What are Farcaster Mini Apps?
Farcaster Mini Apps are web applications that render inside Farcaster clients, providing interactive experiences beyond traditional social media posts. Think of them as mini websites that users can interact with directly within their Farcaster feed.What does it mean to host Mini Apps?
As a Farcaster client developer, hosting Mini Apps means:- Embedding Mini Apps in your client interface (typically as webviews)
- Managing the app lifecycle (launch, navigation, close)
- Providing wallet integration so Mini Apps can access user’s crypto wallets
- Implementing authentication to verify user identity to Mini Apps
- Handling notifications when Mini Apps want to alert users
Essential implementation areas
Review and plan to implement each of these core host capabilities from the Farcaster Mini Apps specification:🔐 Authentication & Identity
- Sign In with Farcaster (SIWF) - Let Mini Apps authenticate users
- Use Sign In with Neynar (SIWN) for rapid development without managing your own signers
- Auth address generation - Create approved addresses for secure interactions (Neynar tutorial)
- User context - Provide user profile and social graph data
💰 Wallet Integration
- Ethereum provider injection - EIP-1193 compatible wallet access (EIP-1193 spec)
- Solana provider (experimental) - Multi-chain wallet support
- Transaction signing - Secure transaction flows within Mini Apps
🎨 Host UI & UX
- App surface rendering - Webview management with proper sizing (424x695px web, device dimensions mobile)
- Header display - Show Mini App name and author
- Splash screens - Loading states with custom branding
- Navigation controls - Launch, close, and navigation between Mini Apps
- Official libraries: React Native | Web
🔔 Notification System
- Token management - Generate and manage notification tokens per user (Neynar implementation guide)
- Event handling - Process Mini App lifecycle events (added, removed, notifications enabled/disabled) using the Frame Notifications API
- Push delivery - Display notifications to users in your client
📱 Mini App Discovery
- App catalog - Browse available Mini Apps (Frame Catalog API)
- Search functionality - Help users find relevant Mini Apps (Search Frames API)
- Installation flow - Let users add Mini Apps to their client
Next steps
- Start with authentication - Implement SIWF or use SIWN for quick setup
- Build the UI surface - Create webview container with proper sizing and navigation
- Add wallet integration - Inject Ethereum provider for transaction support
- Add discovery - Integrate catalog and search APIs for Mini App browsing
- Enable notifications - Implement token management and event handling
Additional resources
- Farcaster Mini Apps Specification - Complete technical specification including SDK details
- Mini App SDK Documentation - JavaScript SDK for Mini App developers
- Examples Repository - Reference implementations