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App Developer Incentives

Build a ride-sharing app on Clutch and earn CLT when users complete rides on your deployment. The network pays referrer fees on each RidePay — there is no separate grants program or development treasury.

How app builders earn​

When a passenger pays a driver via RidePay, the node splits each payment installment:

RecipientShare (default)Source
Request referrer200 bps (2%) of installmentRideRequest.referrer
Offer referrer200 bps (2%) of installmentRideOffer.referrer
DriverRemainderFare minus referrer fees

Fees are credited in CLT on-chain — CLT is a micro-dollar (1 USD = 1,000,000 CLT), so a "2% referrer fee" on a $5.00 fare is 100,000 CLT ($0.10), not 2 whole CLT. If the same wallet is referrer on both request and offer, it can receive up to 400 bps (4%) of each RidePay installment (with default node config).

Referrer fees are configured in basis points and use floor rounding: floor(fare × bps / 10_000). The driver's share is always the exact remainder, so the three shares (request referrer + offer referrer + driver) sum to the fare precisely, for every fare.

When you get paid​

Referrer fees are paid only on RidePay, not when a ride is requested or accepted.

  1. Passenger accepts an offer → full fare is debited from the passenger (RideAcceptance).
  2. Passenger sends one or more RidePay transactions → referrers and driver are credited from that installment.
  3. If the trip is cancelled before full payment, unpaid fare is refunded to the passenger — no referrer fee on amounts never paid.

Your earnings scale with ride volume and fares on transactions where your wallet is the referrer.

Earnings example​

Default config, a $5.00 fare (5 × 1,000,000 = 5,000,000 CLT), one full RidePay, both referrers set to your app wallet:

RecipientCLTUSD
Your wallet (request referrer)100,000$0.10
Your wallet (offer referrer)100,000$0.10
Driver4,800,000$4.80

If you set the same address for both default_ride_request_referrer and default_ride_offer_referrer, you receive 200,000 CLT ($0.20) on this ride.

With no referrers configured, the driver receives the full installment and app builders earn nothing from that ride.

How to participate​

1. Run your own Hub API​

Referrer addresses are attached when the Hub API builds unsigned RideRequest and RideOffer transactions. Clients do not choose the referrer on the public Hub — it comes from your Hub config.

Set your CLT wallet in Hub API config:

# App-developer referrers injected by Hub API
default_ride_request_referrer = "0xYourClutchPublicKey"
default_ride_offer_referrer = "0xYourClutchPublicKey"

Use the same address on both sides to earn both fee streams, or use different addresses for request vs offer attribution.

See Hub API configuration.

2. Build your app with the SDK​

Integrate clutch-hub-sdk-js for signing and GraphQL calls. Point the SDK at your Hub API URL, not only the public stage/demo Hub.

3. Deploy the stack​

Use clutch-deploy to run nodes, your Hub API, and your app (Docker Compose). All rides through your Hub carry your referrer addresses.

4. Track earnings​

Use Clutch Explorer or node RPC get_account_balance_effects to audit ReferrerRequestFee and ReferrerOfferFee credits to your wallet.

What you need​

RequirementPurpose
CLT wallet (secp256k1 key pair)Receive referrer payouts
Hub API deploymentInject your referrer on ride txs
App (web/mobile) + SDKUser-facing ride flows
Connection to Clutch nodesSubmit signed transactions

Important limits​

Alpha / testnet

Clutch is experimental. CLT on testnet has no fiat value. APIs and economics may change.

  • Your Hub, your referrers — Earnings go to whoever owns the Hub config. Apps using someone else's shared Hub do not automatically get a share unless that operator sets your wallet as referrer.
  • No per-app registry — There is no on-chain app ID or automatic revenue split across multiple third-party apps on one Hub today.
  • No grants or dev fund — Referrer fees on rides are the only built-in app-builder revenue mechanism.
  • Validators are separate — Validators are compensated from the flat tx_fee paid by every non-exempt transaction, not from referrer fees or ride fares. There are no block rewards anymore; see CLT Economics.

Node-side fee rates​

Referrer rates are set on each node, as basis points (must match across validators — see why):

ride_request_referrer_fee_bps = 200
ride_offer_referrer_fee_bps = 200

See Node configuration and CLT Economics.

Next steps​