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Developer Tools

A guide to available tools, components, patterns, and platforms for developing applications on EVM-compatible chains.

New developers start here​

  • Solidity - The most popular smart contract language.
  • Metamask - Browser extension wallet to interact with Dapps.
  • thirdweb - SDKs in every language, smart contracts, tools, and infrastructure for web3 development.
  • Hardhat - Flexible, extensible and fast Ethereum development environment.
  • Cryptotux - A Linux image ready to be imported in VirtualBox that includes the development tools mentionned above
  • OpenZeppelin Starter Kits - An all-in-one starter box for developers to jumpstart their smart contract backed applications. Includes OpenZeppelin SDK, the OpenZeppelin/contracts-ethereum-package EVM package of audited smart contract, a react-app and rimble for easy styling.
  • EthHub.io - Comprehensive crowdsourced overview of Ethereum- its history, governance, future plans and development resources.
  • EthereumDev.io - The definitive guide for getting started with Ethereum smart contract programming.
  • Brownie - Brownie is a Python framework for deploying, testing and interacting with Ethereum smart contracts.
  • Ethereum Stack Exchange - Post and search questions to help your development life cycle.
  • dfuse - Slick blockchain APIs to build world-class applications.
  • Biconomy - Do gasless transactions in your dapp by enabling meta-transactions using simple to use SDK.
  • Blocknative — Blockchain events before they happen. Blocknative's portfolio of developers tools make it easy to build with mempool data.
  • useWeb3.xyz — A curated overview of the best and latest resources on Ethereum, blockchain and Web3 development.

Developing Smart Contracts​

Smart Contract Languages​

  • Solidity - Ethereum smart contracting language
  • Vyper - New experimental pythonic programming language

Frameworks​

  • thirdweb - Provides the tools needed to build custom smart contracts efficiently by offering a set of prebuilt base contracts and a set of reusable components, or extensions, that can be integrated into your own smart contracts.
  • Hardhat - Flexible, extensible and fast Ethereum development environment.
  • Embark - Framework for DApp development
  • Dapp - Framework for DApp development, successor to DApple
  • Etherlime - ethers.js based framework for Dapp deployment
  • Parasol - Agile smart contract development environment with testing, INFURA deployment, automatic contract documentation and more. It features a flexible and unopinionated design with unlimited customizability
  • 0xcert - JavaScript framework for building decentralized applications
  • OpenZeppelin SDK - OpenZeppelin SDK: A suite of tools to help you develop, compile, upgrade, deploy and interact with smart contracts.
  • sbt-ethereum - A tab-completey, text-based console for smart-contract interaction and development, including wallet and ABI management, ENS support, and advanced Scala integration.
  • Cobra - A fast, flexible and simple development environment framework for Ethereum smart contract, testing and deployment on Ethereum virtual machine(EVM).
  • Epirus - Java framework for building smart contracts.

IDEs​

Other tools​

Test Blockchain Networks​

  • ethnode - Run an Ethereum node (Geth or Parity) for development, as easy as npm i -g ethnode && ethnode.
  • Kaleido - Use Kaleido for spinning up a consortium blockchain network. Great for PoCs and testing
  • Besu Private Network - Run a private network of Besu nodes in a Docker container **Orion - Component for performing private transactions by PegaSys ** Artemis - Java implementation of the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain by PegaSys
  • Cliquebait - Simplifies integration and accepting testing of smart contract applications with docker instances that closely resembles a real blockchain network
  • Local Raiden - Run a local Raiden network in docker containers for demo and testing purposes
  • Private networks deployment scripts - Out-of-the-box deployment scripts for private PoA networks
  • Local Ethereum Network - Out-of-the-box deployment scripts for private PoW networks
  • Ethereum on Azure - Deployment and governance of consortium Ethereum PoA networks
  • Ethereum on Google Cloud - Build Ethereum network based on Proof of Work
  • Infura - Ethereum API access to Ethereum networks (Mainnet, Ropsten, Rinkeby, Goerli, Kovan)
  • CloudFlare Distributed Web Gateway - Provides access to the Ethereum network through the Cloudflare instead of running your own node
  • Chainstack - Shared and dedicated Ethereum nodes as a service (Mainnet, Ropsten)
  • Alchemy - Blockchain Developer Platform, Ethereum API, and Node Service (Mainnet, Ropsten, Rinkeby, Goerli, Kovan)
  • ZMOK - JSON-RPC Ethereum API (Mainnet, Rinkeby, Front-running Mainnet)
  • Watchdata - Provide simple and reliable API access to Ethereum blockchain

