Hardhat Implementation
Published: 2022-02-28 17:58:30

Hardhat is a development environment to compile, deploy, test, and debug your Ethereum software. 
Following document contains the minimal implementation steps to get started with hardhat:
1. Initialise an empty node project.  `npm init` / `yarn init`
2. Install hardhat.  `npm i hardhat` / `yarn add hardhat`
3. Install following dev dependencies: 
`npm install -D @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers ethers @nomiclabs/hardhat-waffle ethereum-waffle chai`
/
`yarn add -D @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers ethers @nomiclabs/hardhat-waffle ethereum-waffle chai`
4. Run this command: `npx hardhat`. After running this command you will get the following prompt: (choose to create an empty hardhat.config.js)

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/s1dk8j55w196dwcuc7v1.png)

5. Replace the contents of hardhat.config.js with the following: [hardhat.config.js](https://gist.github.com/mvrapidinnovation/a3e50c3550ec3304648b332fa2988ae1)
6. Create the following folders in the root directory, 
 `contracts/`  `scripts/`  `test/`


 `contracts/` - Here you will store all your contracts
 `scripts/` - Here you will store scripts for deploying contracts to the network
 `test/` - Here you will store all your test scripts

The upcoming text will show you how to, compile, test and deploy a basic ERC20 contract using hardhat.
NOTE: run this command `“npm i -g hardhat-shorthand”`, to use `“hh”` with every hardhat command you run instead of `”npx hardhat”`.

## Contract Compilation Using Hardhat:
* You can use [this](https://gist.github.com/mvrapidinnovation/dfec788fcc234b1baf59c31d6c0724f1) contract.

1. Make a file “Token.sol” in the contracts/ folder and copy paste the code from the above link.
2. Save the file and then go to the terminal and run `hh compile`.
3. After compiling two folders will be created namely `artifacts/` and `cache/`. 

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/marztyf8lr5o9hhqg2i4.png)

* `artifacts/` folder will contain the contract’s ABI and bytecode. 

## Contract Testing Using Hardhat:
* You can use [this](https://gist.github.com/mvrapidinnovation/42cf9f4b24a96818a0a695bd042d78f6) basic testing script to get started.

1. Make a file “TokenTest.js” in the `test/` folder and copy paste the code from above link.
2. Save the file and then go to the terminal and run `“hh test test/TokenTest.js”`.
Output should look something like below:

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/n4lud0fs00ek3idn6xrx.png)

## Contract Deployment Using Hardhat:
* You can use [this](https://gist.github.com/mvrapidinnovation/7b909a6f5295ac24aaa342f3cd76a311) deployment script to get started. 


Note: To deploy the script, replace <PRIVATE_KEY_N> values with your own privateKey in the hardhat’s config file.

1. Make a file “TokenDeploy.js” in the `scripts/` folder and copy paste the code from above link.
2. Save the file and then go to the terminal and run `“hh run scripts/TokenDeploy.js  --network bscTestnet”`.
3. You can search for the address [here](https://testnet.bscscan.com/) and verify that the contract has been deployed. Save the contract’s address somewhere.

## Contract Verification Using Hardhat:
To verify contracts using hardhat we will need to install a hardhat plugin `“hardhat-etherscan”`. Following steps will walk you through with that.

1. If you use yarn, run the following command: 
`“yarn add -D @nomiclabs/hardhat-etherscan”`
and if you are using npm: 
`“npm i -D @nomiclabs/hardhat-etherscan”`.
2. Then require the plugin in the hardhat’s config file.
3. Now make an account [here](https://bscscan.com/) and then go into the API keys section to create and get your API key.
4. Copy the API key and paste it in the hardhat’s config as shown below.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/0iwwccw21b8qsimg2lz4.png)

5. Now run this command in your terminal: hh verify --network bscTestnet "CONTRACT_ADDRESS_HERE".


This concludes the basics of getting started with the hardhat. I hope this has helped you.