how hardhat works under the hood?

~ 3 min.

06.03.2023
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#
1. Importing Environment

Create a new file -- hello.js in scripts folder. We'll require Hardhat's native environment in order to interact with our smart contract --- therefore, let's import it.

./scripts/hello.js
const hre = require("hardhat");

#
2. Writing main()

./scripts/hello.js
const hre = require("hardhat");
 
const main = async () => {
	console.log("Hello World");
};
 
main().catch((error) => {
	console.error(error);
	process.exitCode = 1;
});

#
3. Executing main()

To execute the script that we just made, just run the below command.

Terminal
npx hardhat run scripts/hello.js
  • npx - telling NodeJS that you wanna do something
  • hardhat - specifying the package that you want to use
  • run - stating that you wanna run something
  • scripts/hello.js - setting the path of the file that you wanna run

    • #
    4. Something Cool Just Happened

  • You will notice two folders - artifacts & cache in your project directory now.
  • Coz' whenever you run a script in hardhat, all the contracts stored in contracts folder get compiled + generate all the deployment info.
  • Wait a minute! -- we didn't specify any smart contracts to compile, then why were folders generated, huh? -- coz' Hardhat doesn't care it simply finds + compiles all contracts automagically :)

    • p.s., in order to integrate smart contract into your frontend -- you'll require only .json file stored @ below path.

    JSON Path
    artifacts/contracts/[CONTRACT_NAME].sol/[CONTRACT_NAME].json

    #
    5. Cleaning (Optional)

    When you are dealing with many contracts + constantly executing some scripts -- they will run successfully on first execution; but after that, they might just keep emitting errors -- if it happens, just use clean command -- it deletes artifacts folder and removes all the files from cache folder.

    Terminal
    npx hardhat clean

    #
    6. What's Next?

    You know how everything works right from inside out. But, it ain't worth anything. Click here & let's get em' deployed -- within 3 min.