Getting started

Your first session in Sciencera, end to end. This guide assumes you're a researcher, reviewer, or curious explorer — no developer setup required.

What you'll need

• A modern browser — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.
• A Solana wallet extension. Phantom, Solflare, Torus, or Ledger all work. We recommend Phantom if you've never used Solana before — it's free, fast to install, and walks you through wallet creation.
• A few minutes.

You don't need SOL (Solana's native currency) to log in or browse. Connecting is free. Some future actions will require a small amount of SOL to pay network fees, but nothing in the app today asks for funds.

Step 1 — Install a wallet

If you don't already have one:

1. Visit phantom.com (or your preferred wallet's site).
2. Install the browser extension.
3. Follow the wallet's setup. It will generate a secret recovery phrase — write it down somewhere safe and offline. This phrase is the only way to recover your wallet if you lose your device. Sciencera can never recover it for you.
4. Set a strong password.

Your wallet is now ready.

Step 2 — Open Sciencera

Go to app.sciencera.tech. You'll land on a connect screen.

Click Connect wallet. A familiar wallet picker pops up — choose your wallet, approve the connection in the wallet's confirmation popup.

You're now signed in. Your wallet's public address (a string like GK...x1Y) is your identity in Sciencera. No email, no password, no shadow account. The wallet is the login.

Step 3 — Take a tour

The dashboard is your starting point. From the sidebar you can reach:

• Submit — propose a peptide hypothesis through the 6-step wizard
• Proposals — browse what's been submitted, filter by vertical or status
• AI Lab — analyze sequences or generate scientific illustrations
• Labs — browse contract research organizations and academic labs
• Academy — take peptide science, DeSci, GMP/GLP, or regulatory courses
• Reviewers — browse the reviewer network or apply yourself
• Profile — your wallet identity, credentials, and reputation
• Activity — a timeline of everything you've done in the platform

Spend a few minutes clicking around. Nothing you do here costs SOL or commits anything yet. Drafts are private.

Step 4 — Try Academy

The fastest way to get a feel for the platform is to start an Academy track.

1. Click Academy in the sidebar.
2. Pick Peptide Science 101 (the easiest entry point).
3. Read the lessons. Each one is short — sequences, structure, synthesis basics, assays.
4. Take the quiz at the end. The pass threshold is shown.

When you pass, you earn a credential. It binds to your wallet and shows up on your profile. You'll also see a "Claim 2,500 SCI" button — clicking it claims your reward (see Features for the full reward table).

Every step is recorded on your activity timeline.

Step 5 — Submit a hypothesis (when you're ready)

When you have a peptide idea you want to put on the record:

1. Click Submit.
2. Fill the wizard's six steps. Your work auto-saves as a draft after each step — you can leave and come back later.
3. On the final step, you'll see a preview of the full payload plus a proof hash (the cryptographic fingerprint that goes on chain). It updates live as you edit.
4. Click Submit. Your wallet asks you to confirm.
5. The proposal is now in the directory with status submitted. Reviewers can see it.

Drafts never leave your browser. Only the act of submitting makes anything public — and even then, only the fingerprint is on chain. The full content stays in access-controlled storage.

Common questions

Do I need SOL to use Sciencera? Not to browse, not to take Academy, not to draft proposals. Future on-chain actions (submitting a proposal once chain wiring is complete) will need a tiny bit of SOL for network fees — typically less than a cent.

What if I lose my wallet? Your recovery phrase is the master key. If you have it, you can restore your wallet on any device. If you lose it, the wallet (and any credentials bound to it) cannot be recovered. We say this loudly because it's true.

Can I switch wallets? Yes. Each wallet is a separate identity in Sciencera. Your activity, credentials, and proposals stay with the wallet that did them.

What about my privacy? Your wallet address is public by definition (that's how blockchains work). Everything else — your name, affiliation, draft content — stays in access-controlled storage and never goes on chain. The blockchain only records cryptographic fingerprints of the things you actively submit.

Does the AI Lab cost money? No. It's free for you. We absorb the AI provider costs.

Where to go next

• Features — What you can do today, in detail
• Tour the app — Page-by-page walkthrough
• Your Solana wallet — How wallet sign-in really works
• How proposals stay tamperproof — Behind the scenes of submit