Deploy Your First Midnight Contract with Nightforge 🚀

Cadalt — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:19:10 +0000

A complete guide to compiling and deploying contracts on the Midnight blockchain using Nightforge's synced wallet workflow

Introduction

Deploying a smart contract on the Midnight blockchain can seem complex, but Nightforge streamlines the entire process. This guide walks you through every stepcompactfrom project initialization to a live contract deploymentcompactusing the modern synced wallet state approach.

By the end, you'll have a deployed contract on Midnight's Preprod network and understand the full development workflow.

Requirements: Node.js 18+, npm, tNIGHT testnet tokens

What You'll Learn

✅ Initialize a Midnight contract project
✅ Create and fund a wallet
✅ Synchronize wallet state with the blockchain
✅ Compile your contract
✅ Run a proof server
✅ Deploy to the Midnight blockchain

Prerequisites

Before you start, ensure you have:

Node.js 18+ and npm installed

   node --version && npm --version

Nightforge CLI installed globally or via npx

   npm install -g nightforge
   # or use it directly with: npx nightforge

Step 1: Initialize Your Project

Start fresh by creating a new Midnight contract project:

npx nightforge init my-contract-project

Nightforge will:

📁 Create a project directory
📝 Generate a sample contract (my-contract.compact)
📦 Add package.json with Midnight SDK dependencies
⚙️ Create default configuration files

Enter your new project:

cd my-contract-project

Step 2: Create and Fund Your Wallet

Create a new wallet

npx nightforge wallet create

This command:

🔐 Generates a new cryptographic keypair
💾 Saves it locally in wallet.json
📋 Displays your public address

Important: Your wallet.json is sensitivecompact*never commit it* to version control. It's already in .gitignore.

You'll see output like:

✓ Wallet created successfully
Address: A1B2C3D4E5F6... (actual address shown)

Copy your address for the next step.

Fund from the Faucet

Open https://faucet.midnight.network in your browser
Select Preprod network
Paste your address
Click Send tNIGHT
Wait 30 seconds for confirmation

You should receive 100 tNIGHT on the Preprod testnet.

Step 3: Synchronize Wallet State

The synced wallet approach keeps your wallet state synchronized with the blockchain in real-time. This is the modern, recommended way to deploy.

Initialize sync configuration (one-time setup)

npx nightforge sync

This creates:

midnightwalletsync.config.json compact sync service configuration

Start the sync service

In a terminal window, start the wallet sync service:

npx nightforge sync

Output shows:

✓ Walletsync service starting...
✓ Connected to Preprod network
✓ Syncing wallet state from blockchain
✓ Server ready on http://127.0.0.1:8787

Keep this terminal open. The sync service runs continuously and updates your wallet state every block.

Check Your Balance (New Terminal)

Open a second terminal in your project directory and verify your funded wallet:

npx nightforge wallet balance

Expected output:

Balance: 100 tNIGHT
Network: Preprod

Great! Your wallet is synced and funded. ✨

Convert tNIGHT to DUST

Contracts operate in DUST (the base unit). Convert your tNIGHT:

npx nightforge wallet dust

This command:

💱 Exchanges your tNIGHT for DUST at 1:1,000,000 ratio
⏳ Waits for blockchain confirmation
✓ Updates your synced balance

Output:

✓ DUST conversion successful
New balance: 100,000,000 DUST

Step 4: Compile Your Contract

Still in your second terminal, compile the contract:

npx nightforge compile

Nightforge will:

📖 Parse your .compact contract
✓ Type-check the code
📦 Generate circuit artifacts
📝 Create deployment metadata

Expected output:

✓ Compiling my-contract.compact...
✓ Type checking passed
✓ Circuit compiled successfully
✓ Artifacts ready: dist/artifacts/

Note: Compilation artifacts are in dist/artifacts/ and are not committed to git.

Step 5: Start the Proof Server

Contracts require zero-knowledge proofs for private state transitions. Start the proof server in a third terminal:

npx nightforge proof-server start
# or shorthand:
npx nightforge ps

Output:

✓ Proof server starting on http://127.0.0.1:6300
✓ Ready to generate proofs

Keep this terminal open while deploying. The proof server generates transaction proofs in real-time.

