large data loads on digital ledgers, and secondly, the absence of a good system or protocol for this purpose.

In the setting of generative art, the first problem solves itself - the actual image data (that represents the art) doesn’t need to be stored directly on the blockchain, merely the code that can generate the art. Code being simply a bunch of alphanumeric symbols, is highly compressible and can be shortened enough to not introduce exorbitant minting costs. The second problem is addressed by ONCHFS which is introduced in greater detail in what follows.

Overall, storing files on-chain is preferred by many because it is considered a purer and more persistent method for storing files that ensures the existence thereof for as long as the blockchain exists. And for the popular blockchains there is no worry for them to simply disappear overnight.

What problems does ONCHFS solve?

Previous attempts at on-chain storage solutions have had some inherent problems that ONCHFS tries to address. For instance, in the context of generative art projects that come in the form of self-contained web projects which the browsers can run, existing solutions don't actually fully store the entirety of the projects on the blockchain, but rather only a part of them - generally the code that creates the artwork. Generally, this code is minified and compressed into a string for it to be efficiently stored on the blockchain.

This is problematic however, because it makes it such that platforms often need to implement an additional off-chain step to reconstruct the project as a whole for it to actually run in the browser. The javascript code that generates the artwork can't run in a vacuum and needs additional files to be complete, such as an html document that serves as an entry point, a stylesheet to specify its appearance in the browser, and additional other javascript libraries that it makes use of and builds upon.

Recreating this project structure is referred to as html-reconstruction where the platform creates the index entry point that serves and displays the project in the browser. Additionally the platform needs to provide and host a specific list of dependencies that the project requires to function properly, this doesn't align with the decentralised ethos of Web3.0.

ONCHFS solves both of these issues, projects are entirely stored on-chain such that no html reconstruction step is required. Additionally libraries, dependencies, and other assets can also be freely created by users, making it possible for anyone to reference them. In this manner, it liberates code artists in their creative endeavours, ensures longevitiy of projects stored with ONCHFS, and opens the door for interesting and creative projects that make use of this on-chain file storage paradigm.

How does ONCHFS work?

ONCHFS is designed for the purpose of preserving the integrity and longevity of generative art projects, making it excel in that regard. The ONCHFS protocol ensures that uploaded projects are delivered in a 1:1 format, without requiring any additional steps to reconstruct the original project.

It also handles project dependencies in an elegant manner. Storing files in a content addressable manner, where each file has a unique identifier derived from the data itself (we cover this in a bit more detailed manner in the page on IPFS), makes it possible to detect if a library already exists on-chain. In this case, the library doesn't need to be re-uploaded a second time, and it will automatically link the already existing stored version. ONCHFS handles this by creating the content ids at upload time.

This introduces a paradigm of trustless and fully open resources sharing, as no one has to rely on a centralized platform to provide a library, or a set of personal tools they keep reusing over time; if they upload it once, it will become available forever for free for everyone using onchfs.

What's more, is that the resources stored with ONCHFS are http compliant.

<aside> <img src="" alt="" width="40px" /> What is http?

HTTP, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol, is the foundation of data communication on the World Wide Web. HTTP facilitates the transmission of various types of data, including text, images, and multimedia, using a request-response model. When a user enters a web address or clicks on a link, the browser sends an HTTP request to the server, specifying the desired resource. The server then processes the request and returns an HTTP response, containing the requested data or an error message.

</aside>

This means that when files are uploaded to ONCHFS, they are also formatted in an http compliant format that can be transferred by means of the protocol. Naturally, the artist/user uploading to ONCHFS doesn't need to worry about any of this, it is automatically handled ia the fxhash minting interface. It is possible however to also manually interact with ONCHFS.

A complete documentation of ONCHFS can be found here:

Chain Agnostic

One innovative aspect of ONCHFS is that it can be used to store files on any blockchain, without having their existence isolated and restricted to that particular chain. This means that a file on the one chain can reference files stored on other chains.

This can become useful if there is a need to use a cheaper blockchain for storing bigger chunks of data to be accessed more expensive blockchain. While not a typical scenario, it's worth noting the built-in onchfs support for such cases.

