Backend Hardhat Setup

This repository is a personal backend starter for Solidity + Hardhat projects. It is meant to help quickly boot a local blockchain backend, compile contracts, run tests, and deploy contracts during development.

What This Repo Is For

• Booting a local Hardhat blockchain backend
• Deploying Solidity contracts locally (and optionally to Sepolia)
• Running contract tests
• Reusing a clean starter for future Solidity projects

Tech Stack

• Node.js
• Hardhat (latest 2.x line)
• Ethers (via Hardhat toolbox)
• Mocha/Chai test tooling
• Optional gas reporting

Dependency Versions

Current development dependency versions from package.json:

• @nomicfoundation/hardhat-toolbox: ^6.1.2
• hardhat: ^2.28.6
• hardhat-gas-reporter: ^2.3.0
• dotenv: ^17.4.1

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ recommended
• npm

One-Time Setup

1. Open terminal in project root.
2. Install dependencies.

For full end-to-end setup (clone, install, compile, test, localhost deploy, optional Sepolia), see LocalSetupGuide.md.

npm install

Local Backend Quick Start

Run these in separate terminals from the project root.

1. Start local blockchain node:

npx hardhat node

2. Deploy contract to localhost:

npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js --network localhost

You can also use npm script:

npm run deploy:localhost

Available npm Scripts

• npm run compile: runs hardhat compile
• npm test: runs hardhat test
• npm run node: runs hardhat node
• npm run clean: runs hardhat clean
• npm run deploy: runs hardhat run scripts/deploy.js
• npm run deploy:localhost: runs hardhat run scripts/deploy.js --network localhost

Project Structure

contracts/
	Starter.sol
scripts/
	deploy.js
test/
	Starter.js
hardhat.config.js

Current Contract in Starter

The Starter contract includes:

• count state variable
• owner-based access control for increment and reset
• CountIncremented event
• increment(amount), getCount(), and reset()

Environment Variables

Optional values can be set in .env for Sepolia deploys, verification, and gas reporting:

• SEPOLIA_ALCHEMY_RPC_URL
• METAMASK_PRIVATE_KEY
• ETHERSCAN_API_KEY
• COINMARKETCAP_API_KEY
• REPORT_GAS_USAGE=true (optional)

Notes

• This repo is intentionally minimal and backend-focused.
• Clone/copy this starter when beginning a new Solidity Hardhat backend project.