Alternative Celo Faucet​

Test Ether Faucets​

Communicating with Ethereum​

Frontend Ethereum APIs​

  • thirdweb - Build web3 applications that can interact with your smart contracts using our powerful SDKs.
  • Web3.js - Javascript Web3
  • Eth.js - Javascript Web3 alternative
  • Ethers.js - Javascript Web3 alternative, useful utilities and wallet features
  • useDApp - React based framework for rapid DApp development on Ethereum
  • light.js A high-level reactive JS library optimized for light clients.
  • Web3Wrapper - Typescript Web3 alternative
  • Ethereumjs - A collection of utility functions for Ethereum like ethereumjs-util and ethereumjs-tx
  • Alchemy-web3.js - Javascript Web3 wrapper with automatic retries, access to Alchemy's enhanced APIs, and robust websocket connections.
  • flex-contract and flex-ether - Modern, zero-configuration, high-level libraries for interacting with smart contracts and making transactions.
  • ez-ens - Simple, zero-configuration Ethereum Name Service address resolver.
  • web3x - A TypeScript port of web3.js. Benefits includes tiny builds and full type safety, including when interacting with contracts.
  • Nethereum - Cross-platform Ethereum development framework
  • dfuse - A TypeScript library to use dfuse Ethereum API
  • Tasit SDK - A JavaScript SDK for making native mobile Ethereum dapps using React Native
  • useMetamask - a custom React Hook to manage Metamask in Ethereum ĐApp projects
  • WalletConnect - Open protocol for connecting Wallets to Dapps
  • Subproviders - Several useful subproviders to use in conjunction with Web3-provider-engine (including a LedgerSubprovider for adding Ledger hardware wallet support to your dApp)
  • Strictly Typed - Javascript alternatives
  • ChainAbstractionLayer - Communicate with different blockchains (including Ethereum) using a single interface.
  • Delphereum - a Delphi interface to the Ethereum blockchain that allows for development of native dApps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
  • Torus - Open-sourced SDK to build dapps with a seamless onboarding UX
  • Fortmatic - A simple to use SDK to build web3 dApps without extensions or downloads.
  • Portis - A non-custodial wallet with an SDK that enables easy interaction with DApps without installing anything.
  • create-eth-app - Create Ethereum-powered front-end apps with one command.
  • Scaffold-ETH - Beginner friendly forkable github for getting started building smart contracts.
  • Notify.js - Deliver real-time notifications to your users. With built-in support for Speed-Ups and Cancels, Blocknative Notify.js helps users transact with confidence. Notify.js is easy to integrate and quick to customize.

Backend Ethereum APIs​

  • thirdweb - Build web3 applications that can interact with your smart contracts using our powerful SDKs.
  • Web3.py - Python Web3
  • Web3.php - PHP Web3
  • Ethereum-php - PHP Web3
  • Web3j - Java Web3
  • Nethereum - .Net Web3
  • Ethereum.rb - Ruby Web3
  • rust-web3 - Rust Web3
  • Web3.hs - Haskell Web3
  • KEthereum - Kotlin Web3
  • Eventeum - A bridge between Ethereum smart contract events and backend microservices, written in Java by Kauri
  • Ethereumex - Elixir JSON-RPC client for the Ethereum blockchain
  • Ethereum-jsonrpc-gateway - A gateway that allows you to run multiple Ethereum nodes for redundancy and load-balancing purposes. Can be run as an alternative to (or on top of) Infura. Written in Golang.
  • EthContract - A set of helper methods to help query ETH smart contracts in Elixir
  • Ethereum Contract Service - A MESG Service to interact with any Ethereum contract based on its address and ABI.
  • Ethereum Service - A MESG Service to interact with events from Ethereum and interact with it.
  • Marmo - Python, JS, and Java SDK for simplifying interactions with Ethereum. Uses relayers to offload transaction costs to relayers.
  • Ethereum Logging Framework - provides advanced logging capabilities for Ethereum applications and networks including a query language, query processor, and logging code generation
  • Watchdata - Provide simple and reliable API access to Ethereum blockchain