Limitations

The main limitation of ONCHFS is that it is a relatively new method for storing files on-chain, meaning that it isn't as widely adopted as other decentralized storage solutions such as IPFS. With fxhash growing as a platform and community and with more files being stored with ONCHFS it is likely to become adopted by other platforms that would like to display these generative art projects

Because fxhash supports both the Tezos and Ethereum chain, it needs to support wallets that can connect and interact with those chains. For this purpose a system has been created where users can link two wallets at the same time - a primary and secondary wallet:

Once you’ve set up one or both wallets for the chains that you’d like to create or collect art on, come back here to set up your fxhash account and profile.

Creating an Account

Creating an account on fxhash requires an Ethereum or Tezos wallet. When navigating to the fxhash website, you will see a large ‘Connect’ button in the upper right corner next to the other navigation items:

Pressing that button should reveal a drop down list with two options:

There you can then choose which wallet you would like to connect. If you have both an Ethereum and Tezos wallet, the one that you choose at this point will become your primary wallet.

Pressing the Connect button will open a new view showing all supported wallets, choose the one that you would like to connect with:

Selecting your desired wallet will then trigger it, requiring you to verify this operation through a number of steps:

1. Make sure to select the appropriate wallet address that you want to connect with.

2. Approve the connection request.

3. Approve the signature of the request - this only has to be done the very first time.

After completing and verifying the required steps from your wallet you can already notice a change in the interface, where the connect button has changed into a circle - in the future you will see your profile picture here once you update your profile settings.

Clicking your profile circle will reveal a drop down list of link to pages from which you can manage your creations and collection, and all of the other features that fxhash provides. At the very bottom it also shows the connected wallet - here we connected with a Tezos wallet, we could now additionally connect an ethereum wallet.

We can now navigate to our profile (via the profile button) where we can see your connected wallets, and also equivalently connect a wallet for the other chain.

Linking a Secondary Wallet

Besides the primary wallet that has been connected, we can now also link a wallet for the other chain, Ethereum or Tezos depending on which one was connected first. In this example we connected a Tezos wallet first and an Ethereum wallet second:

Linking a secondary wallet for the other respective chain is important if you want to interact, create, or collect with projects minted on that chain.

Wallet Management

There is two operations for each wallet. For the Primary wallet:

• Disconnecting your primary wallet: this is equivalent to logging out of your account. Reconnecting your primary wallet will grant you access to your profile again.

• Deleting your account: this essentially deletes all off-chain information associated with your account. The respective projects created with this wallet address are not deleted, they will always stay linked to that wallet address. Deleting the account simply means that the fxhash profile of this account is deleted.

For the Secondary wallet:

• Disconnecting your Secondary Wallet: logs out of your secondary wallet, but doesn’t log you out of your profile. It makes the secondary wallet unavailable for usage, and you would have to reconnect it to use it.

• Unlinking your secondary Wallet: essentially removes this secondary wallet, which would also remove all project created and collected with this wallet from your profile. You can always re-link it as well.

Linking an Existing Wallet

If you are trying to link a wallet as a secondary wallet, while this wallet is already connected or linked as a primary or secondary wallet in another account, you will obtain the following warning:

If this is the case you will have to unlink the wallet (if it is linked as a secondary wallet) or delete the account associated with that wallet (if it is connected as a primary wallet) to make it available for linking.

Editing your Profile

Editing your profile is simply done by clicking the edit profiel button, that will take you to another view where you can enter all of your details:

Temporarily linking social media profiles is disabled due to the migration that fxhash is currently undergoing.

The canvas element was first introduced by Apple in 2004 and was later standardised across various web browsers with HTML5. Today, the HTML5 canvas element is widely considered the go-to choice for rendering graphics in modern web browsers. One key reason for this is its built-in Canvas API: a set of functions designed for the purpose of drawing to this digital drawing surface.

Wallets and Browser Extensions

Wallets are the primary tool with which users interact with the blockchain, they come in the form of small software, usually in the form of browser extensions, that let us connect to different pages and apps that make use of blockchain technology and interact with them. fxhash requires its users to connect with such a wallet to start using its features.

**What is a Crypto Wallet?**

In the world of cryptocurrencies, a wallet is a secure place where you can store, send, and receive digital currencies and tokens. It's an app or a software program that helps you interact with the blockchain, which is the technology behind cryptocurrencies. Just like you need a bank account to use regular money online, you need a cryptocurrency wallet to use digital currencies. This wallet has a special address that others can use to send you cryptocurrencies, and it keeps your digital money safe.

