The Interop Experience: BootNode’s Path into Hyperlane via Bounties
Why Bounties, Why Hyperlane
Hyperlane stood out early as one of the most interesting players in the interop space. Their modular, permissionless approach to interchain messaging looked like a meaningful evolution from the more rigid bridging models we’d seen before. As a Web3 dev and research studio, we were keen to get closer.
But "getting closer" via traditional BizDev channels wasn’t working: conversations were slow, and it was hard to stand out. So we looked at Hyperlane's GitHub bounty board and saw an opportunity: skip the formalities, ship something useful.
Getting Our Hands Dirty: Learning Through Contribution
Bounties weren’t just a way to engage, they were a crash course in how Hyperlane actually worked. We picked four issues that seemed achievable but non-trivial: integrating Hyperlane with DeFiLlama, streamlining Warp Routes deployment, improving E2E testing, and building generic middleware for cross-chain contract deployment.
Each bounty pulled us deeper into Hyperlane’s logic, design choices, and dev experience. We weren’t just solving isolated issues, we were onboarding ourselves into their ecosystem.
The DeFiLlama Adapter
- Bounty issue: Track Hyperlane bridge data on DeFiLlama
- Solution PR: DeFiLlama integration
This bounty aimed to expose Hyperlane bridge data on DeFiLlama. That meant parsing how Hyperlane routes messages, mapping chain metadata, and plugging into DeFiLlama’s existing infra.
It wasn’t glamorous work, but it was real. The merged PR now makes Hyperlane visible on a key analytics platform and signaled to Hyperlane that we could work within both ecosystems.
Warp Routes Deployer
- Bounty issue: Make Warp Routes deployable from a single chain/UI
- Solution repo: Hyperlane warp routes interchain deployer
Warp Routes handle interchain tokens in Hyperlane, but deploying them was clunky. We built tooling to simplify that process: deploy once, manage easily.
The project made dev onboarding smoother and showed us how much abstraction interop UX still needs. These learnings directly fed into later work on OIF.
Foundry E2E Fork Testing
- Bounty issue: E2E foundry fork testing with Hyperlane mailboxes should be easier
- Solution PR: Foundry fork testing improvements
Testing Hyperlane apps in Foundry forks was painful, especially when it came to setting up mailboxes. We improved the process with a testing utility that simplifies running full interchain flows in local forks.
This one scratched our dev-itch: more confidence in tests, less manual config.
Bonus: it's useful infra others can build on.
Generic Contract Deployment Middleware
- Bounty issue: Generic contract deployment middleware / Cross-chain create2 factory
- Solution repo: Hyperlane InterchainCreate2FactoryRouter
This was about building a cross-chain contract deployment tool, something like a create2 factory that could work across chains using Hyperlane messages.
It allowed us explore more deeply how state and bytecode propagate through Hyperlane’s system. And it pointed to a bigger opportunity: programmatic, interoperable infra for contract orchestration.
From Code to Conversation
By the time we wrapped the fourth bounty, we weren’t just contributors, we were collaborators. We had a better understanding of Hyperlane’s priorities, architecture, and dev culture. And we had something far better than a pitch: working code they’d merged.
That opened the door to real conversations. We weren’t some anonymous studio, we were the ones who shipped the DeFiLlama integration, the Warp Routes deployer, the fork testing utility, and the cross-chain factory. It gave us context, credibility, and momentum.
It also gave us a foothold in the interop vertical and set the stage for what would become OIF 1.0.
