This repository is meant to give SvelteKit developers an easy on-ramp to get started with developing decentralized applications (Dapps in short) for the Internet Computer blockchain.
The Internet Computer is a novel blockchain that has the unique capability to serve web content while not requiring the end users to use a browser extension, such as Metamask.
Coupled with super fast execution the Internet Computer provides the worlds first truly user friendly Web 3.0 experience.
Dapps on the Internet Computer live in canisters, which are special smart contracts that run WebAssembly, and can respond to regular HTTP requests, among other capabilities.
This repository uses Svelte for the frontend, and can upload it to an asset
type canister that can host your frontend on the Internet Computer.
If you base your application on this example, we recommend you familiarize yourself with and adhere to the Security Best Practices for developing on the Internet Computer. This example may not implement all the best practices.
For example, the following aspects are particularly relevant for creating frontends:
Make sure you have node.js installed.
git clone https://github.com/dfinity/examples
cd svelte/sveltekit-starter
npm ci
Install dfx
by running
sh -ci "$(curl -fsSL https://internetcomputer.org/install.sh)"
Open a new terminal window in the project directory, and run the following command to start the local replica. The replica will not start unless dfx.json
exists in the current directory.
dfx start --background
When you're done with development, or you're switching to a different dfx project, running
dfx stop
from the project directory will stop the local replica.
To build and deploy the project locally run
chmod +x ./scripts/deploy-local.sh
./scripts/deploy-local.sh
When the process completes you'll have a frontend canister running locally. To find the frontend canister's ID, run
dfx canister id frontend
It will output something similar to rno2w-sqaaa-aaaaa-aaacq-cai
. Copy this ID and open it in the browser using http://<canister ID>localhost:8000
, eg. http://rno2w-sqaaa-aaaaa-aaacq-cai.localhost:8000
.
You can serve the frontend in development mode like you normally develop an app using the command
npm run dev
it is not necessary to deploy it to the frontend canister during development.
To host the Svelte app on the IC, you'll need to have some cycles available. Cycles pay for the execution of your app, and they are also needed to create canisters.
You can get $20 worth of cycles for free from the Cycles Faucet.
You should have a canister running the cycles wallet on the IC at this point. The cycles wallet makes it easy to pay for canister creation.
You can check the balance by running
dfx wallet --network ic balance
After making sure you have cycles available you can run
dfx deploy --network ic
The command will build the project, create a new canister on the IC and deploy the Svelte app into it. The command will also create a new file canister_ids.json
which will help the dfx tool deploy to the same canister in future updates. You can commit this file in your repository.
You can now open your Svelte app running on the IC. You can find the canister ID in the deploy command output, or use the ID in canister_ids.json
.
The link to your app is <canister_id>.ic0.app
. For example if your canister ID is zgvi5-hiaaa-aaaam-aaasq-cai
, your app will be at https://zgvi5-hiaaa-aaaam-aaasq-cai.ic0.app/
.