In his seminal essay ‘Why Love Generative Art?’ Artnome explains the artform and elucidates the importance of generative art:

However, art historians tend to define generative art more broadly as art produced with the assistance of a system or process. By that definition, there are examples of generative art dating back eons, including grids carved into stone by ancient peoples using a systematic approach:

What’s important to note is that generative art goes beyond strict imagery. Numerous examples exist where nature serves as the ultimate source of randomness to produce unique art, including in music, as exemplified by Aeolian wind harps and wind chimes.

Blockchain technology has made it much more accessible to become an art collector today. Decentralized sales mechanisms have not only streamlined the distribution of digital art, they’ve also democratized the participation in a global art movement, making it possible for anyone to take part either as a creator, a collector, or both at the same time. In this resource we’ll tackle the role of the collector in the dynamic Web3 setting - collectors are in many ways vital to forming a complete NFT eco-system:

While collecting NFTs is in many ways easier and more accessible than being a collector in the traditional art world, this modern practice does however come with its own set of difficulties. In what follows we outline some guidelines and best practices for getting started as a new collector, and also provide some strategies for growing and accruing a meaningful collection of different works over time.

Motivations for Collecting Art

Before providing advice on how to get started as a collector - it is also meaningful to assess one’s own internal motivations and desire for art ownership:

While the answer to these questions can be highly individual, the practice of collecting art is important for multiple reasons:

• Supporting the Artists You Admire: The simplest reason for collecting artworks, is that it financially supports the artists that have poured countless hours into honing their craft and creating unique pieces of expression.

• Furthering a Cultural Dialogue and Exchange: By purchasing works from living artists and by endorsing their endeavors, collectors can directly contribute to the dynamic evolution of art and culture, providing essential financial support that allows for experimentation and innovation. This fuels an evolving cultural landscape where new ideas and perspectives challenge and enrich existing norms.

• Collecting is a Form of Expression in of Itself: Collecting and building a collection of works can be a fulfilling personal endeavor in of itself. Not only to express a genuine appreciation for the art-form (when it comes to generative art on fxhash), but also because the act of collecting works can in itself be a form of expression - through which one can convey their own personal unique tastes and interests. Expressing interest in certain artworks, by certain artists, can often constitute a

And these are just a few reasons why it can be a fulfilling endeavor to collect art. Pivoting off of the last point though, what makes collecting digitally native tokens special and what’s the difference when compared to collecting art in a traditional setting?

Beyond the aforementioned reasons, collecting in the NFT setting furthers the ongoing dialogue around this new digital medium and encourages the exploration of new technological ideas. We’ve already witnessed a number of breakthroughs through some innovative explorations of the artists - which would not have been possible without the ongoing support from collectors of all kind.

Whether you simply want to become a collector to show support to the creators that you admire, or have a firm belief in the future financial value of these digital tokens, is ultimately up to you - you might even have other personal motivations.

Best Practices for Collecting on fxhash

Taking your first steps as a collector can be a daunting endeavor when you don’t know how and where to get started. Collecting doesn’t mean that you just blindly acquire different tokens on fxhash and other platforms, but rather involves doing your research and making informed decisions on which pieces you’d like to add to your growing collection - and in that regard there’s quite a few things that need to be considered.

We found that one of the best primers for collectors aiming to dive into fxhash, is the article by Lil Saturn titled .** The author adequately describes it as “the article I wish I had when I first started collecting on fxhash”. While the landscape has changed quite a bit in the past years since the article was published, most of the information that’s presented still holds true today:

I believe long-form generative art is the biggest shift in the art space of this generation. And we have the rare opportunity to be living while it blossoms, we can take part in it, help shape it, and participate in the financial (yes, I said it) upside of this movement.

The article references another meaningful resource, and highlights a talk given by Jason Bailey, aka Artnome - one of the original enthusiasts, that recognized the value of NFTs early on, and has shown a long standing interest in generative art. Over the years he’s become a critically acclaimed writer and respect voice in the generative art space.

