DeFi Strategy Standard (DSS)

Comprehensive testing & validation framework for DeFi trading strategies

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Overview

The DeFi Strategy Standard (DSS) is the industry standard for validating DeFi trading strategies. DSS introduces a streamlined 14-point architecture focused on code quality, economic soundness, interoperability, and developer experience.

NEW in v1.2.0: DSS SDK & Tooling - Build DSS-compliant strategies with ready-to-use contracts, testing utilities, and CLI tools!

DSS combines:

• Developer Tools: SDK with contracts, testing framework, and CLI for rapid development.
• Rigorous Validation: DSS architecture with strict coverage requirements.
• Interoperability: Native support for ERC-4626 and MAS (Multi-Asset Standard).
• 2025 Best Practices: Formal verification, mutation testing, and full invariant coverage.

Why DSS?

The Problem: The DeFi industry lacks standardized testing practices. Most protocols launch with:

Common Practice	Risk
"Audit coming soon"	Unverified code handling user funds
40-60% test coverage	Critical paths untested
No fuzzing	Edge cases undiscovered
No backtesting	Strategy performance unknown
No operational procedures	Incident response undefined

The Solution: DSS provides a complete framework that standardizes:

1. What to test — Specific categories (DSS-1 through DSS-14)
2. How much to test — Quantitative coverage metrics per certification level
3. How to validate — Economic and market condition testing
4. How to operate — Deployment and monitoring standards
5. How to govern — Upgrade and documentation requirements

Framework Structure (DSS 1-14)

DSS organizes requirements into 14 Functional Categories:

Core Engineering

• DSS-1: Core Strategy Tests - Weight logic, bounds, and basic correctness.
• DSS-2: Economic Invariants - Portfolio value conservation and math guarantees.
• DSS-3: Trigger & Timing Tests - Automation logic, cooldowns, and stale data handling.
• DSS-4: Risk Management Tests - Stop-losses, drawdowns, and emergency pauses.
• DSS-5: Integration Tests - Interactions with DEXs, Lending protocols, and Oracles.
• DSS-6: Security Tests - Flash loans, reentrancy, and manipulation resistance.

Advanced Validation

• DSS-7: Stress Tests & Fuzzing - Random inputs, market crashes, and chaos testing.
• DSS-8: Gas Efficiency - Benchmarks and scaling limits.

Operational & Governance

• DSS-9: Operational Security - Deployment, keys, and monitoring.
• DSS-10: Governance & Upgrades - Timelocks, audits, and disclosure.

Interoperability

• DSS-11: Interoperability - ERC-4626 and MAS Protocol compliance.

Tooling & Automation

• DSS-12: Developer Experience & Documentation - API docs, code templates, and tutorials.
• DSS-13: CI/CD & Automation - Automated testing, security scanning, and deployment workflows.
• DSS-14: Production Monitoring & Observability - Event monitoring, health checks, and incident response.

Certification Levels

Level	Focus	Key Requirements
🥉 Bronze	MVP / Testnet	DSS 1-6, Basic Interoperability. >80% Coverage.
🥈 Silver	Mainnet <$10M	All Bronze + Stress Tests (DSS-7), Audits. >95% Coverage.
🥇 Gold	Institutional	Formal Verification, L2 Optimization, Bug Bounty. >98% Coverage.

🏆 Certified Strategies

The DSS Registry showcases projects that have achieved DSS certification. These strategies demonstrate excellence in security, testing, and operational practices.

Current Registry Statistics:

• Total Certified: 0
• Gold 🥇: 0 | Silver 🥈: 0 | Bronze 🥉: 0

Be the first! Achieve DSS certification and submit your strategy to the registry.

Why get listed?

