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FAQ

FAQ

General

What does “trustless” mean here?

No custodian holds your money. Funds sit in a per-repo escrow contract on Stellar, and its on-chain rules — not a company — decide when they release. You sign your own transactions; the platform never holds keys.

Is there a platform fee?

No platform cut. You pay only Stellar’s network fees, which are fractions of a cent per transaction, in XLM.

Which network and asset?

Stellar mainnet, paid in USDC. These docs assume mainnet — balances are real money.

Do private repos work?

TOSS syncs public, non-fork repos. Private and forked repos are skipped during sync.

For maintainers

What’s the difference between a tier and a manual bounty?

A tier is a reusable (label, amount) pair — label an issue rewarded + medium and it uses the medium amount. Manual is a one-off: label rewarded + manual and set the amount with @trustless-oss <amount>.

Can I rename or remove the default tiers?

Yes. low/medium/high are just defaults. Edit their amounts, remap them to other GitHub labels, delete them, or add new tiers. Adding a tier with a new name creates that label on GitHub. See Set reward tiers.

Can I change a bounty’s amount after creating it?

Only while it’s still editable — open, or assigned without a connected wallet. Once the milestone locks on-chain, the amount is fixed so the database and escrow can’t desync.

How do partial payouts work?

Before merging, comment @trustless-oss pay <percentage> (1–99). On merge, the contributor gets that percentage and the rest returns to your wallet. It’s an intent you can change until merge.

What does rejecting do to the money?

@trustless-oss reject (or the rejected label) disputes the milestone on-chain and resolves it back to your wallet, refunding the reserved reward and cancelling the bounty. It’s irreversible.

What happens to funds if I withdraw?

Withdrawal refunds the escrow balance to your wallet and cancels every active bounty on the repo, returning their reservations. The dashboard reports the refunded amount and the number of cancelled bounties.

Do I need to press “release” after merging?

No. Merging a linked PR is the trigger. A background worker verifies the rules and releases automatically; @trustless-oss retry only exists as a manual nudge and can’t force a refused payout.

For contributors

How do I get paid?

Get assigned, connect a Stellar wallet (locks the reward to you), open a PR with Closes #<issue>, and get it merged. The escrow releases to your wallet automatically.

Do I need USDC already to receive a payout?

No — you just need the USDC trustline so your account can hold USDC. The reward arrives as a balance when it releases.

Can I switch wallets after connecting?

Yes. Use @trustless-oss change-address (or wallet) for a specific bounty, or update your profile’s payout wallet. If you switch after the milestone locks, the system re-points it to your new wallet before paying.

The link is bound to the assigned contributor. If you’re not the assignee, you can’t use it. If you are, request a fresh one with @trustless-oss wallet.

Can two people split a bounty?

The payout targets the single assigned contributor’s wallet. The maintainer can hold back part of it with pay <percentage>, but TOSS pays one assignee per bounty.

Can I work on several bounties at once?

Yes. You can be assigned to multiple issues across repos; each tracks independently.

Wallets & crypto

Do I need to understand blockchains to use this?

No. You install a wallet, add a USDC trustline, keep a little XLM for fees, and approve sign prompts. Everything on-chain is handled for you.

Why do I need XLM if I’m paid in USDC?

XLM covers Stellar’s network fees and the account’s minimum reserve. A few dollars of XLM lasts a long time.

What if I lose my recovery phrase?

There’s no recovery path — whoever holds the phrase controls the wallet, and losing it means losing access. Store it offline. See Keep it safe.

Will TOSS ever ask for my recovery phrase or keys?

Never. Any request for your recovery phrase, PIN, or private key is a scam.

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Troubleshooting