Skip to main content

Quick Start

ALPHA VERSION

This SDK is currently in alpha development and is actively being worked on. It is not production-ready and may contain bugs, breaking changes, or incomplete features. Use at your own risk and avoid deploying to mainnet without thorough testing.

Welcome to the AssemblyScript Stylus SDK - a comprehensive development toolkit for creating Arbitrum Stylus smart contracts using TypeScript syntax, transpiled to AssemblyScript and compiled to WebAssembly for near-native execution speeds.

What is AssemblyScript Stylus SDK?​

The AssemblyScript Stylus SDK is a complete development framework that allows developers to write smart contracts using familiar TypeScript decorators and syntax. Stylus is Arbitrum's next-generation smart contract platform that enables developers to write contracts in languages other than Solidity, compiling them to WebAssembly for superior performance and gas efficiency.

Requirements​

  • Node.js >= 18.x
  • AssemblyScript >= 0.27.x
  • cargo stylus (Rust CLI tool for Stylus validation and deployment)

Prerequisites​

Make sure you have the required tools installed before getting started.

Quick Install (convenience)​

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Install Rust + rustup (skip if already installed). Then source "$HOME/.cargo/env".

Rust Setup (in order)​

cargo-stylus requires Rust 1.81+ and the wasm32-unknown-unknown target.

rustup update

Update rustup and installed toolchains.

rustup default stable

Use stable toolchain by default.

rustc --version

Verify version (cargo-stylus requires Rust ≥ 1.81).

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

Add WASM target (mandatory for Stylus).

Install cargo-stylus​

cargo install cargo-stylus

Install the Stylus CLI (latest version published on crates.io).

Generate a new project​

Create a new contract project with built-in scaffolding:

npx @wakeuplabs/as-stylus generate my-contract
cd my-contract

This creates a complete project structure with:

  • Contract template
  • Configuration files
  • Package dependencies
  • Build scripts

Your First Contract​

The generator creates a simple counter contract for you:

import { Contract, External, U256, U256Factory, View } from "@wakeuplabs/as-stylus";

@Contract
export class Counter {
  counter: U256;

  constructor() {
    this.counter = U256Factory.create();
  }

  @External
  set(value: U256): void {
    this.counter = value;
  }

  @External
  increment(): void {
    const delta: U256 = U256Factory.fromString("1");
    this.counter = this.counter.addUnchecked(delta);
  }

  @External
  decrement(): void {
    const delta: U256 = U256Factory.fromString("1");
    this.counter = this.counter.subUnchecked(delta);
  }

  @View
  get(): U256 {
    return this.counter;
  }
}

Build and Deploy​

Compile your contract to WebAssembly and validate it for Stylus:

# build artifacts, Compile to WASM and check Validate with cargo stylus
npx @wakeuplabs/as-stylus compile contract.ts --endpoint <RPC_URL>

Deploy to Arbitrum:

npm run deploy contract.ts --private-key <PRIVATE_KEY> --endpoint <RPC_URL> --constructor-args <constructor-args...>"

Clean Artifacts​

npm run clean

This command will remove all the artifact folder.

Next Steps​

Ready to dive deeper? Check out the Project Breakdown to understand the SDK's architecture and components, or explore our comprehensive guides: