Add RCG July 2026 report

service-providers/ringdao-community-guild/2026-07-report.md

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+# RCG Monthly Report - July 2026
+
+**Reporting period:** 01/07/2026-31/07/2026\
+**Published by:** JDubs / 2xJDubs\
+**Contributors:** Saso / Saso Lithops; Laki / Laki\
+**Status:** Final\
+**Related proposal / mandate:** https://guild-gov.ringdao.com/proposal/0x9fac917549cba94f0ce63c8e9f0fbf295212a51650d4d4b03a24bd63e25aacc2\
+**Supporting repository:** https://github.com/ringecosystem/collaboration/tree/master/service-providers/ringdao-community-guild
+
+## 1. Executive Summary
+
+During July, the team focused on building its practical AI knowledge and exploring opportunities to improve RCG operations; no reusable community workflows or agents were shipped. JDubs began developing a Codex-assisted social publishing workflow and deployed a self-hosted Hermes Agent for personal learning, Saso researched low-cost ways to improve KtonDAO participation, and Laki used AI to help develop questions for the weekly Discord quiz. Informal AI assistance with weekly quiz content and idea development saved an estimated 2.0 hours during the month. The team is requesting $2,020.85 against the $2,500.00 monthly cap for July work and reimbursement, leaving $479.15 unrequested; the principal operational blocker was obtaining the access needed to connect the RCG X account to the proposed Buffer and IFTTT workflow.
+
+| Monthly snapshot | Result |
+|---|---:|
+| Workflows shipped | 0 |
+| Agents deployed or materially improved | 0 for community use |
+| Estimated time saved | 2.0 hours/month |
+| Total funding requested | $2,020.85 |
+| Monthly budget cap | $2,500.00 |
+| Budget utilization | 80.83% |
+
+## 2. Workflows Built / Shipped
+
+
+| Workflow | Purpose | Owner | Status | Repository / documentation | Evidence or output |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| None | The team remained focused on learning how to use AI effectively to build reusable workflows. | Team | No workflows shipped in July | N/A | N/A |
+
+### Workflow Notes
+
+No completed, reusable workflows were shipped in July. The team was still learning how to leverage AI effectively for workflow development. Related learning activities and unshipped work are documented in Section 7.
+
+## 3. Agents Deployed
+
+| Agent | Area supported | What it automates | Human owner / reviewer | Deployment status | Link |
+|---|---|---|---|---|---|
+| Hermes Agent | Personal AI learning and experimentation | No community workflow automation in July | JDubs | Personal self-hosted pilot | N/A |
+
+### Operational Impact
+
+No agents were deployed for community use in July. JDubs deployed a self-hosted Hermes Agent as a personal learning pilot, but it was not used to automate the team's recurring work or produce public-facing or governance outputs during the reporting period.
+
+## 4. Time Saved vs. Manual Work
+
+| Workflow / agent | Manual time per run | Assisted time per run | Runs this month | Estimated time saved |
+|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
+| Weekly quiz tweet drafting with ChatGPT (JDubs) | 15 min | 10 min | 4 | 0.3 hours |
+| Idea development with AI (Saso) | 2 hours | 1 hour | 1 | 1.0 hour |
+| Weekly Discord quiz-question development with AI (Laki) | Not recorded | Not recorded | 4 | 0.7 hours |
+| **Total** |  |  |  | **2.0 hours** |
+
+**Estimation notes:** These are conservative, self-reported estimates rather than instrumented measurements. JDubs estimated saving a few minutes on each weekly quiz tweet; this report uses five minutes across four July runs. Saso estimated that AI reduced idea-development time by one to two hours; this report uses the lower bound of one hour. Laki estimated saving 10 minutes on each of four weekly Discord quiz-question development sessions, for approximately 0.7 hours saved. No projected future savings are included.
+
+## 5. AI Learning & Community Knowledge Sharing
+
+### Training Completed
+
+- JDubs - Explored ChatGPT Plus, Codex, and Gemini; deployed a self-hosted Hermes Agent using OpenRouter for LLM access - ongoing during July 2026
+- Saso - Continued exploring and experimenting with Rocket AI as an early tester and community member - ongoing during July 2026
+- Laki - Used AI to help develop questions for the weekly Discord quiz while continuing to explore available AI tooling options - ongoing during July 2026
+
+### Community-Facing Write-up
+
+No community-facing AI write-up was produced in July.
+
+## 6. Budget vs. Cap
+
+| Line item | Monthly cap | Amount requested | Variance (cap - request) | Notes / evidence |
+|---|---:|---:|---:|---|
+| Community Manager | $800.00 | $800.00 | $0.00 | JDubs salary request; payment address: `0xebd9A48eD1128375EB4383ED4d53478B4FD85a8D` |
+| Ambassador Program | $1,200.00 | $1,200.00 | $0.00 | Laki salary request: $700 to `0x1FE43f304CA8F1D99f79f7EC71DE9b7e329B91bD`; Saso salary request: $500 to `0x2DCD241135d2d5b2E9bA2926e436c054FDF8BF0B` |
+| AI Sponsor Plan | $500.00 | $20.85 | $479.15 | Reimbursement requested by JDubs for a paid ChatGPT Plus subscription; [invoice dated July 20, 2026](./evidence/2026-07-chatgpt-plus-jdubs.pdf) |
+| **Total** | **$2,500.00** | **$2,020.85** | **$479.15** | |
+
+**Budget utilization:** $2,020.85 requested / $2,500.00 = 80.83%\
+**Unrequested budget remaining with RingEcosystem:** $479.15
+
+No salary or reimbursement funds had been disbursed when this report was prepared. RCG payments are made during the following month, and this report supports the July salary payments and JDubs' ChatGPT Plus reimbursement request.
