Kwantor · turning participation agreements into software
lead developer, technical and UI decisions @ Kwantor Landing page
I led development of a platform connecting participation agreements, contributor work and equity allocation. The main challenge was keeping the document someone signs consistent with the rules the software executes.
Kwantor began with Wouter’s experience on the legal side of employee participation. Agreements, spreadsheets and records of work could drift apart whenever an arrangement changed. His concept was to connect them through one system. He handled the concept and legal research; I built the platform from 2022, initially alone and later with a small team.
A contributor receives an invitation, completes a questionnaire and signs the agreements. They can then record hours or milestones for approval, with payment in cash or tokens under the arrangement. I was responsible for the technical and interface decisions that joined those steps together.
The signed document must match the screen
I built a document editor for clauses, definitions, variables and references. One rendering pipeline produces the preview, the PDF to sign and the archived copy. Changes to the templates are versioned, with a review process familiar to the lawyers using it.
Each agreement keeps the template and rule versions it was created with. Editing the system’s rules cannot silently change an agreement already in the signing process.
PARTNER CONTROL PANEL (per realm)
┌──────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Template version v2.3.0 │ │ Config version #7 │
│ ────────────────────────── │ │ ────────────────────────── │
│ documents as JSON trees │ │ decision tree (questions) │
│ {{vars}} {{def:}} {{link:}} │ │ mutation rules (on signing) │
│ {% if %} {% for %} │ │ │
│ commits ─► production │ │ draft ─► published │
└──────────────┬───────────────┘ └──────────────┬───────────────┘
│ pinned │ snapshotted
└───────────────┬────────────────────┘
▼
┌───────────────────┐
│ CONTRACT #4812 │ template v2.3.0
│ assignment │ config #7
└─────────┬─────────┘ (frozen at creation)
│
┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ 1. QUESTIONNAIRE│ │ 2. RENDER │ │ 3. SIGN │
│ decision tree │ │ same pipeline │ │ SignHost │
│ ─► form values │ │ preview = PDF │ │ SES / AES / QES │
│ │ │ │ │ or external │
└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ └────────┬────────┘
│ all parties signed
▼
┌─────────────────────┐
│ 4. MUTATION EXECUTOR│
│ runs rules of #7 │
└──────────┬──────────┘
┌────────────────┬───────────────┼───────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
┌────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌────────────┐
│ permission │ │ create │ │ vesting │ │ allocate │
│ grant │ │ assignment │ │ schedule │ │ tokens │
└─────┬──────┘ └──────┬───────┘ └────┬────────┘ └─────┬──────┘
│ │ │ │
═════════════════╪════════════════╪══════════════╪════════════════╪════════
WORKSPACE ▼ ▼ │ │
┌──────────────────────────────┐ │ │
│ contributor sees the org, │ │ │
│ logs hours, reports │ │ │
│ milestones ─► admin approves │ │ │
└──────────────┬───────────────┘ │ │
│ payout │ │
══════════════════════════╪══════════════════════╪════════════════╪════════
HEDERA LEDGER ▼ ▼ ▼
┌────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ treasury │─────►│ reserve │───────►│ unvested │
│ token keys │ mint │ pre-minted │ alloc │ wallet │
└────────────┘ └──────────────┘ └──────┬───────┘
scheduled │
tranche │
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ vested │
│ wallet │
└──────────────┘
Treat edits and payments as consequential
An early editor bug paired nested template tags incorrectly, scrambling content after repeated saves. I replaced that logic and used round-trip tests to check that opening and saving a document preserves its structure.
A payout bug caught in testing could trigger payment at both submission and approval. It reinforced the need for one execution path and tests against a real database for operations that move value.
The platform also supported versions for law firms and accelerators, each with its own templates, configuration and theme. Shared packages kept the applications’ authentication, document rendering and design system together.
The next stage
The last phase I worked on generalised the platform into an instrument engine with an append-only event ledger. That broader system remains in development with the team. The work described here covers the participation platform and the beginning of that transition.