We just shipped a small but meaningful feature for contests: Community Claps.
What are Claps?
Claps are a lightweight way to show support for projects you love. Think of them as applause — not votes, not scores. Just a signal that says "I see what you built, and I appreciate it."
Claps don't affect judging. They don't determine winners. They exist purely as a way for the community to highlight projects that resonate with them.
How it works
To determine your tier, we look at three dimensions of your reputation: Developer, TON Builder, and TON Contributor. Each has its own tier based on your activity — GitHub contributions, ecosystem projects, community involvement, and verified signals. Your clap budget is set by the highest tier you've reached across any of these dimensions.
- Basic — 10 claps
- Silver — 30 claps
- Gold — 50 claps
- Platinum — 100 claps
You can distribute your claps across as many projects as you like, with a cap of 25% of your budget per project. This encourages broad engagement rather than dumping all claps into a single submission.
Clapping is instant — just tap the 👏 button on any submission card. The counter updates immediately with a smooth animation. If you change your mind, hold the button to remove your claps.
Why we built this
Contests generate incredible work, but most of it goes unnoticed by anyone outside the judging panel. We wanted to give the broader community a voice — a way to participate in the contest experience even if you're not a judge.
Claps also serve as a soft signal. When a project has strong community support, it tells us something valuable about its resonance and potential impact, independent of technical scoring.
What else
I don't know about you, but I've been using Identity to look up developers I interact with — to better understand their background, contributions, and achievements across the ecosystem.
For a while I did this manually. It was slow that I decided to build a proper search for everyone.
Now there's a search bar in the header. Start typing a name, username, or even a linked social handle — and you'll see matching profiles instantly. It works across display names, usernames, bios, and connected accounts (GitHub, Telegram, and more).
When you meet someone in the ecosystem, you can look them up on Identity in seconds. See their tier, tags, bio — everything you need to understand who you're talking to.
What's next
This is our first iteration. We're watching how claps get used in practice and will refine the mechanic based on real data. Some things we're thinking about:
- Surfacing "most clapped" projects more prominently
- Clap-based discovery feeds
- Expanding claps beyond hackathons
As always, we're building in the open. If you have feedback or ideas, reach out.
Go explore the current contest and clap for the projects that inspire you.
Enjoyed this? Give it a clap