Allo

The Allo core contract (Allo.sol (opens in a new tab)) is the command center for pools. This is where pools are created and funded, assigned an allocation strategy, and more. It is mostly through Allo.solyou will interact with a strategy too.

There is a wealth of sequence diagrams and developer-oriented information in the bundled Allo.md (opens in a new tab).

Creating a Pool

One of the key responsibilities of the Allo core contract is to create and manage pools. Allo provides two ways of doing this:

1. The createPool (opens in a new tab) method
2. The createPoolWithCustomStrategy (opens in a new tab) method

This first method for creating a pool creates a new pool by cloning an already deployed one. This makes it simple to make use of existing on-chain strategies. If you're using a custom or newly developed strategy, then you would deploy it to chain, and use the second method (createPoolWithCustomStrategy).

Once created, a pool and a specific strategy deployment are permanently linked. A strategy cannot be used for a different pool later, but they are easily cloned. It is best to only create a pool once you are certain the choice of strategy is final.

Adding and removing funds

The pool will need funds before you can start allocating them. This can be done:

1. At pool creation by sending tokens or ETH when you call createPool/createPoolWithCustomStrategy
2. After the fact by calling fundPool (opens in a new tab)

Note that once a pool is funded, the only way to distribute those funds is through the allocation strategy. You cannot change which allocation strategy is tied to a particular pool.

Managing a Pool

Allo creates two roles to help manage every pool:

• Pool admin - the address that created a pool
• Pool managers - optional list of addresses

Managers and admin (may) have authority to update a pool's metadata, and have say in determining fund allocation (i.e. approving or rejecting applications). The specifics will vary depending on the strategy. Pool managers can also be added or removed later, but only by the Admin:

• addPoolManager (opens in a new tab) and removePoolManager (opens in a new tab)

Fees

Allo protocol supports a fee structure, but it is not widely used today.

• A base fee applies at pool creation and is the cost of creating and running pool on Allo
• The percentage fee is taking from the pool before it is distributed