# Hardhat

## ***What is Hardhat?***

Hardhat is a development environment for Ethereum that helps developers manage and automate the common tasks involved in building smart contracts and decentralized applications. It can directly interact with Caldera's Ethereum API, allowing for the deployment of smart contracts into the Caldera network.Additionally, Hardhat is a comprehensive set of tools for creating Ethereum-based software, which includes various components that aid in editing, compiling, debugging, and deploying smart contracts and decentralized applications. All of these components work together to create a complete development environment.\ <br>

## ***Creating a Hardhat Project***

1. Create a directory for your project:

```Plaintext
mkdir hardhat && cd hardhat
```

2. Initialize the project, which will create a `package.json` file

```Plaintext
npm init -y
```

3. Install Hardhat

```Plaintext
npm install hardhat
```

4. Create a project

```Plaintext
npx hardhat
```

5. Create an empty `hardhat.config.js` and install the Ethers plugin to use the Ethers.js library to interact with the network.

```Plaintext
npm install @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers ethers
```

## ***Creating Your Smart Contract***

1. Create a `contracts` directory

```Plaintext
mkdir contracts && cd contracts
```

2. Create `your_contract.sol` file in `contracts` directory

```Plaintext
touch your_contract.sol
```

## ***Creating Your Configuration File***

Modify the Hardhat configuration file and create a secure file to store your private key in.

1. Create a `secrets.json` file to store your private key

```Plaintext
touch secrets.json
```

2. Add your private key to `secrets.json`

```Plaintext
{    "privateKey": "YOUR-PRIVATE-KEY-HERE"}
```

3. Add the file to your project's `.gitignore`, and never reveal your private key.
4. Modify the `hardhat.config.js` file

* Import the Ethers.js plugin
* Import the `secrets.json` file
* Inside the `module.exports` add the Caldera network configuration

```Plaintext
require('@nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers');const { privateKey } = require('./secrets.json'); module.exports = {solidity: "0.8.1",defaultNetwork: "rinkeby",networks: {    rinkeby: {        url: "https://eth-rinkeby.alchemyapi.io/v2/123abc123abc123abc123abc123abcde",        accounts: [privateKey]    },    AlienX: {        url: "https://rpc.alienxchain.io/http",  // RPC URL Here        chainId: 10241024 , // ChainID Here    }},}
```

## ***Deploying Your Smart Contract***

1. Compile the contract

```Plaintext
npx hardhat compilejs
```

2. Create a new directory for the script and name it scripts and add a new file to it called `deploy.js`

```Plaintext
mkdir scripts && cd scriptstouch deploy.js
```

3. Create a deployment script, like the one below

```Plaintext
async function main() {// 1. Get the contract to deployconst Your_Contract = await ethers.getContractFactory('your_contract');console.log('Deploying Your_Contract...'); // 2. Instantiating a new smart contractconst your_contract = await Your_Contract.deploy(); // 3. Waiting for the deployment to resolveawait your_contract.deployed(); // 4. Use the contract instance to get the contract addressconsole.log('Your_Contract deployed to:', your_contract.address);} main().then(() => process.exit(0)).catch((error) => {    console.error(error);    process.exit(1);});
```

4. Deploy `your_contract.sol` using the command below

```Plaintext
npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js --network AlienX
```