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Basic Setup

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up your development environment for working with Meta Contract.

Prerequisites​

Before proceeding with the setup, ensure you have completed the installation process for Meta Contract.

Development Environment Setup​

1. Code Editor Configuration​

We recommend using Visual Studio Code (VSCode) with the following extensions:

To install these extensions:

  1. Open Cursor/VSCode
  2. Go to the Extensions view
  3. Search for and install each extension

2. Configuring Foundry​

Meta Contract uses Foundry as its development framework. To configure Foundry for your project:

  1. Create a foundry.toml file in your project root if it doesn't exist already:
[profile.default]
src = "src"
out = "out"
libs = ["lib"]
fs_permissions = [{ access = "read", path = "./mc.toml" }, { access = "read", path = "./lib/mc/mc.toml" }]

This configuration file specifies:

  • src: The directory containing your source files
  • out: The directory where compiled artifacts will be stored
  • libs: The directory containing your project dependencies
  • fs_permissions: Permissions for reading specific files (in this case, MC configuration files)

3. Setting Up Environment Variables​

Create a .env file in your project root to store sensitive information:

Example .env file

# Signer
DEPLOYER_ADDR=
DEPLOYER_PRIV_KEY=

# External services
RPC_URL=https://your-mainnet-rpc-url
SEPOLIA_RPC_URL=https://your-sepolia-rpc-url
VERIFIER=etherscan-api-endpoint
ETHERSCAN_API_KEY=your-etherscan-api-key

These environment variables are used for:

  • DEPLOYER_ADDR and DEPLOYER_PRIV_KEY: The address and private key of the account used for deploying contracts
  • RPC_URL and SEPOLIA_RPC_URL: RPC endpoints for interacting with the Ethereum mainnet and Sepolia testnet
  • VERIFIER and ETHERSCAN_API_KEY: Used for contract verification on Etherscan

Make sure to add .env to your .gitignore file to prevent accidentally committing sensitive information.

4. Project Structure​

Organize your project files as follows:

your-project/
├── src/
│   ├── [bundle name]
│   │   ├── storages
│   │   │   │── Schema.sol
│   │   │   └── Storage.sol
│   │   ├── interfaces
│   │   │   └── [e.g. Facade, IBundle, IFunctions, IErrors, IEvents files]
│   │   ├── functions
│   │   │   └── MyFunction.sol
│   ├── [other bundle directories if needed]
│   └── [shared utilities directory]
├── test/
│   └── MyContract.t.sol
├── script/
│   └── Deploy.s.sol
├── lib/
├── foundry.toml
├── .env
└── .gitignore

Verifying the Setup​

To ensure your setup is correct:

  1. Build example counter contracts and run tests:
forge test

If this command executes without errors, your basic setup is complete and working correctly.

Next Steps​

Now that your development environment is set up, you're ready to start building with Meta Contract:

  1. Explore the Simple DAO Tutorial for a hands-on introduction to Meta Contract development.
  2. Review the MC DevKit Usage Guide to learn about the development tools available.
  3. Check out the Best Practices for tips on efficient Meta Contract development.

For any issues or questions, reach out to our community support channels.