Overview
Demeter is a hosted service that gives people building Cardano apps ready-made connections to the blockchain, so apps can read chain data and send transactions without the team running its own servers. A developer creates a "port" in the Demeter Console, picks a network, and gets a web address plus an access key, a private code the app sends with each request1. Billing is per request, and a free tier covers open-source, hackathon and pre-revenue projects2,3.
Demeter is developed by TxPipe, a Cardano developer-tools company, and run jointly with Blink Labs, an independent engineering team that builds Cardano infrastructure4. Each operator runs a full copy of the service behind a load balancer, a traffic switch that sends each request to a healthy copy, so either team can answer any request4. Every port runs on Cardano mainnet and on the preprod and preview test networks1. The Cardano developer portal presents Demeter as the managed way to get the same setup a team could run on its own servers5.
Key Features
- Several ways to talk to the chain. Demeter hosts a data service that answers the same requests as Blockfrost, another Cardano data service; Ogmios, which keeps a live connection open to a Cardano node; a Kupo-compatible search for coins and scripts at an address; and UTxO RPC for streaming new blocks4.
- Freedom to leave. Demeter says every service it hosts is open-source software with a public spec, so a team can later point its app at its own server without changing its code4. Three of the four main services run on Dolos, TxPipe's Cardano data node, a program that keeps its own copy of the chain and answers questions about it4,6.
- No usage charge when nothing is calling. Usage is metered per request, and idle usage costs nothing. The Flexible plan has no minimum fee, while Pro I and Pro II reserve throughput, a higher cap on requests per second or, for Ogmios, open connections, and carry a $50 or $150 minimum fee2.
- Free access for public work. Every service has a free tier on mainnet and test networks with no credit card. Projects keep it by enrolling within 30 days, and a person reviews enrollments each week3.
- Help building transactions. A separate TRP port takes a compiled tx3 transaction, chooses which coins to spend, balances it and returns it ready to sign7.
What to Expect
Developers start in the Demeter Console, where signing in creates a first project. From there you add a port, choose mainnet, preprod or preview, and copy its endpoint, the web address your app calls, and its key into your app1. The docs open with a table matching each common job, such as submitting transactions or following new blocks, to the right port and to transaction-building libraries like Mesh, Lucid Evolution and Blaze1.
Free-tier ports that are never enrolled pause 14 days after a notice; enrolling or moving to a paid plan restores them with the same keys3. Paid plans start with no minimum fee, and switching plans never changes a port's endpoint2.
In 2023, when it also offered hosted coding workspaces, the Cardano Foundation gave TxPipe a one-time grant to pay for a free tier8. That same year the exchange NBX announced it had started using Demeter's infrastructure9.
Coding agents have their own route. An agent can register a free test-network port with no account, then hand its person a claim link; unclaimed projects expire after seven days10. A public status page shows the health of its Ogmios, Kupo and UTxO RPC services, among others11.
