Blockchain tools are an integral part of blockchain development and allow Web3 developers to build innovative and compelling products and services. In this article, we’ll be exploring some of the top frameworks, dev kits and libraries that form the backbone of blockchain development today and allow for the Web3 ecosystem to continue to grow and mature. At the same time, we’re excited about the future and the impact that growing trends like Layer 2 will have on the Web3 landscape.
But for now, here are some of the top Web3 tools every Web3 developer needs to be familiar with.
Hardhat
Hardhat is one of the most popular blockchain tools right now. It is an Ethereum development environment that offers a suite of robust tools designed to help developers build powerful decentralized applications. It makes it easier to write and deploy smart contracts, debug code and run tests, and manage and even automate various recurring tasks. It is extremely flexible, allowing developers to integrate their tools and customize the environment as they see fit.
Foundry
Foundry is a popular toolkit for smart contract development on Ethereum. The kit is aimed at helping Web3 devs write efficient and secure smart contracts in Solidity and deploy them to the Ethereum mainnet. Foundry comes with a command-line interface (CLI) that allows devs to easily create, compile, deploy, manage and interact with smart contracts.
Some of Foundry’s biggest strengths are that it is fast, easy to use, and supports testing and integrations. Using the kit, you can deploy your dApps to any EVM-compatible network, including Layer 2 platforms such as Arbitrum and Optimism, as well as L1s like Avalanche.
Remix IDE
Remix is another top-tier smart contract development environment. Similarly to Hardhat and Foundry, Remix allows developers to create, deploy, test and debug smart contracts for Ethereum and EVM-compatible networks.
OpenZeppelin
If smart contract development is your focus, the OpenZeppeling library is one of the best blockchain tools you can find. It is widely considered as the gold standard when it comes to the development of secure and efficient smart contracts. Notably, it supports all major Ethereum token standards and offers a method for writing upgradable smart contracts.
Ethers.js
Currently one of the most popular general-purpose libraries for Ethereum, Ethers.js has everything you need to interact with the Ethereum blockchain and the comprehensive ecosystem of dApps running on top of it. It is a helpful tool for creating wallets and dApps.
Substrate
While Ethereum is usually topping the charts in terms of blockchain development activity, it is not the only chain with an active development community. Polkadot is one such chain and Substrate is the development framework that makes building on the sharding protocol possible. It is a flexible, modular framework that enables the development of customized parachains – the shard chains that make up Polkadot’s interconnected multi-chain ecosystem.
MetaMask
If you’ve ever interacted with the Web3 world in any capacity, you’ve probably heard of Matamask. It’s an enormously popular self-custodial wallet that’s become near ubiquitous in the Web3 world. If you’re developing a Web3 application, especially one focusing on DeFi, it’s a good idea to seek Metamask integration.
Conclusion
These were some of the top blockchain development tools today. Keep in mind, though, that the world of Web3 development is extremely dynamic and ever-changing, so you need to keep up to date with the latest trends and keep track of new and emerging technologies. Considering the rise of L2 solutions, for example, the importance of frameworks like Optimism’s OP Stack, which streamlines the development of L2 networks, is only poised to increase. New and improved developer tools are bound to emerge, as Web3 technologies continue to mature. So, stay on top of your game, choose the right Web3 tools and start building!
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