Step 6: Deploy Your Contract

Now deploy! In your second terminal (where you ran compile), run:

npx nightforge deploy my-contract --network preprod

The deployment process:

✓ Loads compiled artifacts
✓ Reads synced wallet state from http://127.0.0.1:8787
✓ Generates initial contract state
✓ Generates deployment proof via proof server
✓ Submits transaction to Midnight network
⏳ Waits for confirmation (1 minutes)

Expected output:

✓ Loading contract artifacts...
✓ Reading synced wallet state...
✓ Generating deployment proof...
✓ Submitting deployment transaction...
✓ Waiting for confirmation...
✓ Contract deployed successfully!

Contract ID: abc123def456...
Transaction: tx_xyz789...
Network: Preprod

Congratulations! Your contract is live on Midnight. 🎉

Verification

Check Deployment Metadata

A deployment.json file was created with your contract details:

cat deployment.json

Contents:

{
  "contractId": "abc123def456...",
  "deploymentTx": "tx_xyz789...",
  "deployedAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:45Z",
  "network": "preprod"
}

📝 Advanced: Flags & Alternatives

Deployment Flags

`--remote <URL>`

Use an explicit remote proof server instead of the local one:

npx nightforge deploy my-contract --remote http://proof-server.example.com:6300 --network preprod

`--legacy`

Use the old non-synced wallet approach (for compatibility):

npx nightforge deploy my-contract --legacy --network preprod

⚠️ Note: Legacy mode requires manual wallet state management. Not recommended for new projects.

`--auto`

Fully automatic deployment with intelligent workflow orchestration:

npx nightforge deploy my-contract --auto --network preprod

This command:

✓ Creates wallet if missing
✓ Checks faucet-funded balance
✓ Auto-converts tNIGHT → DUST
✓ Starts proof server automatically
✓ Deploys when conditions are met

Perfect for CI/CD pipelines or unattended deployments.

🔌 Sync Service Options

Control the sync server behavior:

# Start on custom port (persists in config)
npx nightforge sync --port 9999

# Check sync service status
npx nightforge sync --status

# View synced balance for specific wallet alias
npx nightforge sync --balance my-wallet

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Error: "Sync service not running"

→ Ensure npx nightforge sync is running in a separate terminal

Error: "Insufficient balance"

→ Verify faucet funding: npx nightforge wallet balance

Error: "Proof server connection failed"

→ Check proof server is running: npx nightforge ps

Error: "Contract compilation failed"

→ Verify contract syntax in my-contract.compact and run npx nightforge compile again

🚀 Next Steps

Now that your contract is deployed:

Modify the contract compact Edit my-contract.compact and redeploy
Write integration tests compact Use src/index.ts to test contract calls
Connect to mainnet compact Change --network preprod to --network mainnet when ready
Build a frontend compact Use the contract client to interact from a web/mobile app

📚 Learn More

Summary

You've successfully:

✅ Initialized a Midnight contract project
✅ Created and funded a wallet
✅ Synced wallet state with the blockchain
✅ Compiled your contract
✅ Generated zero-knowledge proofs
✅ Deployed to the Preprod network

You're now a Midnight developer! 🌙

Have questions? Join the Midnight community Discord or open an issue on GitHub.

Last updated: April 2026 | Nightforge v1.0.0

solana help

Cadalt — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 18:12:41 +0000

what is new one to use here ? thanks

DEV Community: Cadalt

Deploy Your First Midnight Contract with Nightforge 🚀

Introduction

What You'll Learn

Prerequisites

Step 1: Initialize Your Project

Step 2: Create and Fund Your Wallet

Create a new wallet

Fund from the Faucet

Step 3: Synchronize Wallet State

Initialize sync configuration (one-time setup)

Start the sync service

Check Your Balance (New Terminal)

Convert tNIGHT to DUST

Step 4: Compile Your Contract

Step 5: Start the Proof Server

Step 6: Deploy Your Contract

Verification

Check Deployment Metadata

📝 Advanced: Flags & Alternatives

Deployment Flags

`--remote <URL>`

`--legacy`

`--auto`

🔌 Sync Service Options

🛠️ Troubleshooting

Error: "Sync service not running"

Error: "Insufficient balance"

Error: "Proof server connection failed"

Error: "Contract compilation failed"

🚀 Next Steps

📚 Learn More

Summary

[Boost]

Midnight network is live

solana help