Bootstrap/Out-of-Box tools​

  • Create Eth App - Create Ethereum-powered frontend apps with one command
  • Besu Private Network - Run a private network of Besu nodes in a Docker container
  • Testchains - Pre-configured .NET devchains for fast response (PoA) ** Blazor/Blockchain Explorer - Wasm blockchain explorer (functional sample)
  • Local Raiden - Run a local Raiden network in docker containers for demo and testing purposes
  • Private networks deployment scripts - Out-of-the-box deployment scripts for private PoA networks
  • Parity Demo-PoA Tutorial - Step-by-Step tutorial for building a PoA test chain with 2 nodes with Parity authority round consensus
  • Local Ethereum Network - Out-of-the-box deployment scripts for private PoW networks
  • Kaleido - Use Kaleido for spinning up a consortium blockchain network. Great for PoCs and testing
  • aragonCLI - aragonCLI is used to create and develop Aragon apps and organizations.
  • ColonyJS - JavaScript client that provides an API for interacting with the Colony Network smart contracts.
  • ArcJS - Library that facilitates javascript application access to the DAOstack Arc ethereum smart contracts.
  • Arkane Connect - JavaScript client that provides an API for interacting with Arkane Network, a wallet provider for building user-friendly dapps.
  • Onboard.js - Blocknative Onboard is the quick and easy way to add multi-wallet support to your project. With built-in modules for more than 20 unique hardware and software wallets, Onboard saves you time and headaches.
  • web3-react - React framework for building single-page Ethereum dApps

Ethereum ABI (Application Binary Interface) tools​

  • Online ABI encoder - Free ABI encoder online service that allows you to encode your Solidity contract’s functions and constructor arguments.
  • ABI decoder - library for decoding data params and events from Ethereum transactions
  • ABI-gen - Generate Typescript contract wrappers from contract ABI's.
  • Ethereum ABI UI - Auto-generate UI form field definitions and associated validators from an Ethereum contract ABI
  • headlong - type-safe Contract ABI and Recursive Length Prefix library in Java
  • One Click dApp - Instantly create a dApp at a unique URL using the ABI.
  • Ethereum Contract Service - A MESG Service to interact with any Ethereum contract based on its address and ABI.
  • Nethereum-CodeGenerator - A web based generator which creates a Nethereum based C# Interface and Service based on Solidity Smart Contracts.
  • EVMConnector - Create shareable contract dashboards and interact with arbitrary EVM-based blockchain functions, with or without an ABI.

Patterns & Best Practices​

Patterns for Smart Contract Development​

Upgradeability​

Infrastructure​

Ethereum Clients​

  • Besu - an open-source Ethereum client developed under the Apache 2.0 license and written in Java. The project is hosted by Hyperledger.
  • Geth - Go client
  • OpenEthereum - Rust client, formerly called Parity
  • Aleth - C++ client
  • Nethermind - .NET Core client
  • Infura - A managed service providing Ethereum client standards-compliant APIs
  • Trinity - Python client using py-evm
  • Ethereumjs - JS client using ethereumjs-vm
  • Seth - Seth is an Ethereum client tool—like a "MetaMask for the command line"
  • Mustekala - Ethereum Light Client project of Metamask
  • Exthereum - Elixir client
  • EWF Parity - Energy Web Foundation client for the Tobalaba test network
  • Quorum - A permissioned implementation of Ethereum supporting data privacy by JP Morgan
  • Mana - Ethereum full node implementation written in Elixir.
  • Chainstack - A managed service providing shared and dedicated Geth nodes
  • QuickNode - Blockchain developer cloud with API access and node-as-a-service.
  • Watchdata - Provide simple and reliable API access to Ethereum blockchain

