Creating Smart Contracts on Worldchain

Creating smart contracts for Worldchain is no different to creating them for any EVM-compatible blockchain, like Base, Optimism, or Ethereum. You can use the same tools and libraries you are already familiar with.

Getting Started

To get started, and in this course we’ll use Hardhat  framework. It provides a robust environment for compiling, testing, and deploying smart contracts.

Making a directory for your project

First, we need to create a directory from our terminal where we will create our Hardhat project. You can name it whatever you want, but for this example, we’ll call it mini-contracts.

Use the following command to create the directory and navigate into it:

mkdir mini-contracts && cd mini-contracts

Creating a Hardhat Project

Now that we have a folder setup, let’s start with the project setup.

npx hardhat init

pnpm dlx hardhat init

yarn dlx hardhat init

bun x hardhat init

After running the command you’ll see the following prompt:

888    888                      888 888               888
888    888                      888 888               888
888    888                      888 888               888
8888888888  8888b.  888d888 .d88888 88888b.   8888b.  888888
888    888     "88b 888P"  d88" 888 888 "88b     "88b 888
888    888 .d888888 888    888  888 888  888 .d888888 888
888    888 888  888 888    Y88b 888 888  888 888  888 Y88b.
888    888 "Y888888 888     "Y88888 888  888 "Y888888  "Y888
 
👷 Welcome to Hardhat v2.26.0 👷‍
 
  What do you want to do? …
  Create a JavaScript project
  Create a TypeScript project
❯ Create a TypeScript project (with Viem)
  Create an empty hardhat.config.js
  Quit

For this course, we’ll choose the Create a TypeScript project (with Viem) option.

This will initialize the creation flow, you’ll be prompted if you want to modify settings but simply press Enter to accept the defaults. Once the process is done, you will have a new Hardhat project ready to go.

Adding Worldchain Network

By default, Hardhat is configured to work with a local network. We need to include Worlchain as a network in our Hardhat configuration.

First thing to do, is to open our freshly created project (mini-contracts) in a code editor. Second, locate the hardhat.config.ts file in the root of the project.

The hardhat.config.ts file is a place where you can configure your Hardhat project, including networks, compilers, and plugins.

To finalize the setup and include Worldchain you can copy-pasta the following code:

import type { HardhatUserConfig } from "hardhat/config"
import "@nomicfoundation/hardhat-toolbox-viem"
 
const WORLD_ETHERSCAN_API_KEY = process.env.WORLD_ETHERSCAN_API_KEY!
const DEPLOYER_PK = process.env.DEPLOYER_PK!
 
const config: HardhatUserConfig = {
  solidity: "0.8.28",
  etherscan: {
    enabled: true,
    apiKey: WORLD_ETHERSCAN_API_KEY,
    customChains: [
      {
        chainId: 480,
        network: "worldMainnet",
        urls: {
          apiURL: "https://api.worldscan.org/api",
          browserURL: "https://worldscan.org/",
        },
      },
    ],
  },
  networks: {
    worldMainnet: {
      url: "https://worldchain-mainnet.g.alchemy.com/public",
      accounts: [DEPLOYER_PK],
    },
  },
}
 
export default config

We’re introduced a few new components here:

• WORLD_ETHERSCAN_API_KEY: When deploying a smart contract, sometimes you want it to be verified meaning anyone can see the source code and interact with the contract through Etherscan.
• DEPLOYER_PK: For deploying in Worldchain, you need gas to pay for the transaction and to actually execute the deployment. This is done by using a private key of an account that has ETH in Worldchain to sponsor the deployment.