+
+### Budget Compliance Checklist
+
+- [x] Ambassador spending remained within its soft cap.
+- [x] Unrequested funds were not carried forward or reallocated.
+- [x] AI Sponsor Plan spending covered approved AI subscriptions only.
+- [x] Receipts or invoices were supplied for AI subscription reimbursements.
+- [x] No out-of-scope RCG line items were funded.
+
+## 7. Challenges, Experiments & Unshipped Work
+
+| Item | Outcome / blocker | Decision | Follow-up owner |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| AI-assisted RCG content publishing workflow | JDubs began developing a Codex-assisted workflow to publish RCG content to X more quickly. Direct publishing is blocked because JDubs does not own the RCG X account, and using the paid X developer API is not currently preferred. | Continue with a revised design using Buffer for publishing and IFTTT as the integration layer in place of a paid X developer account. Validate account permissions, human review, and reliability before deployment. | JDubs |
+| KtonDAO community strategy and engagement concepts | Saso analyzed KtonDAO's participation challenges, the implications of the proposed RingDAO separation, and near-zero-cost options for sustaining an independent community. The work produced recommendations and a revised engagement-game concept, but no initiative was deployed in July. Limited participation, a small treasury, and lack of development capacity constrain execution. | Continue refining low-cost community initiatives; prioritize reporting, onboarding, communications, and participation before pursuing technically complex treasury or agent projects. Revise the game concept to avoid paid-entry risks and lower barriers to participation. | Saso |
+
+### Experiment Notes
+
+#### AI-Assisted RCG Content Publishing
+
+JDubs is developing a workflow that uses Codex to help prepare and publish RingDAO Community Guild content to the RCG X account more efficiently. The current blocker is account ownership: JDubs does not own the RCG X account and therefore cannot directly establish all required integrations. The revised approach under consideration uses Buffer as the publishing service and IFTTT as the automation layer, avoiding the need for a paid X developer account. The workflow remains unshipped while the team works through permissions, integration design, human approval, and publishing reliability.
+
+#### KtonDAO Community Strategy and Engagement
+
+Saso's research identified community participation as KtonDAO's primary challenge. The analysis cited approximately 67,000 KTON staked across versions 1 and 2, approximately 31,438 KTON delegated to governance, about 14 active contributors, and typical proposal participation of three to six voters. Against that backdrop, the proposed unwinding of RingDAO's cooperation with KtonDAO would remove the annual RING staking incentive, stop new RING deposits for KTON issuance, and phase out Kton Staking functions. This would require KtonDAO to operate more independently while also creating an opportunity for the community to reconsider KTON's utility and tokenomics through governance.
+
+Given the community's size, limited treasury, and lack of development leadership, the analysis recommends beginning with simple, low-cost activities:
+
+1. Publish a monthly community report covering KtonDAO, the wider ecosystem, and treasury activity.
+2. Create an onboarding guide explaining how to acquire KTON, delegate, vote, and submit proposals.
+3. Reestablish a consistent X presence through weekly educational, historical, and governance-focused posts.
+4. Explore a symbolic KTON burn event, small community-content grants, KTON history storytelling, and a short monthly voice roundtable.
+5. Retain the proposed KTON Sentinel AI CFO concept as a future proof of concept, without committing treasury funds until development capacity is available.
+
+Saso also evaluated a proposed engagement game requiring a 1 KTON entry fee. The analysis concluded that a paid entry would be unlikely to filter participation meaningfully, could further reduce participation in a small community, and could introduce lottery or gambling concerns where entry leads to a random prize. The proposed revision is a free-to-play model with an optional KTON burn for bonus participation. Possible formats include price predictions, governance participation rewards, treasure hunts, meme competitions, and screenshot challenges. The concept remains exploratory and requires governance, legal-risk, and implementation review before use.
+
+## 8. Priorities for Next Month
+
+1. Implement and test JDubs' AI-assisted RCG content publishing workflow using Codex, Buffer, and IFTTT, while identifying and documenting the next workflow opportunity for investigation.
+2. Continue Saso's KtonDAO research, refine the recommended community-support actions, and begin evaluating practical ways the team can support DeGov.
+3. Continue Laki's exploration of ways to support RCG and identify actionable areas where AI or improved processes can assist the Guild.
+4. Continue monitoring and administering RingDAO's social channels, publishing relevant updates, and engaging with the community.
+
+### Decisions or Support Needed
+
+- Confirm the access and permissions needed to connect the RCG X account to the proposed Buffer and IFTTT publishing workflow. Owner: JDubs and the RCG X account owner; needed during August 2026.
+
+## 9. Links & Evidence
+
+- **Versioned workflows and prompts:** Not yet available; the publishing workflow remained unshipped in July.
+- **Agent code / configuration:** Not publicly available; JDubs' Hermes Agent was a personal self-hosted pilot.
+- **Monthly community write-up:** None produced in July.
+- **Supporting outputs or dashboards:** No additional links available for July.
+- **Budget evidence:** [JDubs ChatGPT Plus invoice](./evidence/2026-07-chatgpt-plus-jdubs.pdf)