What is Graph Network? Seven roles of The Graph Network:
Graph Network is the query layer and API layer of the decentralized Web3, which can eliminate the trade-off problem facing dApp developers right now: whether to build high-performance applications or truly decentralized applications.
Today, developers can run Graph Node on their own infrastructure or build on our hosting service. Developers build and deploy subgraphs, which describe how to extract data from Web3 data sources and index them. Many leading Ethereum projects have established subgraphs, including: Uniswap, ENS, DAOstack, Synthetix, Moloch, etc. In Graph Network, any indexer will be able to pledge Graph Token (GRT) to participate in the network and earn fees and inflation rewards for query services.
Consumers will be able to use the ever-growing set of indexers by paying for metered usage, thus proving that the law of supply and demand can maintain the services provided by the agreement.
Protocol role
These are the roles that interact with the system, the behaviors they must participate in to make the protocol work correctly, and what incentives motivate them.
Consumer
The consumer pays the query fee to the indexer. These are usually end users, but may also be web services or middleware integrated with The Graph.
Indexer
The indexer is the node operator of "Graph". Their motivation comes from receiving financial rewards.
Curator
The curator uses GRT to indicate which subgraphs are valuable for indexing. These are usually developers, but they may also be end users who support the services they rely on or roles that are purely financially motivated.
Principal
The principal placed GRT at risk on behalf of Indexer in order to obtain a portion of inflationary rewards and expenses without having to run Graph Node himself. They are motivated economically.
Fisher
Fishermen protect the network by checking whether the query response is correct. The fishermen are motivated by altruism, so The Graph will initially operate fishermen services for the network.
Arbitrator
The arbitrator determines whether the indexer should be cut during the dispute resolution period. They may be motivated financially or altruistically.
Problems in the Internet Age:
When the Internet was still in its infancy, the most typical website was a simple html file stored on a server in some hobbyist’s closet. To visit this website, when you search for a topic on the countless search engines that existed at the time, you must have realized its existence or lost it.
These search engines are basically Internet directories-if possible, they can serve as indexes. The index will use a program called a web crawler to explore the web by following all possible paths that appear in links between pages. When these web crawlers track each link on each page, they will also store data about the content of these pages, making it easy to retrieve web pages based on their content. For example, when a user types "cats" in the search box, all accessible web pages containing the word "cats" will be returned for the user to filter.
Index and subgraph:
Just like the early Internet, today's encryption industry also faces its own indexing problem: "How to easily retrieve specific information encoded on the blockchain?" and more importantly, "How to do this in a decentralized way? Will we end up using Google’s blockchain?"
Unlike the Internet, the Internet must first find the data source through a web searcher before any data collection can be performed, while the blockchain makes it easier to conduct investigations without worrying about losing any data (for example: access to the Ethereum archive node can make the query Any data on Ethereum). However, analyzing raw data from the blockchain can be much more difficult. This is where the Graph protocol appears. Graph's solution is to build a tool-Graph Node, which can work with blockchain nodes (for example, Geth, Parity.) and let you tell exactly what information must be provided. Extract in each block by using "subgraphs".
Plan the network:
Let's go back to the search engines of the early Internet. Through the index, users can narrow their search to sites that appear to contain information about the keywords typed in the search box. It's not perfect, but it can still be used...until the search query starts returning thousands of results. Not only has the number of websites exploded, but they have also motivated website owners to fill in more and more keywords on their pages to make them relevant to as many search queries as possible. This means that the possibility of finding a particular website through a search engine is very small, because the search results are mainly composed of thousands of website links, which have nothing to do with what you are looking for. This means that even with all these search engines, you may need the exact title of the document or topic you are looking for.
Simply retrieving web pages from the Internet is easy (a bit too easy), and the challenge now is to make sure that the most relevant sites on the subject surface. This is a breakthrough idea proposed and proposed by two computer scientists: define a method to measure relevance, and rank search results based on that metric. They named the new search engine "Backrub" (then renamed it Google after careful consideration) and equipped it with a new ranking system called PageRank. Since then, a link to the most relevant website for that search will always be found in Google search. The idea of measuring relevance and building website ordering (or in other words, curating the network) is why we now say "Google it" instead of "Altavista it".
Just as curation allows Google to retain the most relevant search results in a query, the curation of the graph protocol will also allow indexers (the individuals running graph nodes) to index only the most relevant subgraphs. However, unlike Google, The Graph's goal is to decentralize management. The curation is not performed by a central entity, but by a team of curators.
Why subgraphs are useful:
Before creating subgraphs, it is difficult for decentralized applications to extract rich data from the blockchain to enhance and enrich the user experience. Developers must build their own indexing logic, query the engine and store blockchain data to allow their applications to query it. This process is extremely inefficient for three reasons:
Each new distributed application will build its own index logic and data storage.
The data storage area must absorb the history of the entire chain instead of focusing on the activities of several contracts at a given block height.
Index data cannot be publicly queried.
