# Act One: Introducing Mini Apps for Your Live Event *Extend your live event* By [Blocklive](https://paragraph.com/@blocklive) · 2024-07-16 onchain, acts, blocklive, events --- What is a Blocklive Act? ------------------------ Rather than just a ticketing solution, think of Blocklive as an operating system for live events. Blocklive spans the lifecycle of your events, not just a single transaction. Like your computer's operating system, which coordinates hardware and software resources continuously, Blocklive manages hardware (like check-in scanners, payment terminals, QR and NFC devices) and software (including checkout UX, management dashboards, and connections between organizers, artists, and fans). Blocklive now extends this operating system metaphor by offering a platform for third parties to enhance their events with mini apps. Each app functions in its own sandbox, interacting with the Blocklive event operating system solely through the API. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/b6d9f4efa96250a266652c8804aa0f83.png) An Act at the Filecoin Orbit Ecosystem Showcase for attendees who stayed until the end We call these app extensions 'Acts.' An Act is a mini-app within our live events operating system. Acts can access critical event and attendee data, controlled by strict attendee permissions. Much like your computer's operating system, you decide what an app can access. Attendees can choose to share specific data pieces, such as attendee questions, profile data, or event history. Some of this data is public, and Blocklive makes it easily accessible to Acts via our APIs. Technically, Acts are built on the [frame specification introduced by Farcaster](https://docs.farcaster.xyz/learn/what-is-farcaster/frames). This spec addresses gaps that browsers and the web did not—areas where iFrames fell short. Nothing like this has been possible with previous events platforms. Either you build an entire custom side companion native app, a full custom website, or just take what the events platform gives you out of the box. Something is clearly missing. How do Blocklive Acts fill these gaps in delivering a custom, composible solution for 3rd parties? 1. Style and Responsiveness: Acts control style and responsiveness, loading in a defined style and space. The frame design focuses on delivering data, not managing layout and logic. 2. Data Integration: Frames receive data from the parent site, enabling unique actions based on this data. For example, we inject event and ticket data, which third-party frames use for advanced actions. Access to this data is limited to public or permissioned information, ensuring user security isn't compromised. 3. Performance: By only loading essential data rather than an entire HTML/CSS/JS payload, and by imposing timeouts, we ensure frames remain responsive. 4. Security: Frames have streamlined functionality (e.g., pressing buttons, inputting data, getting responses, presenting images with additional button data), which reduces complexity but increases security and trust for users interacting with Acts. 5. Composability: Acts allow third parties to seamlessly integrate their own logic into the event’s broader ecosystem. This composability means that developers can craft custom functionalities that not only interact with other Acts but also tie directly into the event’s main flow, enhancing and personalizing the overall event experience. Why now? -------- While mini-apps as frames have been effective in social feeds through Farcaster, we believe the power of a persistent, location-specific frame with contextual data about that location will open a new world of possibilities and use cases we haven't seen in any previous models. Event hosts and organizers have never had the ability to extend their events so simply and directly. They previously had to build their own fully custom applications to get this level of functionality. From experience, we've found that organizers spend so much time building the core functionality of an event management app, they never get around to building the useful and powerful extensions they initially envisioned for their audience. By covering the intricate core of event management, we let organizers play and have fun with extensions that will make their events unique and differentiated. What can Acts do? ----------------- At a high level, Frames function by connecting a simple button/image interface to your own custom backend. Since you're fully in control of your backend and what it delivers, you have complete creative control over what is displayed and what actions a user can take. For more detailed information, check out the link to our technical docs and the frame spec at the bottom of the page. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/edc6a2f8629ae61914815aee48a5a968.png) Act builder Without constraining the idea space, here are some of the Acts we've already built and experimented with: * Unique swag scan for merch claims * Choose your own topping at the Global Pizza Party event to dynamically update your NFT image based on your choice ([Pizza Day](https://x.com/spatializes/status/1793406005746827273)) * Token drops on check-in (ATX DAO Hacker Club drops $REP based on attendance) * Pick a winner at the 2024 Presidential Debate - view stats on who everyone is choosing in real-time, in Augmented Reality ([Debate party](https://x.com/spatializes/status/1803843603086602248)) * Encrypted, onchain raffle * QR scans that unlock traits on your onchain ticket for attending a session at a conference - forever marking your attendance to a given speaker ([Stable Summit](https://www.stablesummit.xyz/)) * Unique physical art distributed to the first 100 scans at an art booth ([Stable Summit](https://www.stablesummit.xyz/)) As user-defined mini-apps with app logic controlled entirely by third-party developers, the limits on capabilities are really up to your imagination. We can't wait to see the creative use cases. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8897146f67e4bb35056a1c2a6e59f265.png) Dynamic trait claims with Stable Summit for ETH Denver Find out more ------------- Stay tuned for our next post on our onchain auto-trigger/action system for live events. Built on the Acts system, we implement some out-of-the-box function Acts with simple triggers and actions. For example, a trigger might be **Attendee Check In**, with an action of **Airdrop Token** or **Call Webhook**. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/dcba3f24b563b61ea95f53ff0edb7c61.png) Preview of the soon to launch Trigger / Action system You'll be able to set up an Act like this with just a few clicks and no coding knowledge! With pre-built templates and drag-and-drop features, you can easily customize your event apps. Acts provide a platform for anyone to embed specialized functionalities directly into live events. This framework allows for direct API access to essential event and attendee data, enabling developers to create targeted features without the extensive overhead of running their own platforms. Third-party integrators can use Acts to deploy interactive elements that respond in real-time to event dynamics, utilizing limited, safe data scopes. We encourage developers to use our APIs and Frame specs to build and iterate on these mini-apps. You can directly influence the evolution of event technology, making each event a uniquely interactive experience for your audience. Dive into the [Blocklive docs](https://blocklive.gitbook.io/docs) to start creating with Acts today. --- *Originally published on [Blocklive](https://paragraph.com/@blocklive/act-one-introducing-mini-apps-for-your-live-event)*