DeFi devs may save months of work with OpenZeppelin's operations platform

Defender simplifies the task of deploying and administering smart contracts.

OpenZeppelin, a blockchain software company known for developing one of the most used implementations of the Ethereum ERC-20 contract, announced on Tuesday the release of a developer suite called Defender.

The tool helps automate many of the development operations associated with running Ethereum-based DApps.

It provides a simple dashboard to manage upgrades and admin operations for existing smart contracts, which can help developers keep track of changes.

Other features include a transaction relayer that simplifies integrations with web-based backends, automated tasks like logging or oracle updates and a general knowledge base of best practices in development.

The company says that normally these features need to be developed independently by every team, which diverts time and effort from actual smart contract deployment.

"Multiple exploits we've seen in DeFi this year, such as those in YAM, Uniswap, dForce, and Hegic, could have been avoided or reduced by following a careful security process, but teams lack a comprehensive system that fully informs them on security best practices and how to assess risk."

Beyond the ease of access to best practices, Alexander said that a quick response tool could have reduced the loss of user funds in situations similar to the bZX and Opyn hacks.

The team decided to build the tool following conversations with developers, who "Were spending months and months of precious time trying to build their own infrastructure and tools," Alexander said.

It comes as new security and development tools are being released to simplify the process of developing a DApp.