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Deployment Overview

The AS-Stylus SDK provides flexible ways to deploy your smart contracts to Arbitrum Stylus networks. This guide prepares the common setup and configuration needed to deploy and initialize a contract.

In this section, we'll cover the setup required for deployment:

  • Required setup - Environment configuration and network access
  • Network configuration - Setting up Arbitrum network connections
  • Environment variables - Securely storing deployment credentials
tip

You can use services like Alchemy or Infura to get an Arbitrum RPC URL. For testnet ETH, use Arbitrum Sepolia faucets.

Required Setup​

This guide assumes you have initialized a project using npx @wakeuplabs/as-stylus generate. If you haven't, follow the Getting Started guide first.

You'll need:

  • Access to an Arbitrum RPC URL (for Arbitrum Sepolia testnet or Arbitrum One mainnet)
  • An account with Arbitrum ETH (or Sepolia ETH for testnet)
  • A private key for the deployment account

Network Configuration​

When you generate a project with npx @wakeuplabs/as-stylus generate, your project structure includes deployment scripts. The deployment process uses environment variables for configuration.

Environment Variables​

Create a .env file in your project root with the following variables:

# Arbitrum Sepolia Testnet (recommended for testing)
RPC_URL=https://sepolia-rollup.arbitrum.io/rpc
PRIVATE_KEY=your_private_key_here

# Or for Arbitrum One Mainnet
# RPC_URL=https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc
# PRIVATE_KEY=your_private_key_here
caution

Security Warning: Never commit your .env file or private keys to version control. Make sure .env is in your .gitignore file. Only use testnet private keys for testing purposes and never store valuable assets with them.

Using Environment Variables​

The SDK's deployment commands read these environment variables:

# Compile your contract
npx @wakeuplabs/as-stylus compile contract.ts --endpoint $RPC_URL

# Deploy your contract
npm run deploy contract.ts --private-key $PRIVATE_KEY --endpoint $RPC_URL

Alternatively, you can use the environment variables directly in your scripts or pass them inline (though this is less secure):

npx @wakeuplabs/as-stylus compile contract.ts --endpoint <RPC_URL>
npm run deploy contract.ts --private-key <PRIVATE_KEY> --endpoint <RPC_URL> --constructor-args <args...>

Project Structure​

A typical AS-Stylus project structure looks like this:

my-contract/
├── src/
│   └── contracts/
│       └── contract.ts      # Your contract source
├── artifacts/                # Generated build artifacts
│   ├── build/               # Compiled WASM files
│   └── abi/                 # Contract ABI files
├── .env                      # Environment variables (not committed)
├── package.json              # Dependencies and scripts
└── tsconfig.json             # TypeScript configuration

Deployment Workflow​

The typical deployment workflow consists of:

  1. Compile - Compile your TypeScript contract to WebAssembly
  2. Deploy - Deploy the contract to Arbitrum

Compilation​

npx @wakeuplabs/as-stylus compile src/contracts/contract.ts --endpoint $RPC_URL

This command:

  • Transpiles TypeScript to AssemblyScript
  • Compiles to WebAssembly
  • Validates with cargo-stylus
  • Generates the ABI

Deployment​

npm run deploy src/contracts/contract.ts \
  --private-key $PRIVATE_KEY \
  --endpoint $RPC_URL \
  --constructor-args <arg1> <arg2> ...

This command:

  • Uses the compiled WASM from the artifacts folder
  • Deploys to the specified Arbitrum network
  • Calls the constructor with provided arguments
  • Returns the deployed contract address

Network Options​

Arbitrum Sepolia (Testnet)​

Recommended for development and testing

  • RPC URL: https://sepolia-rollup.arbitrum.io/rpc
  • Chain ID: 421614
  • Faucet: Use Arbitrum Sepolia faucets to get testnet ETH

Arbitrum One (Mainnet)​

For production deployments

  • RPC URL: https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc
  • Chain ID: 42161
  • Requires real ETH for gas fees

Next Steps​

With the setup in place, you can now:

  • Deploy your first contract using the CLI commands
  • Learn about contract initialization and constructor arguments
  • Explore advanced deployment patterns and scripts

For more detailed deployment examples, check out the Examples section.