Sidewalk is a civic engagement platform that enables citizens to report local issues, track public cases, and build trust between communities and institutions through transparent reporting and verification workflows.
The platform helps people document problems in their neighborhoods, submit reports, monitor progress, and access public information about issues affecting their communities. By combining identity, reporting, and verification systems, Sidewalk aims to create a more accountable and responsive civic ecosystem.
Built across web, mobile, and backend services, Sidewalk is designed to support both everyday citizens and organizations responsible for resolving reported issues.
Many civic issues go unresolved because there is no reliable system for reporting, tracking, and verifying them.
Citizens often submit complaints through fragmented channels with little visibility into what happens afterward. Local governments, organizations, and communities frequently lack a transparent mechanism for demonstrating progress or maintaining trust.
Sidewalk addresses these challenges by providing:
- structured issue reporting,
- citizen identity and trust systems,
- public case tracking,
- verification workflows,
- notifications and updates,
- transparent civic engagement tools.
The platform creates a shared space where reports can be submitted, monitored, verified, and resolved with greater accountability.
Citizens can report issues affecting their communities through a structured reporting workflow.
Examples include:
- damaged roads,
- waste management issues,
- broken public infrastructure,
- environmental concerns,
- utility disruptions,
- community safety concerns,
- public service complaints.
Reports can include supporting information, media, location data, and categorization to improve visibility and response.
Trust is critical in civic systems.
Sidewalk includes identity workflows that help establish credibility while protecting users from unnecessary complexity.
Identity features may include:
- user verification,
- profile management,
- trust indicators,
- contribution history,
- reputation signals,
- reporting history.
These systems help reduce abuse while increasing confidence in submitted reports.
Transparency is one of the platform's core goals.
Users can track the status of reports throughout their lifecycle.
Potential report states include:
- submitted,
- under review,
- verified,
- assigned,
- in progress,
- resolved,
- closed.
This provides visibility into what actions are being taken after a report is submitted.
Sidewalk keeps users informed as cases evolve.
Notifications may include:
- report status changes,
- verification updates,
- moderator actions,
- community engagement activity,
- resolution confirmations.
This ensures users remain connected to issues they care about.
The platform includes operational tools for maintaining data quality and platform integrity.
Administrative capabilities may include:
- report review,
- moderation workflows,
- abuse prevention,
- verification management,
- case escalation,
- operational analytics.
These tools help maintain trust and ensure the platform remains useful for communities.
Sidewalk uses Stellar as a trust and verification layer rather than a traditional payment system.
The Stellar integration can be used for:
- verification receipts,
- proof of report submission,
- proof of verification events,
- auditability,
- trust signals,
- transparent record tracking.
By anchoring key events to Stellar, Sidewalk can provide stronger guarantees around authenticity and transparency while keeping the user experience simple.
| Area | Technology |
|---|---|
| Web Application | Next.js + React + TypeScript |
| Mobile Application | Expo + React Native + TypeScript |
| Backend API | Express.js + TypeScript |
| Blockchain Layer | Stellar |
| Package Management | pnpm |
| Architecture | Monorepo |
sidewalk/
│
├── apps/
│ ├── api/ # Authentication API (Express modular monolith)
│ ├── web/ # Web authentication UI (Next.js)
│ └── mobile/ # Mobile foundation (Expo + React Native)
│
├── packages/
│ ├── shared/ # Shared TypeScript types and validation schemas
│ └── stellar/ # Stellar integration scaffold (no blockchain logic yet)
│
└── docs/ # Environment, testing, and contributor documentation
This is the foundational, hackathon-ready starting point for Sidewalk: a modular monolith authentication API, matching web and mobile foundations, and the package/CI/docs scaffolding needed to start building the rest of the platform described above.
apps/api
The API is a modular monolith built with Express and TypeScript. It is
organized by business domain (src/modules/auth, src/modules/users) rather
than by technical layer, with cross-cutting concerns in src/shared.
Currently implemented:
- account registration,
- login and access-token issuance,
- an authenticated "current user" endpoint,
- a health check endpoint.
User data is persisted via Prisma to a local SQLite database by default
(swap DATABASE_URL for a managed Postgres database in production).
apps/web
The web app is a Next.js (App Router) application providing the authentication UI:
- Login page (
/), - Create Account page (
/register), - client-side auth state management (token stored in
localStorage).
No other pages exist yet — additional product surfaces from the roadmap below will be built as new modules on top of this foundation.
apps/mobile
The mobile app is an Expo + React Native + TypeScript foundation: project
setup, folder structure (src/components, src/screens, src/navigation,
src/hooks, src/services, src/utils, src/assets), linting, formatting,
and a working test setup. No screens or authentication flows are implemented
yet — this is a starting point for future development.
packages/stellar
A scaffold package for the future Stellar integration described in the Vision section. It currently contains only placeholder types and interfaces with no blockchain functionality, so the package compiles and is ready for future implementation.
The current platform roadmap follows this progression:
- Authentication.
- Identity and user profiles.
- Civic reporting workflows.
- Public case tracking.
- Stellar-backed verification and receipts.
- Notifications and trust signals.
- Moderation and administration.
- Offline and resilience features.
- Observability, security, and production readiness.
Each phase builds upon the previous one to create a complete civic engagement ecosystem.
- Node.js 20+
- pnpm 10+
Install dependencies:
pnpm installRun the primary applications:
pnpm dev:api
pnpm dev:web
pnpm dev:mobileOnce the API and web app are running, visit http://localhost:3000 to create
an account and log in.
Run validation and development checks:
pnpm lint
pnpm typecheck
pnpm test
pnpm build
pnpm checkEach application includes an example environment file:
apps/api/.env.example
apps/web/.env.example
apps/mobile/.env.example
Copy the appropriate file and configure environment variables before running services locally. See docs/environment.md for details on each variable and secrets handling.
Sidewalk's long-term goal is to create a trusted civic infrastructure layer where communities can report issues, verify information, monitor progress, and hold institutions accountable through transparent and verifiable workflows.
By combining reporting systems, identity, public tracking, and Stellar-backed verification, Sidewalk aims to strengthen trust between citizens, organizations, and public institutions.
MIT