SilentPay

Privacy-first payroll on the Midnight Network

SilentPay lets employers run payroll and employees claim payments without publishing individual salary amounts on-chain. Zero-knowledge proofs verify each claim while keeping allocations confidential.

Live demo · Report bug · Request feature

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Why SilentPay?

On a transparent blockchain, every payment is permanent and public. Salaries, bonuses, and contractor fees become visible to anyone. SilentPay solves this by running payroll on Midnight, where:

• Payroll creation and claim counts are publicly verifiable.
• Individual payment amounts remain hidden.
• Employees prove eligibility with a ZK circuit — no amount is disclosed on-chain.

Features

• Privacy-preserving payroll — create payroll with private allocations; only metadata is public
• ZK claim flow — claimPayment circuit proves eligibility without revealing amounts
• Wallet integration — Lace wallet connect/disconnect on Midnight networks
• Full dashboard — manage employees, create payrolls, view claims and history
• Multiple networks — Preview, Preprod, and local Docker devnet
• 42 automated tests — contract, validation, service, and end-to-end coverage

Screenshots

The application flow — from landing to payroll execution and employee claiming:

Hero	Add Employees

Employees	Create Payroll

Payroll	Employee Claim Tab

Employee History	Employee Dashboard

Claims	Employer Dashboard

Quick start

Prerequisites

Requirement	Version
Node.js	22+
PostgreSQL	16+
Docker	with Compose v2
Compact compiler	~/.local/bin/compact

Install and run

git clone https://github.com/janvi100104/SilentPay.git
cd SilentPay
npm ci
cp .env.example .env.local
npx prisma generate
npx prisma db push
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

Quick database with Docker

docker run --name silentpay-db \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=silentpay \
  -p 5432:5432 \
  -d postgres:16

Then set DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/silentpay in .env.local.

Compile and deploy the contract

compact compile contracts/payroll.compact contracts/managed/payroll
npm run midnight:deploy

Deploy to local devnet instead

docker compose up -d --wait
npm run midnight:deploy -- undeployed

Run tests

npm test -- --runInBand

Or with coverage:

npm run test:coverage

End-to-end check against the live contract:

npm run test:e2e

Deployed contracts

Network	Contract Address	Deployer Wallet Address
Preview	972fbdf9ad5adcb3bd363d6528cf68dadf960b2fc962e5f619bb94a452f5fd8a	mn_addr_preview1ts073zl6xyp9ragecxh79t97wqpsvu4pzddh9x4l6dg9rggd38cselcd6v
Local devnet	57f93e63fa0a26312da02aa05110b9f2add249322c81933428a15d89677f617b	mn_addr_undeployed1h3ssm5ru2t6eqy4g3she78zlxn96e36ms6pq996aduvmateh9p9sk96u7s

Demo video

Full demo video on Google Drive

Evidence

Compile output	Test output	Deployed address

Scripts

Command	Description
npm run dev	Start the development server
npm run build	Production build
npm run compile	Compile the Compact contract
npm run midnight:deploy	Deploy to the active Midnight network
npm run midnight:network	Show or switch the active network
npm run midnight:check-balance	Print tNIGHT and DUST balances
npm run midnight:cli	Inspect deployment and network state
npm run test	Run all tests
npm run test:coverage	Tests with coverage report
npm run test:e2e	End-to-end contract verification
npm run lint	Run ESLint
npm run clean	Remove generated artifacts

Architecture

contracts/
  payroll.compact               # Compact payroll contract (createPayroll + claimPayment)
  managed/payroll/              # Compiled artifacts (JS, keys, zkir)
src/
  app/                          # Next.js pages and API routes
    api/claim/                  # Claim API — wires claimPayment circuit
    api/payroll/                # Payroll API — deploys contract
  features/                     # UI components (employee, payroll, claim)
  services/                     # Application services
  midnight/                     # Network config, wallet, deploy scripts
  __tests__/                    # Contract and validation tests
docs/                           # Product, architecture, and schema docs
scripts/e2e-check.ts            # End-to-end verification
docker-compose.yml              # Local Midnight node, indexer, proof server

Privacy model

SilentPay separates public ledger state from private witness data.

Public: payroll ID, employer address, month, employee count, claim count, contract addresses.

Private: allocation amounts, eligibility details, whether a specific address has a positive allocation.

The claimPayment circuit proves an eligible allocation exists, marks it claimed, and increments the public counter — without disclosing the amount.

An observer can learn	An observer cannot learn
Payroll metadata	Individual salary or payment amount
Claim count and proof activity	Another employee's allocation
Publicly disclosed addresses	Private witness values

This model does not hide information voluntarily revealed outside the contract. Never commit wallet seeds, private keys, .env files, or deployment state.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Security

To report vulnerabilities, see SECURITY.md.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.