Creating a Program

Creating a program takes about 10 minutes. You'll go through a wizard that covers everything: what you're funding, how much, who approves payouts, and when it all happens.

Before You Start

Have these ready:

Organization admin access - you need to be an admin to create programs
Program details - title, description, what you're looking for
Budget - how much for the award pool and voting pool
Timeline - start date, submission period length, voting period length
Multisig signers - wallet addresses of people who will approve payouts

Step 1: Program Details

This is the public-facing information about your program.

Title & Description - Be specific. "Q1 Developer Grants" is better than "Grants Program". The description should explain what you're funding, what makes a good submission, and how applications will be evaluated.

Media - Add a logo and banner image to make your program look professional.

Social Links - Add your website, Twitter, Discord, etc. so contributors can learn more about your organization.

Timeline:

Start Date - When submissions open
Cycle Count - How many times the program repeats (1 for one-off)
Submission Period - Days contributors have to submit
Voting Period - Days voters have to evaluate

Once applications start coming in, you can't change the cycle count or period lengths. Plan your timeline carefully.

Vote Visibility - Choose whether votes are hidden during voting (prevents bandwagoning), fully public, or anonymous (totals visible but not who voted).

Step 2: Program Logic

This is where you configure the mechanics - chain, tokens, pools, and rules.

Chain & Tokens

Pick the blockchain and tokens for your program:

Network - EVM, or Solana
Award Token - What winners get paid in
Voting Token - What voters stake and get rewarded in

Need a different EVM chain? Contact us - we can add it quickly.

Pool Amounts

Set the amounts per cycle. If you have multiple cycles, the total program budget is the per-cycle amount times the number of cycles.

Example: 10,000 USDC award pool per cycle × 4 cycles = 40,000 USDC total to fund.

Award Type

How winners get paid:

Fixed - Every winner gets the same amount (you set the amount)
Split Equal - Pool divided equally among all winners
Split Proportional - Higher-voted winners get more
Milestone - Contributors propose deliverables with budgets

Winner Selection

Top X - Set a winner limit. The X highest net-voted submissions win.

Quorum - Set a percentage threshold. Any submission with that approval rate wins.

Slash Percentage

How much incorrect voters lose. Start with 5-10% for balanced incentives. 0% means no penalty (less skin in the game), 20%+ is aggressive (may discourage participation). See Conviction Voting for how slashing works in detail.

Application Limits

Optionally cap how much any single application can request for milestone based programs. Useful for spreading funding across more projects.

Step 3: Multisig Setup

The multisig wallet holds all program funds and controls payouts. You're configuring who can approve transactions. We will deploy the multisig wallet for you. Each program has its own multisig.

Owners - Add wallet addresses for everyone who should be able to sign. Your admin wallet is added automatically, plus Incented's operational wallet (needed for settlement processing).

Threshold - How many signatures are needed to approve a transaction. "2 of 3" means any 2 owners can approve.

Distribution Mode:

Automatic (recommended) - Settlement queues transactions automatically
Manual - You review and queue transactions yourself from the admin panel

For EVM chains, this creates a Safe wallet. For Solana, it creates a Squads vault.

Step 4: Review

Double-check everything before creating. You'll see a summary of all your settings - program details, tokens, pools, award type, winner selection, and multisig config.

Save as Draft - Not ready? Save and come back later. You can edit everything while in draft.

Create Program - This finalizes settings and creates your multisig wallet. The program moves to Draft status.

Step 5: Fund & Activate

Your program exists but isn't live yet. Two more things:

Fund the Multisig

Transfer tokens to cover:

Full award pool (all cycles)
Full voting pool (all cycles)

The multisig address is shown on your program's edit page. Double-check it before sending funds.

Activate

Once funded, click "Activate Program". Your program becomes visible to the public and starts accepting submissions when the start date arrives.

After Creation

What You Can Edit

Editing gets more restricted as the program progresses:

Draft - Everything
Upcoming - Most settings, but not cycle structure
Accepting Submissions - Description and media only
Voting onwards - Very limited

Plan your settings carefully before launch.

Monitoring

Your program dashboard shows submission counts, vote activity, funding status, and timeline progress. Check in periodically to see how things are going.

Troubleshooting

"Cannot create program" - Make sure you're an organization admin and your wallet is connected.

"Invalid token address" - The token might not exist on the chain you selected. Double-check the address format (0x... for EVM, base58 for Solana).

"Multisig creation failed" - Owner addresses must be valid for the chain. EVM addresses start with 0x, Solana addresses are base58 encoded.

Next:

Managing Programs - Edit and monitor live programs
Settlement - How payouts work

Creating a Program

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