• 🎯 Showcase your commitment to security and quality
• 📚 Provide reference implementations for the community
• 🤝 Build trust with users and auditors
• 🚀 Get featured in DSS updates and announcements

View Full Registry →

🚀 Quick Start

Using the DSS CLI (Recommended)

# Install the DSS CLI globally
npm install -g @vaultbricks/dss-cli

# Create a new DSS-compliant strategy
dss init my-strategy

# Navigate to your project
cd my-strategy

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run tests
npm test

# Check DSS compliance
dss check --level silver

# Generate certification report
dss report

Manual Setup

# Clone the DSS repository
git clone https://github.com/VaultBricks/DSS.git
cd DSS

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run the test suite
npm test

# Generate coverage report
npm run coverage

📚 Production Examples

DSS includes production-tested strategy examples:

Strategy Examples

• HODLStrategy - Equal-weight allocation strategy
• Fixed6040Strategy - Classic 60/40 portfolio
• Foundry Examples - Foundry/Forge test implementations

Operational Examples (NEW!)

• Monitoring Bots - Real-time health monitoring and alerting
• Keeper Bots - Automated rebalancing and maintenance
• Deployment Scripts - Multi-sig deployment and verification
• Incident Response - Emergency procedures and playbooks

All examples include comprehensive test coverage and demonstrate DSS compliance.

See Examples README for details.

📦 DSS SDK Packages

DSS now provides a complete SDK for building compliant strategies:

📚 New! Check out the SDK Usage Guide for comprehensive examples and tutorials.

@vaultbricks/dss-core - Solidity Contracts

Base contracts and interfaces for DSS strategies:

npm install @vaultbricks/dss-core
# or
forge install VaultBricks/DSS

Includes:

• IDSSStrategy - Core strategy interface
• DSSAccessControl - Role-based access control (DSS-9)
• DSSPausable - Emergency pause (DSS-4)
• DSSTimelock - Governance timelock (DSS-10)
• DSSWeightLib - Battle-tested weight normalization library

@vaultbricks/dss-test - Testing Framework

Ready-to-use testing utilities:

npm install --save-dev @vaultbricks/dss-test

Includes:

• InvariantRunner - Property-based testing (DSS-2)
• InvariantHelpers - Extended invariant testing utilities (value conservation, share price monotonicity, weight sum checks)
• FuzzHelpers - Extended fuzzing utilities with arbitraries (DSS-7)
• StandardTests - Pre-built test suites

@vaultbricks/dss-cli - Command Line Tool

Project initialization and certification:

npm install -g @vaultbricks/dss-cli

Commands:

• dss init - Create new project
• dss check - Verify compliance
• dss report - Generate certification report

Documentation

Getting Started

• Getting Started Guide - Step-by-step tutorial for building your first DSS strategy
• SDK Tutorial - Complete tutorial with code examples ⭐ NEW
• SDK Usage Guide - Comprehensive guide to all SDK packages ⭐ NEW
• SDK Quick Reference - Quick reference for common patterns ⭐ NEW

Core Documentation

• Certification Matrix - Full requirements table
• Certification Process - How to get certified
• Interoperability Guide - MAS + ERC4626

SDK Documentation

• SDK Usage Guide - Complete guide with examples
• SDK Quick Reference - Quick reference guide
• @vaultbricks/dss-core - Solidity contracts and interfaces
• @vaultbricks/dss-test - Testing framework and utilities
• @vaultbricks/dss-cli - Command-line tool
• Packages Overview - Complete SDK documentation

Specification Parts

• Part A: Code Quality (DSS 1-8)
• Part B: Economic Validation (Reference)
• Part C: Operational Security (DSS-9)
• Part D: Governance (DSS-10)
• Part E: Interoperability (DSS-11)
• Part F: Tooling & Automation (DSS-12, DSS-13, DSS-14) ⭐ NEW

DSS & MAS: Better Together

DSS complements the VaultBricks Multi-Asset Standard (MAS):

Standard	Focus	Scope
MAS	Architecture	Multi-asset vault structure
DSS	Validation	Strategy testing & security

See Integration Guide for details.

Contributing

DSS is an open-source standard that welcomes contributions from the community. See Contributing Guide for details.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file.