Setting up your Local Development Environment for XION
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A properly configured local development environment is essential for building and testing smart contracts on XION. This guide covers the necessary tools, dependencies, and configurations needed to get started.
The following tools will be installed:
– The programming language and package manager used for writing and compiling smart contracts.
– A tool for quickly setting up new Rust projects from templates.
– Required for interacting with blockchain tooling and dependencies.
– Used for optimizing Rust smart contracts via the Rust Optimizer.
– The XION blockchain daemon for running a local node, deploying smart contracts, and interacting with the blockchain.
Each section provides step-by-step installation instructions for macOS, Debian-based Linux, Red Hat-based Linux and Arch Linux.
Once these dependencies are installed, you will have everything needed to start developing on XION.
A Unix-like operating system (Linux, macOS, or Windows Subsystem for Linux). If you're using Windows, refer to this for installing Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).
Install Rust using Homebrew:
brew install rustup
rustup-init
Follow the on-screen instructions, then restart your terminal or run:
source $HOME/.cargo/env
After installation, verify Rust is correctly installed:
You should see output similar to the following::
Cargo is Rust's package manager and build system, essential for compiling and managing dependencies in XION smart contract development. When installing Rust using rustup which we did earlier, Cargo is automatically included. However, if Cargo is missing or needs to be installed separately, follow the steps below.
Run the following command to check if Cargo is already installed:
If Cargo is installed, you should see an output similar to:
If Cargo is missing, follow the installation steps below.
If Rust is installed via rustup, install Cargo with:
rustup component add cargo
cargo-generate is a Rust tool that simplifies the creation of new Rust projects from pre-existing templates. It is particularly useful for setting up smart contract projects on XION by automating the scaffolding process.
Execute the following command to install cargo-generate:
After installation, confirm that cargo-generate is working correctly:
If cargo-generate is installed, you should see an output similar to:
Go is required for certain blockchain development tasks, including working with XION’s tooling and dependencies for example xiond. Follow the installation steps below for your operating system:
brew install go
After installation, verify that Go is correctly installed:
If go is installed, you should see an output similar to:
To ensure Go modules work correctly, set up the Go environment:
If you are using a different shell, replace ~/.bashrc with the corresponding configuration file for your shell. For example, if you're using Zsh, replace ~/.bashrc with ~/.zshrc.
After setting up your environment, restart your terminal to apply the changes.
xiond is the core command-line tool for running and interacting with the XION blockchain. It serves as the blockchain daemon, enabling developers and node operators to manage network operations, deploy smart contracts, and interact with the XION ecosystem.
We recommend installing xiond with one of the following insallers for your respective operating system:
Install xiond using Homebrew:
Download the linux binary.
For x86_64 architecture it would be:
For ARM64 architecture:
Verify the Integrity of the Binary
Generate the SHA256 hash of the downloaded file:
The sha256sum command should generate a hash string (e.g., d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e).
Download the official checksum file:
Compare the two hash strings to ensure they match. This confirms that the downloaded file is authentic and unaltered.
Extract the .tgz file:
Make the binary executable:
Move the binary to a directory in your PATH (e.g., /usr/local/bin) and rename it to xiond:
After this, xiond should be available for use.
Instead of installing xiond manually, you can run it using Docker.
We publish Docker images to Docker Hub on every commit to the main branch. The images are tagged with their respective Git SHA.
Once the image is pulled, you can invoke the xiond binary inside a Docker container:
From within the container, you can interact with xiond:
Using Docker ensures a clean and isolated environment for running xiond, eliminating the need for manual installation and dependency management.
By default, any keys or configuration you create inside a Docker container will be lost once the container is closed. If you want to persist account data and configuration across container sessions, you can mount a local volume.
First create a dedicated directory on your host:
Then run the following command to start the xiond container session:
This mounts your host's $HOME/xiond_data directory to the location inside the container where xiond stores its data (/root/.xiond). Any accounts or configurations created inside the container will now persist even after the container is stopped or removed.
To verify persistence:
Run the container and create a key:
Exit the container and re-run it with the same volume:
You should still see myaccount listed.
If downloading the pre-built binary or utilizing the installer is not an option, you can install xiond from source. Ensure that Go, Git, and Make are installed.
xiondThis will install the xiond binary to your GOPATH.
You might need to restart your terminal. Check that xiond is properly installed:
If a version number is returned, xiond is now ready for use.
is the programming language for developing smart contracts on XION. Known for its performance, security, and memory safety, Rust is well-suited for blockchain development. To build, test, and deploy smart contracts, developers need a properly configured Rust toolchain.
The recommended way to install Rust is through , the official Rust toolchain installer.
Alternatively, download and install Go manually from the .
Docker is required for optimizing Rust smart contracts using the , which ensures that contracts are compiled efficiently for deployment on XION. It can also be used to run xiond. You can install Docker for your operating system .
For Linux users, it's recommended to run the Docker daemon in .
To install xiond, you can either use an , download a , or utilize a build. Ensure that you use the release corresponding to the version of xiond being used on the network where you will be interacting with.
You will need to download the appropriate binary for your system architecture :
For the latest available tags, check out the page for this image.