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Using Stylus CLI

This guide will get you started using cargo stylus, a CLI toolkit to help developers manage, compile, and optimize their Stylus contracts efficiently.

This overview is meant to help discover cargo stylus' tools and learn to use them effectively.

Cargo stylus is available as a plugin to the standard cargo tool used for developing Rust programs.

Installing cargo stylus

Prerequisites

Rust toolchain

Follow the instructions on Rust Lang's installation page to install a complete Rust toolchain (v1.81 or older, v1.82 is currently not supported) on your system. After installation, ensure you can access the programs rustup, rustc, and cargo from your preferred terminal application.

Installation

In your terminal, run:

cargo install --force cargo-stylus

Add WASM (WebAssembly) as a build target for the specific Rust toolchain you are using. The below example sets your default Rust toolchain to 1.80 as well as adding the WASM build target:

rustup default 1.80
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown --toolchain 1.80

You can verify that cargo stylus is installed by running cargo stylus -V in your terminal, returning something like:stylus 0.5.6

Using cargo stylus

Cargo Stylus commands reference

CommandDescriptionOptions
newCreate a new Stylus project• name: Project name (required)
• --minimal: Create a minimal contract
initInitialize a Stylus project in current directory• --minimal: Create a minimal contract
export-abiExport a Solidity ABI• --output: Output file (defaults to stdout)
• --json: Write JSON ABI using solc
activateActivate an already deployed contract• --address: Contract address to activate
• --data-fee-bump-percent: Percent to bump estimated fee (default 20%)
• --estimate-gas: Only estimate gas without sending tx
cacheCache contract using Stylus CacheManagerSubcommands:
• bid: Place bid on contract
• status: Check contract status
• suggest-bid: Get suggested minimum bid
checkCheck a contract• --wasm-file: WASM to check
• --contract-address: Deploy address
deployDeploy a contract• --estimate-gas: Only perform estimation
• --no-verify: Skip reproducible container
• --cargo-stylus-version: Version for Docker image
verifyVerify contract deployment• --deployment-tx: Hash of deployment tx
• --no-verify: Skip reproducible container
• --cargo-stylus-version: Version for Docker image
cgenGenerate C code bindings• input: Input file path
• out_dir: Output directory path
replayReplay transaction in gdb• --stable-rust: Use stable Rust
• --child: Child process flag
traceTrace a transaction• --endpoint: RPC endpoint
• --tx: Transaction hash
• --project: Project path
• --use-native-tracer: Use native tracer
Common options

These options are available across multiple commands:

OptionDescription
--endpointArbitrum RPC endpoint (default: http://localhost:8547)
--verbosePrint debug info
--source-files-for-project-hashPaths to source files for project hash
--max-fee-per-gas-gweiOptional max fee per gas in gwei
Authentication options

Available for commands involving transactions:

OptionDescription
--private-key-pathPath to file containing hex-encoded private key
--private-keyPrivate key as hex string (exposes to shell history)
--keystore-pathPath to Ethereum wallet keystore file
--keystore-password-pathKeystore password file path

Example usage

Create a new Stylus project

cargo stylus new my_project

Initialize a Stylus project in the current directory

cargo stylus init

Export a Solidity ABI

cargo stylus export-abi --output abi.json

Cache a contract using the Stylus CacheManager for Arbitrum chains

cargo stylus cache bid --address 0x1234567890123456789012345678901234567890

Additional resources

For more advanced usage and detailed guides, refer to the following resources:

Optimize WASM binaries

The cargo-stylus tool allows you to optimize WebAssembly (WASM) binaries, ensuring that your contracts are as efficient as possible.

Learn how to optimize WASM binaries
Debug Stylus transactions

Gain insights into your Stylus contracts by debugging transactions.

Debug Stylus transactions

A guide to debugging transactions, helping you identify and fix issues.

Verify contracts

Ensure that your Stylus contracts are correctly verified.

Verify contracts

Step-by-step instructions on how to verify your contracts using cargo-stylus.

Optimize WASM binaries
Troubleshooting
Run a Stylus dev node

This overview page serves as the starting point for mastering the CLI tools available for Stylus development. From optimizing your contracts to debugging and verifying them, the cargo-stylus toolset is integral to a smooth development experience.

Source code repository

The source code for cargo-stylus is available on GitHub. Explore the code, contribute, or use it as a reference.

cargo-stylus repository:** Visit the GitHub repository for more information.