Summary

👨‍💻 Current tutorials lack an integrated development experience.
Existing developer tutorials often require constant context-switching between web browsers, IDEs, terminals, and GitHub repositories. This disjointed workflow creates friction, especially within fast-paced ecosystems like Polkadot.

🔧 Meet Gitorial VS Code Extension:
seamlessly follow and build Git-powered, step-by-step tutorials directly within VS Code.

🌟 Built in collab with Shawn Tabrizi and Batman from DotCodeSchool - and already live. 🌟

Try it here 👉 link

VS Code Extension Showcase

Detailed

Developer onboarding in ecosystems like Polkadot remains challenging due to fragmented, browser-based tutorials. These often lead to an inefficient learning experience, burdening developers with frequent context switches.
The Gitorial VS Code Extension specifically addresses this problem by providing a cohesive, IDE-based interface that allows developers to consume interactive tutorials in a streamlined environment.

Why the Gitorial VS Code Extension?

✅ Integrated Experience: Follow tutorials without leaving your VS Code workspace.
✅ Git-Powered: Each tutorial step maps directly to a Git commit, enhancing clarity and consistency.
✅ Single Source of Truth: Tutorials are maintained via GitHub, ensuring easy updates and accurate information.
✅ Enhanced Developer Productivity: Immediate access to language servers and code execution within the IDE.

Collaboration and Future Roadmap

Batman (DotCodeSchool): Integration between DotCodeSchool's platform and the VS Code extension, facilitating a smooth user experience (initial integrations already underway).
Shawn Tabrizi: Shaping future functionality and long-term vision, including upcoming capabilities to create and edit tutorials directly inside VS Code.

Future iterations will further expand the ecosystem by defining SDKs, detailed specifications of the gitorial spec, and editing capabilities for tutorial authors directly inside VS Code.

Funding Request

This proposal is primarily retroactive—covering the initial development and launch of the Gitorial VS Code extension.

However, it also includes time allocated for minor improvements and bug fixes, ensuring a stable, polished public release that can be used by future cohorts of the Polkadot Blockchain Academy and the wider developer community.

Proponent 1: 16iXE5kqstx7dXnYzCPUvFVVdJva8cXZPWZosLob9Rwi48wj
Amount Requested: 1,560 DOT

Proponent 2: 16ZvErg1B5y24FYYbjaUi3DPoLTfG2wgkWQiNS2fkuTyJiMt
Amount Requested: 100 DOT

Total Cost: 1660 DOT (~$7,470)

Hourly Rate: $90/hr

Total Time: 83 hours

References

→ Try it out, explore the spec draft.

🔗 Extension

🔗 Gitorial-SDK

Andrey Dodonov & Andrzej Sulkowski

Polkadot Blockchain Academy Graduates, Lucerne Cohort 🇨🇭

The Gitorial VS Code Extension is a new tool that helps developers learn and build projects using step-by-step tutorials directly within Visual Studio Code. It was created to solve the problem of disjointed learning experiences in fast-paced ecosystems like Polkadot. The extension is integrated with Git, making it easy to follow each step and maintain accurate information. It also helps developers be more productive by giving them immediate access to language servers and code execution within the IDE.

The Gitorial VS Code Extension was built in collaboration with Shawn Tabrizi and Batman from DotCodeSchool. They are working on integrating the extension with their platform and planning future updates, like creating and editing tutorials directly in VS Code.

The proposal asks for funding to cover the initial development and launch of the extension, as well as minor improvements and bug fixes. The total cost is 1660 DOT, which is about $7,470. The money will be split between two proponents, with one receiving 1560 DOT and the other receiving 100 DOT. The hourly rate for the work is $90/hr, and the total time spent on the project is 83 hours.