Querying and indexing blockchain data is an extraordinary process, because it rarely draws on the data access practices developed in the Web 2 era. The complexity of the task consumes the team's key development resources. In addition, a large amount of overlapping non-collaborative infrastructure was created.
Yes, it is indeed possible to extract simple data directly from the blockchain. For example, what is the current price of swap X. However, this does not apply to more complex queries, such as calculating the total amount of token X in all its trading pairs.
The subgraph greatly simplifies the above process. They allow indexing of complex data and provide query logic for instant retrieval of data by any application that has access to public APIs. The subgraphs run on the "graphics" network, which is maintained by indexers, curators and clients. The diagram is a decentralized network (when the main network starts), providing incentives to each network participant. Together, these participants ensure the continuous operation of the network and allow developers to use it without the hassle of building their own infrastructure.
The subgraph can provide ultra-fast response time because the calculation of the original blockchain data is performed retrospectively; allowing index data to be provided on demand. Due to retrospective calculations and a powerful infrastructure, subgraphs can perform complex queries.
Importantly, subgraphs can achieve higher granularity by allowing specific contracts, methods, and events to be indexed (if needed). They also provide the freedom to start indexing at any given block height, which can help reduce the time required to synchronize and index subgraphs.
In addition, the public subgraph allows any application or user to query the index data it contains. As a result, multiple applications can utilize the same set of subgraphs, thereby reducing duplication and redundant development time. Developers can ensure that the subgraph they are accessing will remain online through Graph's redundant decentralized network, which does not rely on any single indexer.
How does the subgraph work?
The subgraph is divided into three parts:
Performance
Architecture diagram
Correspondence
The manifestation checklist is a YAML file used to define smart contracts, events, blocks and calls that the indexer should pay attention to. In addition, the manifest maps event data to entities. Entities are objects that contain data, and are data stores from which queries request data. However, the data stored in the entity is directly pulled from the blockchain, so it is essentially unorganized.
Think of the checklist as an instruction manual to tell the indexer what to pay attention to and what to do with it. When creating a new block, the information saved in the manifest will be used to listen for and index new events related to a particular subgraph.
Curator: The checklist is a good place to evaluate the accuracy of the subgraph by ensuring that the correct contract is cited, the latest ABI file is used, and the correct event/call handler is entered. It also shows how to map raw data to entities to help curators assess whether the naming conventions of entities are easy to understand.
Architecture diagram:
The pattern component of the subgraph organizes the data stored in the entity and allows the developer to express how she wants to present the data. This mode is a GraphQL file and provides an interface for issuing query requests through the GraphQL interface definition language. It represents the highest abstraction layer of the underlying data storage, therefore, it will become the main point of interaction for the curator.
The schema defines entities, the values stored in these entities, and the relationships between entities. The relationship is one-way, which means that entity X can have a relationship with entity Y, and entity Y may not have a relationship with entity X.
One thing to note is that the pattern is described between essential and non-essential information. The required information will have a "!" after the field, and this information must be included to query the entity.
Curator: The mode will provide information about the completeness and usefulness of the sub-pictures. It will display the entities that can be queried and the values stored in each entity. The evaluation of the pattern may highlight missing data sets that are useful in the context of a particular subgraph. Not all subgraphs are designed to become complex, so curators should consider the ultimate goal of subgraphs when determining their effects.
The corresponding mapping file converts lower-level Ethereum data into the required entities specified in the GraphQL schema file. For further details, the list extracts the original Ethereum data, and maps these data into the form listed in the schema.
Curator: The mapping file will provide a lot of useful information for curators who can follow the AssemblyScript language used. By specifying the conversion method of the original data, it can give the curator an in-depth understanding of the complexity and practicality of the subgraph.
In conclusion:
All in all, the subgraph provides on-demand access to rich blockchain data for decentralized applications. By avoiding unnecessary software and hardware duplication, they provide considerable efficiency for development teams. It is possible to ensure 100% uptime through the Graphs decentralized network, and ensure that the data indexed by the subgraph is permanently accessible to anyone.
The author solemnly reaffirms: As of the time of publication, the author has an interest relationship with the project mentioned in the article, and hereby informs it. Interests include but are not limited to the following situations: I am a member of the project team, I am an immediate family member or spouse of a member of the project team, participate in the investment of the project, hold the shares or tokens issued by the project, participate in short or long the project , Collect rewards for paid writing, etc.
Video guide: https://youtu.be/R3-WogeUPKo
RU guide: Развертывание и запуск SUBGRAPH на VPS Ubuntu 20.04 x64
EN guide: Deploying and running SUBGRAPH on a VPS Ubuntu 20.04 x64
Why do we believe in The Graph? What inspires us? Why is Graph so important to Web3?
Everything about the new direction of Web3 using the blockchain stack. Why is Graph so important to Web3?
Почему мы верим в The Graph? Что нас вдохновляет? Почему вам следует познакомиться с Graph Protocol!Почему мы верим в The Graph? Что нас вдохновляет? Почему вам следует познакомиться с Graph Protocol!
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