Storage​

  • IPFS - Decentralised storage and file referencing
    • Mahuta - IPFS Storage service with added search capability, formerly IPFS-Store
    • OrbitDB - Decentralised database on top of IPFS
    • JS IPFS API - A client library for the IPFS HTTP API, implemented in JavaScript
    • TEMPORAL - Easy to use API into IPFS and other distributed/decentralised storage protocols
    • PINATA - The Easiest Way to Use IPFS
  • Swarm - Distributed storage platform and content distribution service, a native base layer service of the Ethereum web3 stack
  • Infura - A managed IPFS API Gateway and pinning service
  • 3Box Storage - An api for user controlled, distrubuted storage. Built on top of IPFS and Orbitdb.
  • Aleph.im - an offchain incentivized peer-to-peer cloud project (database, file storage, computing and DID) compatible with Ethereum and IPFS.

Messaging​

  • Whisper - Communication protocol for DApps to communicate with each other, a native base layer service of the Ethereum web3 stack
  • DEVp2p Wire Protocol - Peer-to-peer communications between nodes running Ethereum/Whisper
  • Pydevp2p - Python implementation of the RLPx network layer
  • 3Box Threads - API to allow developers to implement IPFS persisted, or in memory peer to peer messaging.

Testing Tools​

  • Solidity code coverage - Solidity code coverage tool
  • Solidity coverage - Alternative code coverage for Solidity smart-contracts
  • Solidity function profiler - Solidity contract function profiler
  • Sol-profiler - Alternative and updated Solidity smart contract profiler
  • Espresso - Speedy, parallelised, hot-reloading solidity test framework
  • Eth tester - Tool suite for testing Ethereum applications
  • Cliquebait - Simplifies integration and accepting testing of smart contract applications with docker instances that closely resembles a real blockchain network
  • Hevm - The hevm project is an implementation of the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM) made specifically for unit testing and debugging smart contracts
  • Ethereum graph debugger - Solidity graphical debugger
  • Tenderly CLI - Speed up your development with human readable stack traces
  • Solhint - Solidity linter that provides security, style guide and best practice rules for smart contract validation
  • Ethlint - Linter to identify and fix style & security issues in Solidity, formerly Solium
  • Decode - npm package which parses tx's submitted to a local testrpc node to make them more readable and easier to understand
  • Psol - Solidity lexical preprocessor with mustache.js-style syntax, macros, conditional compilation and automatic remote dependency inclusion.
  • solpp - Solidity preprocessor and flattener with a comprehensive directive and expression language, high precision math, and many useful helper functions.
  • Decode and Publish – Decode and publish raw ethereum tx. Similar to https://live.blockcypher.com/btc-testnet/decodetx/
  • Doppelgänger - a library for mocking smart contract dependencies during unit testing.
  • rocketh - A simple lib to test ethereum smart contract that allow to use whatever web3 lib and test runner you choose.
  • pytest-cobra - PyTest plugin for testing smart contracts for Ethereum blockchain.

Security Tools​

  • MythX - Security verification platform and tools ecosystem for Ethereum developers
  • Mythril - Open-source EVM bytecode security analysis tool
  • Oyente - Alternative static smart contract security analysis
  • Securify - Security scanner for Ethereum smart contracts
  • SmartCheck - Static smart contract security analyzer
  • Ethersplay - EVM disassembler
  • Evmdis - Alternative EVM disassembler
  • Hydra - Framework for cryptoeconomic contract security, decentralised security bounties
  • Solgraph - Visualise Solidity control flow for smart contract security analysis
  • Manticore - Symbolic execution tool on Smart Contracts and Binaries
  • Slither - A Solidity static analysis framework
  • Adelaide - The SECBIT static analysis extension to Solidity compiler
  • solc-verify - A modular verifier for Solidity smart contracts
  • Solidity security blog - Comprehensive list of known attack vectors and common anti-patterns
  • Awesome Buggy ERC20 Tokens - A Collection of Vulnerabilities in ERC20 Smart Contracts With Tokens Affected
  • Free Smart Contract Security Audit - Free smart contract security audits from Callisto Network
  • Piet - A visual Solidity architecture analyzer

