Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Pocket Shop
The biggest difference is distribution. Pocket Shop publishes to PocketWeb — your shop is broadcast to every node on the network, searchable by keyword, and accessible by address. No link sharing needed. miniMerch generates shop files that you need to share and distribute yourself. Beyond that, Pocket Shop is single-product and ultra-lightweight (under 50 KB), while miniMerch supports multiple products with a shopping cart.
Minima is a Layer-1 blockchain that runs completely on-device. Unlike other blockchains that require powerful servers, Minima nodes can run on phones, IoT devices, or desktop computers. This makes it perfect for truly decentralized applications like Pocket Shop.
For selling: Yes, your node needs to be online to receive orders. However, Minima's mobile app runs efficiently in the background with minimal battery drain. For buying: No, you just need a node running when you place an order.
Customers pay with Minima or bridged USDT. The payment and an encrypted order are sent in a single on-chain transaction straight to your wallet address. No intermediary, no payment processor, no escrow.
Pocket Shop is designed for one product per shop. You can build multiple shops for different products — each one gets its own PocketWeb address and is independently searchable. If you need a multi-product store with a cart, check out miniMerch.
Buyers can find your shop by searching PocketWeb by keyword or navigating directly to your address. They see a clean, single-product page with your image, description, price, and a quantity selector. They enter their email, shipping address, and an optional message. Everything is encrypted before the transaction is sent.
Three options: (1) Download the Studio desktop app from GitHub Releases for macOS or Windows. (2) Run npm i -g pocketshop and type pocketshop. (3) Clone the repo and run npm run studio.
PocketWeb has a 50 KB file size limit. Pocket Shop is designed to stay well under this. Use SVG images for the smallest packages. Studio warns you if your build exceeds the limit and auto-resizes raster images.
Pocket Shop generates an mInbox MiniDapp alongside your shop. Install it on your node and orders appear automatically. You can update status (Paid/Preparing/Shipped), reply via ChainMail, and export orders to CSV.

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