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ICN Demo Script

Duration: 20 minutes Audience: All (cooperative members, developers, funders, other coops) Last Updated: 2026-02-13

Before You Begin

Pre-Demo Checklist (2 minutes)

# From repository root
cd /home/ubuntu/projects/icn

# 1. Verify everything is ready
./demo/scripts/quick-test.sh

# 2. If issues, reset and rebuild
./demo/scripts/reset-demo.sh
cd icn && cargo build --release

What You'll Show

Feature What It Proves
Identity "Each member has cryptographic identity they control"
Governance "Cooperatives make democratic decisions"
Ledger "Value exchange without banks or middlemen"
Trust "Accountability through transparent relationships"

Part 1: Opening (2 minutes)

The Pitch (30 seconds)

"ICN is infrastructure for the cooperative economy. It lets cooperatives manage identity, make democratic decisions, and exchange value - without depending on corporations or banks."

The Problem (30 seconds)

"Today, cooperatives use Slack for communication, QuickBooks for accounting, Google Docs for governance. Each tool is a dependency on a corporation that doesn't share their values."

The Solution (1 minute)

"ICN replaces these dependencies with cooperative-owned infrastructure. Members control their own identity. Decisions are recorded transparently. Value flows directly between people."

Part 2: Start the Demo (3 minutes)

Launch Everything

# From repository root
./demo/scripts/run-tool-library-demo.sh

What happens:

  1. Daemon starts with gateway API
  2. Authentication token generated
  3. Pilot UI server starts
  4. Credentials displayed

Point Out the Credentials

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        DEMO CREDENTIALS                          │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Gateway URL:    http://localhost:8080                            │
│ UI URL:         http://localhost:3000                            │
│ Cooperative:    rochester-tool-library                           │
│ DID:            did:icn:z...                                     │
│ JWT Token:      eyJ...                                           │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Open the UI

  1. Open browser to http://localhost:3000
  2. Click "Sign In"
  3. Enter:
    • Gateway URL: http://localhost:8080
    • Cooperative ID: rochester-tool-library
    • DID: (copy from terminal)
    • Token: (copy from terminal)
  4. Click "Sign In"

After login, the dashboard shows your display name (e.g. "Demo User") instead of a raw DID.

Say: "This is the Rochester Tool Library - a real cooperative that lends tools to community members. Notice you see your name, not a cryptographic identifier."

Part 3: Identity (3 minutes)

Show the Dashboard

Point out:

  • Your display name (e.g. "Demo User") — not a raw cryptographic ID
  • Balance (hours in the timebank)
  • Cooperative context

Say: "Every member has a decentralized identifier - a DID - but you don't have to look at raw crypto strings. The system resolves names so it feels like any normal app."

Edit Your Display Name

  1. Click the pencil icon next to your name (top-right)
  2. Enter a new name (e.g. your real name)
  3. Notice it updates everywhere immediately

Say: "Members control their own profile. Names are stored locally and resolved on demand - no central directory."

Show the Members Tab

  1. Click "Members" in sidebar
  2. Point out the 4 pre-seeded members with real names:
    • Sarah Chen, Marcus Rivera, Priya Patel, James Okafor
  3. Note: names appear throughout - transactions, governance, member list

Say: "This information is stored locally and shared only with your cooperative. Not with advertisers or data brokers."

Show Trust (if time)

Say: "Trust is explicit. You can see who vouches for whom. This creates accountability without surveillance."

Part 4: Governance (5 minutes)

Create a Proposal

  1. Click "Governance" in sidebar
  2. Click "Create Proposal"
  3. Fill in:
    • Title: "Extend tool lending period to 2 weeks"
    • Type: Text Proposal
    • Description: "Currently tools are due in 1 week. Proposing we extend to 2 weeks for member convenience."
  4. Submit

Say: "Any member can propose changes. Notice the 'Proposed by' line shows your name - not a cryptographic hash. This creates a formal record that everyone can see."

Vote on the Proposal

  1. Click on the new proposal
  2. Click "Vote"
  3. Select "Yes"
  4. Confirm

Say: "Voting is transparent and recorded. You can see who voted which way - or configure anonymous voting if preferred."

Show Delegation (if time)

Say: "You can also delegate your vote to someone you trust. This lets experts handle technical decisions while you retain ultimate control."

Part 5: Ledger & Economic Flows (4 minutes)

Log Hours

  1. Click "Transactions" in sidebar
  2. Click "Log Hours" or "New Transaction"
  3. Fill in:
    • Recipient: Select from dropdown — names shown, not DIDs
    • Activity: "Tool maintenance"
    • Hours: 2.0
    • Description: "Cleaned and oiled power tools"
  4. Submit

Say: "This is mutual credit - value exchange without money. The cooperative tracks contributions and everyone can see the ledger."

