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Bounties & Incentives

Bounties are how Sage Protocol incentivizes contributions. They create a permissionless marketplace for prompt improvements.

Why Bounties?

Good prompts don't appear fully formed. They need iteration: - Edge cases discovered through real use - New use cases that weren't anticipated - Better examples and constraints - Integration with new tools

Bounties let anyone signal "this needs work" and put money behind it.

How Bounties Work

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  1. CREATE                                                   │
│  DAO or individual creates bounty with reward               │
│  Funds escrowed in SimpleBountySystem contract              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  2. CLAIM                                                    │
│  Contributors claim bounty to signal they're working        │
│  (Optional - some bounties allow direct submission)         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  3. SUBMIT                                                   │
│  Contributor submits deliverable (usually IPFS CID)         │
│  Multiple submissions allowed until approved                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  4. APPROVE                                                  │
│  DAO/operator approves submission                           │
│  Funds automatically transfer to winner                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Creating Bounties

sage bounty create \
  --title "Improve SQL prompt edge case handling" \
  --description "Add handling for CTEs, window functions, and subqueries" \
  --reward 100 \
  --deadline 30 \
  --subdao 0x... \
  -y

Parameters: - --title - Brief description of what's needed - --description - Detailed requirements - --reward - Amount in SXXX tokens - --deadline - Days until bounty expires - --subdao - DAO context for governance bounties

Claiming and Submitting

# Browse open bounties
sage bounty list --subdao 0x...

# Claim a bounty (signals you're working on it)
sage bounty claim --bounty-id 42 -y

# Submit your work
sage bounty submit \
  --bounty-id 42 \
  --deliverable "ipfs://Qm..." \
  -y

Approval Modes

Different DAOs use different approval methods:

Operator Approval

Single operator or Safe multisig approves submissions directly.

sage bounty approve --bounty-id 42 --submission 0 --winner 0x... -y

Best for: Small teams, clear acceptance criteria.

Board Approval

Council or board reviews and votes on submissions.

# Board members vote
sage bounty vote --bounty-id 42 --submission 0 --support for

Best for: Mid-size DAOs, subjective quality.

Token Voting

Community votes on submissions through governance.

Best for: Large communities, controversial decisions.

Auto-Approval

Submissions auto-approve if they meet predefined criteria (e.g., tests pass).

Best for: Technical bounties with objective acceptance criteria.

Winner Selection Modes

# Set bounty selection mode
sage bounty set-mode \
  --subdao 0x... \
  --mode auto \
  --governance-config 0x... \
  --bounty-system 0x...
Mode How It Works
auto First valid submission wins
board Board/operator selects winner
token Token holders vote
competitive Multiple submissions, best wins

Bounty Types

Prompt Improvement

Most common - improve an existing prompt:

sage bounty create \
  --title "Add error handling to code-review prompt" \
  --description "Current prompt fails on malformed input. Add graceful error handling and helpful messages." \
  --reward 50 \
  --subdao 0x...

New Prompt

Create something that doesn't exist:

sage bounty create \
  --title "Create database migration prompt" \
  --description "Need a prompt for safe database migrations. Should handle rollbacks, zero-downtime, index management." \
  --reward 200 \
  --subdao 0x...

Bug Fix

Fix a specific issue:

sage bounty create \
  --title "Fix SQL injection vulnerability in query prompt" \
  --description "The query-builder prompt doesn't properly escape user input. Reproduce: ..." \
  --reward 100 \
  --subdao 0x...

Documentation

Improve docs or examples:

sage bounty create \
  --title "Add examples to trading-analysis prompt" \
  --description "Need 5+ real-world examples showing different market conditions" \
  --reward 30 \
  --subdao 0x...

Funding Bounties

Bounties can be funded from:

Direct Funding

Creator funds bounty at creation:

sage bounty create --reward 100 ...
# SXXX transferred from your wallet to escrow

Treasury Funding

DAO treasury funds bounty via governance:

sage bounty fund \
  --subdao 0x... \
  --bounty-id 42 \
  --token 0xSXXX \
  --amount 1000000000000000000

ETH Payouts

Some bounties pay in ETH instead of SXXX:

sage bounty payout-eth --bounty-id 42 --winner 0x... --amount 0.1

Agent Bounties

Agents can participate in the bounty system:

# Agent discovers open bounties
sage bounty list --subdao 0x...

# Agent claims bounty
sage bounty claim --bounty-id 42 -y

# Agent generates improved prompt
# ... (agent work happens here) ...

# Agent submits result
sage bounty submit --bounty-id 42 --deliverable "ipfs://Qm..." -y

This creates a marketplace where agents compete to improve prompts.

Soulbound Badges

When a bounty is approved, the winner can receive a soulbound badge - a non-transferable NFT proving their contribution:

# Mint badge to bounty winner
sage sbt mint \
  --to 0xWinner \
  --reason contributor \
  --uri "ipfs://Qm..."

Badges are used for: - On-chain reputation - Access gating (e.g., council membership) - Social proof

Boosts (Voting Incentives)

Boosts are like bounties for governance participation:

# Create boost for a proposal
sage boost create \
  --proposal-id 123 \
  --governor 0x... \
  --per-voter 5_000000 \
  --max-voters 100 \
  --kind direct

Voters who participate receive USDC rewards. This increases participation on important proposals.