Monitoring​

  • Alethio - An advanced Ethereum analytics platform that provides live monitoring, insights and anomaly detection, token metrics, smart contract audits, graph visualization and blockchain search. Real-time market information and trading activities across Ethereum's decentralized exchanges can also be explored.
  • amberdata.io - Provides live monitoring, insights and anomaly detection, token metrics, smart contract audits, graph visualization and blockchain search.
  • Neufund - Smart Contract Watch - A tool to monitor a number of smart contracts and transactions
  • Scout - A live data feed of the activities and event logs of your smart contracts on Ethereum
  • Tenderly - A platform that gives users reliable smart contract monitoring and alerting in the form of a web dashboard without requiring users to host or maintain infrastructure
  • Chainlyt - Explore smart contracts with decoded transaction data, see how the contract is used and search transactions with specific function calls
  • BlockScout - A tool for inspecting and analyzing EVM based blockchains. The only full featured blockchain explorer for Ethereum networks.
  • Terminal - A control panel for monitoring dapps. Terminal can be used to monitor your users, dapp, blockchain infrastructure, transactions and more.
  • Ethereum-watcher - An extensible framework written in Golang for listening to on-chain events and doing something in response.
  • Alchemy Notify - Notifications for mined and dropped transactions, gas price changes, and address activity for desired addresses.
  • Blocknatve Mempool Explorer — Monitor any contract or wallet address and get streaming mempool events for every lifecycle stage — including drops, confirms, speedups, cancels, and more. Automatically decode confirmed internal transactions. And filter exactly how you want. Recieve events in our visual, no-code, interface or associate them with your API key to get events via a webhook. Mempool Explorer helps exchanges, protocols, wallets, and traders monitor and act on transactions in real-time.
  • Ethernal - Ethereum block explorer for private chain. Browse transactions, decode function calls, event data or contract variables values on your locally running chain.

Other Miscellaneous Tools​

  • aragonPM - a decentralized package manager powered by aragonOS and Ethereum. aragonPM enables decentralized governance over package upgrades, removing centralized points of failure.
  • Solc - Solidity compiler
  • Sol-compiler - Project-level Solidity compiler
  • Solidity cli - Compile solidity-code faster, easier and more reliable
  • Solidity flattener - Combine solidity project to flat file utility. Useful for visualizing imported contracts or for verifying your contract on Etherscan
  • Sol-merger - Alternative, merges all imports into single file for solidity contracts
  • RLP - Recursive Length Prefix Encoding in JavaScript
  • eth-cli - A collection of CLI tools to help with ethereum learning and development
  • Ethereal - Ethereal is a command line tool for managing common tasks in Ethereum
  • Eth crypto - Cryptographic javascript-functions for Ethereum and tutorials to use them with web3js and solidity
  • Parity Signer - mobile app allows signing transactions
  • py-eth - Collection of Python tools for the Ethereum ecosystem
  • Decode - npm package which parses tx's submitted to a local testrpc node to make them more readable and easier to understand
  • TypeChain - Typescript bindings for Ethereum smartcontracts
  • EthSum - A Simple Ethereum Address Checksum Tool
  • PHP based Blockchain indexer - allows indexing blocks or listening to Events in PHP
  • Purser - JavaScript universal wallet tool for Ethereum-based wallets. Supports software, hardware, and Metamask -- brings all wallets into a consistent and predictable interface for dApp development.
  • Node-Metamask - Connect to MetaMask from node.js
  • Solidity-docgen - Documentation generator for Solidity projects
  • Ethereum ETL - Export Ethereum blockchain data to CSV or JSON files
  • prettier-plugin-solidity - Prettier plugin for formatting Solidity code
  • Unity3dSimpleSample - Ethereum and Unity integration demo
  • Flappy - Ethereum and Unity integration demo/sample
  • Wonka - Nethereum business rules engine demo/sample
  • Resolver-Engine - A set of tools to standarize Solidity import and artifact resolution in frameworks.
  • eth-reveal - A node and browser tool to inspect transactions - decoding where possible the method, event logs and any revert reasons using ABIs found online.
  • Ethereum-tx-sender - A useful library written in Golang to reliably send a transaction — abstracting away some of the tricky low level details such as gas optimization, nonce calculations, synchronization, and retries.
  • Blocknative Gas Platform — Gas estimation for builders, by builders. Gas Platform harnesses Blocknative's real-time mempool data infrastructure to accurately and consistently estimate Ethereum transaction fees. This provides builders and traders with an up-to-the-moment gas fee API.
  • ETH Gas.watch - A gas price watcher with email notifications on price change

