AICerts — Solana-Based Credential Issuance Platform

A decentralized credential management system built on Solana blockchain that enables secure issuance, storage, and verification of digital certificates.

📋 Table of Contents

Overview
Architecture
Tech Stack
Project Structure
Getting Started
Features
API Documentation
Solana Program
Demo

🎯 Overview

AICerts is a hybrid on-chain/off-chain credential issuance platform that leverages Solana's blockchain for immutable proof storage while maintaining cost efficiency by storing detailed metadata off-chain in MongoDB.

Live Website: https://frontend-aicerts-solana-project.vercel.app/

Smart Contract Address: EtcxZLVKnZBwHsMgFt8kuAZ3eenMgcZi5YWSNGmJYxDA

🏗 Architecture

Hybrid Design Philosophy

On-Chain Storage (Solana PDA)

Credential hash (32 bytes)
Owner public key
Credential ID (PDA public key)

Off-Chain Storage (MongoDB)

Complete metadata JSON
Template ID
Logo & signature (base64/URL)
Transaction signature
Issuer public key
Issue date & expiry
Shareable link

Why Hybrid?

✅ Cost-effective (on-chain storage is expensive)
✅ Immutable proof on blockchain
✅ Flexible metadata management
✅ Efficient verification via hash comparison

System Flow

┌───────────────────────┐
│   Issuer Dashboard    │
│ (Create Templates)    │
└───────────┬───────────┘
            │
            │ POST Template
            ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ Backend (Express + Mongo) │
│ Store Templates/Metadata  │
└───────────┬───────────────┘
            │
            │ Issue Credential
            ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ Backend Solana Service    │
│ • Hash metadata           │
│ • Derive PDA              │
│ • Submit transaction      │
└──────────┬────────────────┘
           │
           ▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│  Solana Blockchain   │
│ Store hash + owner   │
└──────────┬───────────┘
           │
           │ Verification
           ▼
┌──────────────────────┐
│  Recipient View UI   │
│ Verify credentials   │
└──────────────────────┘

🛠 Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React + Vite + TypeScript
Backend	Node.js + Express.js
Database	MongoDB (Mongoose)
Blockchain	Solana + Anchor Framework
Hashing	SHA-256 (js-sha256)
Wallet Integration	Phantom / Solana Web3.js
Smart Contract Deployment	Solana Devnet
Application Deployment	Vercel

FrontEnd ( React + TypeScript)

Init :: npm create vite@latest frontend
Live website :: https://frontend-aicerts-solana-project.vercel.app/
To run locally ::

  cd frontend
  npm install
  npm run dev

Pages
- Issuer Dashboard - http://localhost:5173/createTemplate :: reference
- Issue Credential Screen - http://localhost:5173/issueCredential :: reference
- Recipient View Page - http://localhost:5173/recipientView :: reference
- Verification Page - http://localhost:5173/verification :: reference

solana ( Anchor Framework )

Init :: anchor init solana
To Build :: anchor build
IDL (Interface Description Language) - target/idl/solana.json

backend (Node.js + Express + MongoDB)

INIT :: npx express-generator-typescript backend
TO run Locally ::

cd backend
npm install
npm run dev:hot

APIS
- /api/templates - POST call to create a template
- /api/templates - GET call to get all the available templates
- /api/credentials - POST call to store metadata
- /api/credentials - GET call to fetch all the credentials issued
- /api/credentials/by-name - POST call to fetch credentials based on Recipient Name
- /api/credentials/verify/:credentialId - GET call to verify the certificateId/credentialId issued on solana

📁 Project Structure

aicerts-solana-project/
│
├── backend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── controllers/      # Request handlers
│   │   ├── models/            # MongoDB schemas
│   │   ├── routes/            # API routes
│   │   ├── services/          # Business logic
│   ├── .env
│   └── package.json
│
├── frontend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/        # Reusable UI components
│   │   ├── pages/             # Application pages
│   │   ├── idl/solana.json    # Program interface
│   │   └── utils/             # Helper functions
│   └── package.json
│
└── programs/
    └── solana/
        ├── src/lib.rs         # Solana program code
        ├── Cargo.toml
        └── Anchor.toml

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

Node.js (v16 or higher)
Solana CLI
Anchor Framework
MongoDB
Phantom Wallet

Frontend Setup

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

The application will be available at http://localhost:5173

Backend Setup

cd backend
npm install
npm run dev:hot

The API server will start on the configured port.

Solana Program

cd programs/solana
anchor build

The compiled IDL will be available at target/idl/solana.json

Features

1. Issuer Dashboard

Route: /createTemplate

Create custom certificate templates with:

Dynamic field management (add/edit/delete)
Logo and signature upload
Real-time certificate preview
Template persistence to MongoDB

2. Issue Credential Screen

Route: /issueCredential

Issue credentials with the following workflow:

Select from existing templates
Fill credential-specific fields
Connect issuer wallet
Backend generates metadata hash
PDA derived using: [metadata_hash + issuer_pubkey]
Hash and owner stored on-chain
Complete metadata stored off-chain

3. Recipient View

Route: /recipientView

Recipients can:

View all issued credentials
Display certificates in styled format
Generate shareable credential links

4. Verification Flow

Route: /verification

Verify credentials through:

Enter credential ID
Fetch PDA account from blockchain
Retrieve stored metadata from backend
Compare hashes
Display result: VALID or INVALID

📡 API Documentation

Templates

Create Template

POST /api/templates
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "name": "Template Name",
  "fields": [...],
  "logo": "base64_string",
  "signature": "base64_string"
}

Get All Templates

GET /api/templates

Credentials

Store Credential Metadata

POST /api/credentials
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "templateId": "...",
  "metadata": {...},
  "issuerPublicKey": "...",
  "txSignature": "..."
}

Get All Credentials

GET /api/credentials

Get Credentials by Recipient Name

POST /api/credentials/by-name
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "recipientName": "John Doe"
}

Verify Credential

GET /api/credentials/verify/:credentialId

⚡ Solana Program

Program Details

Program ID: EtcxZLVKnZBwHsMgFt8kuAZ3eenMgcZi5YWSNGmJYxDA

Instruction: createCredential

Purpose: Store credential hash and owner in a Program Derived Address (PDA)

PDA Generation

Seeds: ["credential", owner_pubkey, credential_hash]

Stored Fields:

pub struct Credential {
    pub credential_hash: [u8; 32],
    pub owner: Pubkey,
}

Returned Value: PDA public key serves as the credentialId

Frontend-Blockchain Interaction

Issuance Flow (Backend)

Receive metadata JSON
Generate hash: sha256(JSON.stringify(metadata))
Derive PDA using seeds
Call createCredential instruction
Store metadata in MongoDB
Return credentialId to frontend

Verification Flow (Frontend)

Fetch metadata from backend API
Fetch PDA account from Solana
Hash the retrieved metadata
Compare with account.credentialHash
Result: VALID (if equal) or INVALID (if different)

🎥 Demo

Watch the full platform demonstration: Demo Video

📝 Additional Resources

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

📄 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Built with ❤️ using Solana, React, and Node.js

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 13 Commits
backend		backend
frontend		frontend
images		images
solana		solana
ArchitecuralDiagram.excalidraw		ArchitecuralDiagram.excalidraw
README.md		README.md
Requirements.md		Requirements.md

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