Launch a DAO

Launching a DAO Ships ship means deploying a complete on-chain organization — governance, two tokens, and a secured treasury — in a single transaction. The app guides you through it with a 7-step wizard at testnet.daoships.org/launch. This guide walks each step, explains what every field means, and offers sane defaults so you can launch with confidence.

Before you start, connect a Quai wallet (such as Pelagus) in the app and make sure it holds a little testnet QUAI for gas.

Step 1: Basic Info

Give your ship its identity.

1. Name — the public name of your DAO.
2. Description — a sentence or two on what the DAO does. This appears on your DAO's profile.
3. Avatar URL — an optional image link (https:// or ipfs://) for your DAO's logo.

These details are posted on-chain as your initial DAO profile and can be updated later through governance.

Step 2: Members

Add your founding crew and their starting balances.

1. Enter each founding member's Cyprus-1 address (starts with 0x00).
2. Assign each member an amount of Shares (voting power) and/or Loot (economic stake only).
3. Add as many founders as you need.

A common starting point is equal Shares for all founders — for example, 100 Shares each. Use Loot for advisors or contributors who should share in the treasury without a vote. See Shares vs. Loot for the full picture.

Step 3: Governance

Set the rules that control how proposals pass. This is the most consequential step.

• votingPeriod — how long voting stays open.
• gracePeriod — the window after a vote where members can exit before the action executes.
• quorumPercent — minimum participation for a vote to count, in basis points (2000 = 20%).
• sponsorThreshold — minimum Shares needed to sponsor a proposal onto the ballot.
• minRetentionPercent — protects the DAO from being drained by mass exit.
• proposalOffering — an optional anti-spam deposit to submit a proposal.

Don't guess at these — we have a dedicated guide with five ready-made templates. See Choosing Governance Parameters and Quorum, Grace & Retention.

Step 4: Navigators

Navigators are permissioned plug-ins that can mint tokens, pause transfers, or adjust governance — without a full proposal each time.

1. Optionally add an OnboarderNavigator to let new members join by paying QUAI tribute.
2. Configure caps and allowlists if you want to bound dilution.

You can skip this step entirely and run everything through governance proposals at first. Navigators can be added later. Learn more in Navigators.

Step 5: Guild Tokens

Guild tokens are the assets members receive a proportional slice of when they ragequit.

1. Add native QUAI by including the zero address (address(0)).
2. Add any ERC-20 tokens your treasury will hold.

You can register up to 20 guild tokens. Most DAOs start with just QUAI and add more as the treasury grows.

Step 6: Vault

Your treasury lives in a Quai Vault — a hardened M-of-N multisig, not a bare contract.

1. Choose the vault owners (typically your most trusted founders).
2. Set the threshold — how many owners must sign (for example, 3 of 5).

The launcher automatically wires the vault to work with the DAO. See Quai Vault Treasury for why this matters.

Step 7: Review

The final step shows everything in one place.

1. Re-read your governance parameters carefully — especially the basis-point values.
2. Confirm member balances and vault owners.
3. Click Deploy and approve the transaction in your wallet.

What gets created

When the deploy transaction confirms, four contracts come into existence and are linked together:

• A DAOShip — the governance core that runs proposals and voting.
• A SharesERC20 token — voting power for your members.
• A LootERC20 token — non-voting economic stake.
• A Quai Vault — your multisig treasury, owned by the DAO.

Your ship is live. Next, create your first proposal.