In one part of his presentations he breaks down collecting NFTs into 4 simple considerations:

We find that these are excellent guidelines to adhere to when collecting tokens, on fxhash, and on other platforms - especially if you’re just starting out:

• Collect the art that you love: before you collect one of the thousands of tokens on fxhash, via the primary or secondary market, ask yourself in what ways the particular piece you’re interested in resonates with you, and in a Mary Kondo-esque way, whether or not holding this digital token in your wallet will bring you joy.

• Collect projects from artists you want to see succeed: fxhash empowers big and small artists alike. Collecting from the creators that you’d like to see succeed is one of the best ways to support them.

• Only collect for prices you can afford: Decide how much you can comfortably expend for the purpose of collecting NFTs, without affecting your other financial obligations.

Following these guidelines should make for an enjoyable collecting experience overall.

Getting Started: Budgeting and Collecting Affordable Pieces

To start with the basics — it’s important to set a Budget. Determine how much you're willing and can afford to spend on your purchases, and really stick to that budget. This could mean that you set a monthly spending limit for yourself, or put a maximum limit on how much you want to spend on any single purchase. Setting a clear predetermined budget for yourself will help you avoid overspending in the long run.

Here you might be asking yourself the following questions: how do you actually determine the value of a digital token? What makes one artwork worth more than another one? Why is there a difference in price between two tokens that look quite similar?

When you don’t have a feel for the “price” of things yet - start out small. Start your collection with more affordable pieces. Many artists offer a range of sizes and editions, some cheaper than others—sometimes even as free mints. This makes it possible to start a collection without a significant financial commitment. Here’s some tips towards in that regard:

• Explore the projects of Emerging Artists. Instead of directly trying to compete in the big leagues, exploring the art of emerging generative artists can be a worthwhile endeavour, they frequently offer their work at more affordable price points compared to established names. Additionally, early works from rising artists can become more valuable over time - and your support plays a crucial role in this setting.

• Minting during Community Events: frequently the community will come together for special occasions, such as the fxhash anniversary just as an example, where artists will mint pieces revolving around central theme or shared topic; usually the projects minted during these events tend to be on the more affordable side of things. This is often one of the best times to kickstart your collection for cheap.

• Consider Open/Larger Editions: Some projects on fxhash are available in open editions for a very affordable price (sometimes even free), meaning that there is no limit to the number of copies that can be minted (these projects are generally time limited however). Although it makes the project less exclusive, it will allow you to quickly grow your collection.

Other times, you can find many pieces being sold on the secondary market for a lesser price than the original minting price. This is frequently due to these pieces having been acquired as speculative purchases in the first place - that’s where you swoop in and grab yourself a beautiful piece of generative art. Even if they might not be highly desirable, they might still be beautiful pieces to have in your collection.

One other thing that’s important to mention here: Get a feel for how things work. Before you click buttons at random on fxhash, or on any other platform, make sure to take your time and properly understand how the different interfaces work, and what they’re used for.

Growing your Collection

Once you’ve dipped your toes into collecting your very first few pieces, you’ll likely want to start thinking about how to go about growing your collection further and adding more pieces over time. Some considerations that can help do so in a guided manner are:

• Setting Collection Goals: this could include acquiring specific pieces with a specific aesthetic, creating a themed collection, or focusing on a particular style. Such goals give direction to collecting as a hobby and make it more rewarding. Over time you can then diversify and explore different aspects of your interests to prevent becoming burnt out.

• Being patient and collecting strategically: Building a collection doesn't have to happen all at once. Take your time to research different artists and projects, and wait for opportunities to acquire pieces that align with your taste and budget - as mentioned early, frequently there will be community events where you’re presented with a large influx of many pieces all at once.

• Staying up-to-date: Staying informed about the generative art market, pricing trends, and upcoming releases can go a long way when you’re a collector that’s on the hunt for adding affordable pieces to your collection. Becoming acquainted with the different artists, following up with their works in progress, and staying up to date with ongoing events helps in identifying pieces worth collecting early on. Having a complete picture of the different happenings in the space, and an understanding of the current overall state of the market will help you make informed decisions in that regard.

Networking and Engaging with the Community

To follow up on the last point of the previous section, staying up-to-date with what’s going on is best done by getting in touch with your favorite artists as well as your fellow collectors. You’d be surprised to learn how happy many of the artists on fxhash are to talk about their practice and give you details about their process. Likewise, connecting with other collectors will allow you to engage in a discourse about the artworks you love, help you gain insights from individuals that may have more experience collecting art, and may have been in the game longer than you.

