The Tool Desk
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The restaurant picture, with its limits
Imagine a restaurant. Customers look at a menu, place an order, and get food back. They never walk into the kitchen or see the recipe book. A dapp follows the same pattern, with each role mapped to a real piece of the stack:
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| Role in the restaurant | Real component (Ethereum example) | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Menu and ordering screen | Frontend user interface, built with ordinary web technologies | Shows content and collects what the user wants to do |
| Keyring and approval desk | Wallet | Holds the user’s keys and asks the user to approve requests |
| Messenger carrying orders | Provider and node access through JSON-RPC | Carries reads and transactions between the app and a blockchain node |
| Shared rulebook and record book | Blockchain network | Keeps the shared record of chain state |
| Rule-following machine | Smart contract | Runs the deployed logic when it is called |
| Storage room for menu files | IPFS | Can store and serve the frontend’s files |
This is an analogy, not a literal blueprint. Real projects vary in how many of these pieces they use and how they arrange them.
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What a dapp is
Ethereum.org’s technical introduction to dapps defines the term in one sentence: “A decentralized application (dapp) is an application built on a decentralized network that combines a smart contract and a frontend user interface.” The page, updated July 13, 2026, describes the smart contract as the dapp’s backend “for lack of a better term.” The frontend can be written in ordinary web technologies and can call that backend.
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A smart contract is code deployed to the blockchain. Once deployed, it runs as programmed and cannot be changed, which is why its design and testing matter so much. It is best understood as an application-logic layer. It is not a general replacement for every server a conventional app might need.
How the frontend talks to a smart contract
Every dapp action falls into one of two paths. Reading data is simpler and does not change the chain. Sending a transaction changes it, and that path requires a wallet.
The read path
- A user opens the dapp, and the frontend code asks for information, such as an account balance or the current value stored by a contract.
- The request goes through a provider or client library to a blockchain node using JSON-RPC, the interface Ethereum’s stack documentation describes for node connections.
- The node returns the requested chain data, and the frontend displays it like any other API response.
Read-only calls do not require a signed transaction, so no approval prompt is needed for them.
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- The user clicks an action, for example to transfer ETH or to call a contract function.
- A JavaScript client library uses the contract’s ABI, the description of its functions and their inputs, to build the call correctly. Client libraries can run in the frontend or on a server.
- The wallet presents the transaction for review. The user approves or rejects it there.
- After approval, the signed transaction is broadcast through the node to the network, which processes it.
The write path is where most problems appear in practice: a rejected approval, an out-of-date ABI, or a node that does not accept the request will each stop the action at a different step.
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What the wallet does
From the frontend’s point of view, the wallet is a permission and request boundary. EIP-1193, the Ethereum Improvement Proposal that describes this convention, specifies that wallet key-management software exposes a JavaScript API to web applications. The app asks for access through explicit methods, and the provider, wallet, or client processes each request.
- The app does not receive the user’s private key. EIP-1193 defines a provider API, not a way for a website to obtain key material.
- Each sensitive action is an explicit request that the user can see and decline.
- The same frontend code can work with any wallet that implements the convention, although wallet-specific features vary.
Where the node fits
A frontend needs a path to a blockchain node for both reading and sending. Ethereum.org’s stack documentation, last updated October 21, 2025, describes this as connecting through the JSON-RPC API. Teams generally choose between two arrangements, and the choice shapes reliability and operating work:
- Self-hosted node: you run your own node and control its uptime, configuration, and access. This takes ongoing maintenance.
- Remote provider: you send requests to a node operated by a third party. This avoids running infrastructure, but you depend on that provider’s availability and terms.
This article does not compare RPC providers and does not measure their speed or reliability.
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No. A dapp’s frontend files can be hosted on decentralized storage such as IPFS, and IPFS documentation describes its data representation and peer-to-peer connectivity. Storing and serving those files is a separate job from running smart-contract logic. Once the page loads, it still connects to a blockchain node to read chain data or send transactions.
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| Job | Frontend on a conventional web host | Frontend hosted on IPFS |
|---|---|---|
| Delivers HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to the browser | Yes, from a web server or content delivery network | Yes, from IPFS peers that hold the files |
| Executes smart-contract logic | No | No |
| Holds on-chain state such as balances and contract variables | No, that state stays on the blockchain | No, that state stays on the blockchain |
| Connects the app to a blockchain node | Required, through the frontend code | Required, through the frontend code |
Limits of this explanation
- The account is Ethereum-centered. It does not establish how other chains structure their dapps, and “Web3” projects do not all share this stack.
- The description is based on Ethereum.org’s documentation and the EIP-1193 standard, plus IPFS’s own documentation. It is not a hands-on test of any particular wallet, node provider, or hosting setup.
- This guide does not assess security trade-offs or measure performance across wallets, providers, or hosting options.
For the current reference, read Ethereum.org’s technical introduction to dapps and its Ethereum stack page directly, since both are maintained by the Ethereum project and may change.
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