Quickstart

Overview

This guide gets you from zero to a running local node with a deployed contract in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

• Rust (nightly toolchain)
• just command runner (cargo install just)
• jq for JSON parsing
• curl for RPC calls

1. Build the Project

# Clone and enter the repo
cd chain

# Build everything
just build

2. Generate a Key

# Generate an ed25519 keypair
just ed25519-keygen > ./target/dev.key.json

# Export for CLI usage
export ASHEN_PRIVATE_KEY=@./target/dev.key.json

# Get your address
ALICE_ADDR=$(jq -r .address ./target/dev.key.json)
echo "Your address: $ALICE_ADDR"

3. Initialize and Run a Local Node

# Initialize the node with funds allocated to your address
just devnet-node init --data-dir ./node-data --alloc "$ALICE_ADDR=13370000000000"

# Run the node (in a separate terminal)
just node

The node will start producing blocks at http://127.0.0.1:3030.

4. Verify the Node is Running

# Check chain status
just ashen status

# Check your account balance
just ashen account --address "$ALICE_ADDR"

# Or via RPC directly
just rpc-status

5. Deploy a Contract

# Build a contract (e.g., the SFT token)
just contract-build --manifest-path contracts/sft_v1/Cargo.toml

# Deploy it
just example-deploy-sft

6. Interact with the Contract

# Set your contract address (from deploy output)
CONTRACT=0x...

# View call (read-only)
just ashen contract view \
  --idl contracts/sft_v1/sft_v1.idl \
  --contract "$CONTRACT" \
  --interface SftV1 \
  --method total_supply

# State-changing call (simulate first)
just ashen contract call \
  --idl contracts/sft_v1/sft_v1.idl \
  --contract "$CONTRACT" \
  --interface SftV1 \
  --method mint \
  --args '{"to":"'"$ALICE_ADDR"'","amount":"1"}' \
  --simulate-only

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Build workspace	just build
Run local node	just node
Check status	just ashen status
Generate keypair	just ed25519-keygen
Build contract	just contract-build --manifest-path <path>
Deploy contract	just contract-deploy --elf <path> --wait
RPC status	just rpc-status
Account info	just rpc-account <address>

Running a Multi-Node Testnet

For testing with multiple validators:

# Generate testnet config (3 validators)
just testnet-local-generate

# Run the testnet
just testnet-local-run

This starts 3 validators with an RPC server on port 3030.

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
NODE_RPC_URL	RPC endpoint	http://127.0.0.1:3030
NODE_AUTH_TOKEN	Optional auth token	none
ASHEN_PRIVATE_KEY	Private key (hex or @file.json)	required for txs

Next Steps

• Using the CLI - Full ashen CLI documentation
• Writing Contracts - Build smart contracts with the Zig SDK
• Architecture - Understand how the chain works