Smart Contract Standards & Libraries​

ERCs - The Ethereum Request for Comment repository​

  • Tokens
    • ERC-20 - Original token contract for fungible assets
    • ERC-721 - Token standard for non-fungible assets
    • ERC-777 - An improved token standard for fungible assets
    • ERC-918 - Mineable Token Standard
  • ERC-165 - Creates a standard method to publish and detect what interfaces a smart contract implements.
  • ERC-725 - Proxy contract for key management and execution, to establish a Blockchain identity.
  • ERC-173 - A standard interface for ownership of contracts
  • Zeppelin - Contains tested reusable smart contracts like SafeMath and OpenZeppelin SDK library for smart contract upgradeability
  • cryptofin-solidity - A collection of Solidity libraries for building secure and gas-efficient smart contracts on Ethereum.
  • Modular Libraries - A group of packages built for use on blockchains utilising the Ethereum Virtual Machine
  • DateTime Library - A gas-efficient Solidity date and time library
  • Aragon - DAO protocol. Contains aragonOS smart contract framework with focus on upgradeability and governance
  • ARC - an operating system for DAOs and the base layer of the DAO stack.
  • 0x - DEX protocol
  • Token Libraries with Proofs - Contains correctness proofs of token contracts wrt. given specifications and high-level properties
  • Provable API - Provides contracts for using the Provable service, allowing for off-chain actions, data-fetching, and computation
  • ABDK Libraries for Solidity - Fixed-point (64.64 bit) and IEEE-754 compliant quad precision (128 bit) floating-point math libraries for Solidity

Developer Guides for 2nd Layer Infrastructure​

Scalability​

Payment/State Channels​

Plasma​

  • Learn Plasma - Website as Node application that was started at the 2018 IC3-Ethereum Crypto Boot Camp at Cornell University, covering all Plasma variants (MVP/Cash/Debit)
  • Plasma MVP - OmiseGO's research implementation of Minimal Viable Plasma
  • Plasma MVP Golang - Golang implementation and extension of the Minimum Viable Plasma specification
  • Plasma Guard - Automatically watch and challenge or exit from Omisego Plasma Network when needed.
  • Plasma OmiseGo Watcher - Interact with Plasma OmiseGo network and notifies for any byzantine events.

Side-Chains​

Privacy / Confidentiality​

ZK-SNARKs​

  • ZoKrates - A toolbox for zkSNARKS on Ethereum
  • The AZTEC Protocol - Confidential transactions on the Ethereum network, implementation is live on the Ethereum main-net
  • Nightfall - Make any ERC-20 / ERC-721 token private - open source tools & microservices
  • Proxy Re-encryption (PRE) **NuCypher Network - A proxy re-encryption network to empower data privacy in decentralized systems ** pyUmbral - Threshold proxy re-encryption cryptographic library
  • Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) ** NuFHE - GPU accelerated FHE library

Scalability + Privacy​

ZK-STARKs​

Prebuilt UI Components​

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Inspired by: https://github.com/ConsenSys/ethereum-developer-tools-list