Show Transaction History

  1. Scroll through transactions
  2. Point out:
    • Sender/recipient shown as names (Sarah Chen, Marcus Rivera, etc.)
    • Date/time and activity type
    • Hours credited
    • The pre-seeded transactions between named members

Say: "Every transaction is cryptographically signed and linked to the previous one. It's tamper-evident - any change would be visible. And notice - you see people's names, not cryptographic hashes."

Show Receipts Tab

  1. Click "Receipts" in sidebar
  2. Point out verification badges

Say: "These are economic receipts with deterministic hashes. Any node can verify the entire history independently."

Part 6: Architecture Overview (3 minutes)

Show the Terminal

Switch to the terminal running the demo.

Say: "What you're seeing is a single node. In production, each cooperative runs their own node. They connect peer-to-peer - no central server."

Draw the Mental Model

┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│  Coop A     │◄───►│  Coop B     │◄───►│  Coop C     │
│  (node)     │     │  (node)     │     │  (node)     │
└─────────────┘     └─────────────┘     └─────────────┘
      │                   │                   │
      ▼                   ▼                   ▼
   Members             Members             Members

Say: "Each cooperative controls their data. They can federate with others for inter-coop transactions. But no one can unilaterally access or shut down another cooperative."

The Key Insight

Say: "This is what makes ICN different from both blockchains and traditional SaaS:

  • Unlike blockchain: No global consensus tax. Cooperatives are sovereign.
  • Unlike SaaS: No corporate dependency. You own your infrastructure.

It's the cooperative principle - user ownership - applied to the infrastructure itself."

Part 7: Closing & Q&A (Remaining time)

Summary

"You've seen identity, governance, and economic exchange - all running on cooperative-owned infrastructure. This is a working pilot. The Rochester Tool Library is one of several cooperatives testing it."

Common Questions

"How is this different from blockchain?"

"Blockchains force global consensus - every transaction validated by everyone. ICN is local-first. Cooperatives validate their own transactions. They only coordinate with others when needed."

"What if a node goes down?"

"Data syncs across nodes via gossip. If your node goes down, you restore from backup or sync from peers. No single point of failure."

"How do cooperatives control policy?"

"Governance. The proposals and voting you saw aren't just for bylaws - they control technical parameters too. Credit limits, membership rules, federation agreements."

"Is this ready for production?"

"We're in pilot phase with real cooperatives. Core infrastructure is solid - 2,000+ tests passing. We're focused on usability and documentation now."

Call to Action

For cooperative members: "Try the demo. Tell us what's missing for your workflow."

For developers: "The code is open. Check out the architecture docs. We welcome contributions."

For funders: "This is patient infrastructure. It compounds over decades as more cooperatives adopt it."

For other cooperatives: "Talk to us about running a pilot. We're looking for diverse use cases."

Stopping the Demo

# In the terminal running the demo
Ctrl+C

Or to fully reset:

./demo/scripts/reset-demo.sh

Troubleshooting During Demo

Gateway not responding

curl http://localhost:8080/v1/health
# If no response, restart the demo

Token expired

The demo script displays fresh credentials. If needed:

cd icn
ICN_PASSPHRASE=demo123 ./target/release/icnctl \
  -d ../.demo-data/tool-library \
  -e 127.0.0.1:15602 \
  auth token \
  --coop-id rochester-tool-library \
  --scopes "coop:write,coop:read,coop:admin,ledger:read,ledger:write,gov:read,gov:write"

UI shows errors

Check browser console (F12). Most common issues:

  • CORS: Gateway should allow localhost:3000
  • Auth: Token may have expired (regenerate)
  • API: Gateway may have stopped (restart demo)

Demo Variants

5-Minute Lightning Demo

Skip to:

  1. Start demo (1 min)
  2. Login + Dashboard (1 min)
  3. Create proposal + vote (2 min)
  4. "Questions?" (1 min)

45-Minute Deep Dive

Add:

  • Multi-node setup (show 2 nodes syncing)
  • CLI commands (icnctl walkthrough)
  • Architecture diagrams (from docs)
  • Code walkthrough (crate structure)

Hands-On Workshop

Provide:

  • Pre-built VM or Docker image
  • Step-by-step exercises
  • Breakout for Q&A

Resources

  • Full Documentation: docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
  • Quick Start: docs/GETTING_STARTED.md
  • API Reference: docs/api/
  • Demo Infrastructure: demo/README.md
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