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Motoko quickstart

This quickstart guide showcases how to deploy a simple 'Hello, world!' Motoko smart contract.

Prerequisites​

Before getting started, assure you have set up your developer environment according to the instructions in the developer environment guide.

Creating a new project​

Open a terminal window on your local computer, if you don’t already have one open.

Create a new project and change to the project directory.

Use dfx new [project_name] to create a new project:

dfx new hello_world

You will be prompted to select the language that your backend canister will use:

? Select a backend language: ›
❯ Motoko
Rust
TypeScript (Azle)
Python (Kybra)

Then, select a frontend framework for your frontend canister. In this example, select:

? Select a frontend framework: ›
SvelteKit
React
Vue
Vanilla JS
No JS template
❯ No frontend canister

Lastly, you can include extra features to be added to your project:

? Add extra features (space to select, enter to confirm) ›
⬚ Internet Identity
⬚ Bitcoin (Regtest)
⬚ Frontend tests

Smart contract code​

This hello world actor has a single function called greet. It is marked as query because it doesn't modify the state of the actor. The function accepts a name as input in type Text and returns a greeting of type Text.

src/hello_backend/main.mo

actor {
  public query func greet(name : Text) : async Text {
    return "Hello, " # name # "!";
  };
};

Starting the deployment environment​

Start the Internet Computer for local development or check your connection to the Internet Computer for network deployment:

Register, build, and deploy locally or on the mainnet​

To deploy locally, use the command:

dfx deploy

For deploying to the mainnet, use: --network ic.

dfx deploy --network <network>

View your service or application in a browser, using the URLS in the output of the dfx deploy command:​

...
Committing batch.
Committing batch with 18 operations.
Deployed canisters.
URLs:
Frontend canister via browser
        access_hello_frontend: http://127.0.0.1:4943/?canisterId=cuj6u-c4aaa-aaaaa-qaajq-cai
Backend canister via Candid interface:
        access_hello_backend: http://127.0.0.1:4943/?canisterId=cbopz-duaaa-aaaaa-qaaka-cai&id=ctiya-peaaa-aaaaa-qaaja-cai
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