Attending IRL events and galleries can be another great way to connect with others. fxhash hosts and participates in several events in different locations around the world over the course of the year, these are also usually announced on the fxhash social outlets as well as the discord.

That might be more or less difficult depending on your country of residence - but maybe you can factor in one of these events during your next vacation and make a pit-stop. There’s nothing that beats getting to know others during an IRL event, it can give you an idea of the people behind the online personas that you interact with on a daily basis and lets you connect with other passionate generative art enthusiasts.

Towards Curation

Once you’ve accrued a significant number of pieces, you can also start thinking about creating your own curations. This can be a creative and expressive endeavor, allowing you to tell a visual story through your acquisitions, it can also be valuable to document your collection and write about the pieces that resonate with you the most. If this is something that sounds exciting to you—check out the Strategies for Curating Your Collection page of the docs.

Traditionally, projects on fx(hash) generate random outputs for their collectors. This means that collectors have no prior knowledge as to what the iteration they will receive look like beforehand. This is because the hash that is used to seed the PRNG of the generative artwork, can not be known in advance. With fx(params) this paradigm changes.

Fxhash has always been a platform that embraces openness. Since day one, we've fostered a thriving artistic community where creators of all levels can share their generative art. We understand that the world of blockchain technology is constantly evolving, and that it currently plays a crucial role in distributing generative art.

That's why we're consistently working towards supporting a wider range of popular blockchains. For these reasons it only makes sense to embrace a multi-chain approach. This allows us to tap into the strengths of each platform, and provide a varied, vibrant eco-system, whatever your preferred chain for creating or collecting might be.

Fxhash currently supports the following blockchains:

• Tezos (XTZ): Following a surge in adoption by many artists in 2021, and as a user-friendly, low cost alternative to other smart contract chains, Tezos is an attractive platform for the creation and trading of generative NFTs.

The minting interface is the portal that takes you through the necessary steps to upload your project to fxhash. The interface will guide you through some final checks to make sure that things are working properly, help you set up the appearance of the final project page on fxhash and allow you to set distribution options such as the edition size, pricing, royalties, reserves and allow lists.

Once you’ve made sure that your token works properly and created a zip file that contains all of your project files (either through the fxhash CLI or manually), then you’re ready to get started.

fxhash currently supports three different blockchains for artists to publish their generative projects on: Tezos (XTZ), Mainnet Ethereum (ETH), and Base (an Ethereum L2). To collect editions from a particular project, your wallet must be compatible with the blockchain the project is minted on. For example, if you want to collect a project that is minted on Tezos, this would require you to have a Tezos compatible wallet (ex. the Temple wallet).

If you’ve already installed a wallet for the chain of your choice, and have connected it to fxhash -then you're all set!

Furthermore, collecting a piece of fxhash also require your wallet to contain sufficient funds to cover the purchase cost, and also cover the gas fees associated with effectuating the necessary transactions to acquire the token. Obtaining these initial starting funds can be a little challenging if it’s the first time that you attempt to do so - in what follows we outline some of the different methods for obtaining different cryptocurrencies and funding your wallets with them. We also cover some tools that let you manage your funds later on.

While we’ve previously tackled some of the factors that influence the valuation of individual generative artworks, it is also beneficial to discuss and understand the broader dynamics that arise when collectors compete for the acquiry and sale of tokens on the secondary market. These emergent dynamics are the driving forces play a significant role in determining the worth of digital assets on the blockchain:

To a large extent the Web3 NFT markets mirror the dynamics of traditional markets, where supply, demand, and competition play a central role in how prices regulate themselves.

Besides being displayed correctly, the absolutely most important aspect of a GENTK is that it is entirely deterministic, and that it always produces the same output for the same input hash, no matter the circumstances under which it is run.

In this section we will have a look at an example of a generative artwork, explain how it needs to be modified to become an fxhash compatible piece, and conclude by discussing some of the common causes that might break the determinism of a piece.

A Preliminary Example

Let's have a look at an example, a simple circle packing sketch:

This is a simple generative artwork that produces a different circle packing layout each time that it is rerun. Here’s the code that powers this piece:

Reserves can be configured in the 8th step of the minting interface (distribution):

Currently there are two types of reserves that can be toggled on a project: