I’m Kowshik Makireddy, I build infrastructure for blockchain deployment.
For the past two years, I’ve been working on developing this platform and main problem that kept frustrating me: deploying smart contracts is unnecessarily complicated and error-prone. Most tools assume you’re either a Solidity expert comfortable with CLI tools, or you’re fine with a one-click generator that gives you no control or history.
I wanted something in between. So I built it.
The Problem I Kept Running Into
Most tutorials and guides make deployment sound simple: “Now just run npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js and you're done!" But that's where things actually get complicated.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve:
Deployed to localhost thinking it was Sepolia
Lost track of which contract address corresponds to which version
Had to dig through terminal logs to find a transaction hash
Deployed the same contract twice by accident
Forgotten to verify a contract on Etherscan
The more I worked with smart contracts, the more I realized that deployment is where the operational challenges live. The Solidity code itself might be solid, but the deployment process is fragile and manual.
Hardhat and Foundry are excellent frameworks — I actually started with Hardhat in this project. But they’re built for developers who are comfortable with CLI tools and writing custom scripts. They assume you’ll manage everything manually. For a solo developer or a small team, that means lots of room for error.
On the flip side, there are no-code token generators that let you create an ERC20 in one click. Great for quick experiments, but they deploy once and forget everything. No history, no metadata, no way to track what you deployed last week versus today.
What I wanted was something in between: the power and flexibility of proper deployment tools, but with the structure and traceability of an operational system.
What I Built
The platform focuses on three core things:
Programmatic contract generation
Instead of writing Solidity manually each time, the system generates contracts based on parameters. Right now it supports ERC20, ERC721, and ERC1155 — the three most commonly used token standards.Repeatable deployment
Every deployment follows the same process: generate contract → compile → deploy to Sepolia → verify on Etherscan → save metadata. Same workflow every single time.Persistent deployment records
Every contract deployed through the platform gets a full record: what type, when it was deployed, who deployed it, the contract address, the transaction hash, everything. It creates an audit trail.
I chose to focus on three token standards:
ERC20 for fungible tokens (think USDC, DAI)
ERC721 for NFTs (think Bored Apes, CryptoPunks)
ERC1155 for multi-token contracts (think gaming items)
These three cover the majority of real-world use cases. Keeping the scope focused made the system more maintainable and easier to reason about. Plus, most newer token standards are extensions of these anyway.
How the System Works
The architecture is designed for simplicity and portability:
Frontend (React)
↓
Backend API (Node.js + Express)
↓
Ethers.js (direct blockchain interaction)
↓
Sepolia Testnet
↓
Etherscan (verification)
A few design decisions are worth explaining:
Using Ethers.js for Direct Blockchain Interaction
The platform uses Ethers.js for deployment rather than spawning external processes. This was a deliberate architectural decision that came after hitting some real production challenges.
Initially, I built the system to spawn Hardhat as child processes for each deployment. Worked great on my laptop. But when I deployed the backend to Vercel, everything broke. Runtime errors, timeouts, inconsistent deployments — the works.
The problem wasn’t my code. It was the environment. Vercel runs serverless functions with strict limitations: no persistent file system, restricted process spawning, execution timeouts. Hardhat expects a stable environment with file access and long-running processes. The two don’t play well together.
So I refactored everything to use Ethers.js directly. No child processes. No external dependencies. Just direct blockchain interaction through RPC calls.
This gave me:
Serverless compatibility — Works in any Node.js environment
Simpler architecture — Direct Ethereum communication, no spawning overhead
Better error handling — Full control over deployment flow
Faster deployments — No process startup time
Portability — Can deploy on Vercel, AWS Lambda, Heroku, or traditional servers without changes
The deployment flow now works entirely through Ethers.js:
Generate Solidity contract dynamically based on user input
Compile using solc (Solidity compiler) in-memory
Deploy directly to Sepolia using Ethers.js ContractFactory
Verify on Etherscan via their API
Save complete metadata to database
One asynchronous operation. No external processes. Works everywhere.
Deploying to Sepolia by Default
All deployments go to Sepolia testnet, not mainnet. This gives you:
Real blockchain execution (not a local simulation)
Real gas costs (so you know what mainnet would cost)
Public verifiability on Etherscan
Zero financial risk from bugs or mistakes
I deploy everything to Sepolia first, test it thoroughly, and only consider mainnet after multiple successful test deployments. The platform could support mainnet, but I’d rather force good habits.
Saving Deployment Metadata
This is probably the most important part. Every deployment creates a record in the database with:
Token type (ERC20/ERC721/ERC1155)
Network (Sepolia)
Contract address
Deployer address
Transaction hash
Block number
Timestamp
Token configuration (name, symbol, supply, etc.)
This creates a permanent history. I can look back and see exactly what I deployed three months ago, who deployed it, and pull up the Etherscan link instantly. No more digging through terminal logs or trying to remember addresses.
Real Problems I Hit Along the Way
This project didn’t come together smoothly. Here are the main issues I struggled with:
Production Deployment Challenges
The Hardhat-based architecture worked perfectly in local development but completely broke when deployed to production. Everything that worked on my laptop failed in Vercel’s serverless environment.
The issues were environmental:
Serverless functions time out (10–60 seconds depending on tier)
No persistent file system for storing Hardhat artifacts
Process spawning restrictions
Different behavior for environment variables
Debugging this was frustrating because I couldn’t reproduce the errors locally. Everything worked fine in development. It took several failed production deployments to realize the problem wasn’t bugs in my code — it was architectural assumptions about the execution environment.
The solution was a complete refactor to Ethers.js. Now the entire deployment is a single async operation with no external processes, no file system dependencies, and consistent behavior regardless of hosting platform.
Lesson learned: Design for your production environment from day one, not just your development laptop.
ABI and Artifact Management
After deploying a contract, you need its ABI (Application Binary Interface) to interact with it. Managing compiled contract artifacts — ABIs, bytecode, metadata — consistently across deployments was trickier than expected.
I spent days debugging why deployed contracts wouldn’t load in the frontend. The issue? Inconsistent naming between the Solidity filename, the contract name inside the file, and the database record. Small mismatches would break artifact resolution completely.
I eventually standardized everything: the filename, contract name, and database record name all match exactly. Every contract follows the same naming convention. Problem solved, but it was painful to figure out.
Keeping Metadata in Sync
Once I added the deployment history feature, a new problem appeared: what if the deployment succeeds but saving the metadata fails? Or vice versa?
If a contract deploys but doesn’t get recorded, the platform thinks it doesn’t exist — but it’s actually live on Sepolia. If metadata saves but deployment fails, the database has a record for a contract that doesn’t exist.
I had to treat deployment and metadata storage as a single atomic operation. The database transaction only commits if the deployment succeeds AND the metadata saves. If either fails, everything rolls back. This required wrapping the entire flow in proper error handling and transaction management.
The lesson: Most of the complexity isn’t in the Solidity. It’s in all the infrastructure around deployment — network handling, artifact management, state consistency, error recovery, and production deployment considerations.
Why This Actually Matters
Every contract deployed through this platform can be:
Verified on Etherscan (you don’t have to trust me, just check the blockchain)
Traced back to a specific deployment time and deployer
Reproduced from the stored metadata
Referenced months later without digging through old logs
Here are some real contracts currently live on Sepolia that I deployed through the platform:
ERC20: 0xaD54Ba6289F4bBb681816d886Ff601fB5707B76a
ERC721: 0x71FF55Ab8d5C9C31130750260F67A31157A2CC51
ERC1155: 0x9801118c5E69EF4BD4abF4f380691BB8dc21Da9c
You can verify all of these on Sepolia Etherscan. They show deployment timestamps, transaction details, and verified source code.
This isn’t just about having a deployment tool. It’s about having infrastructure that makes blockchain development more systematic and less error-prone.
Beyond Deployment: Interaction Features
Once a contract is deployed, the platform lets you interact with it:
Mint tokens (for ERC721 and ERC1155)
Check balances for any address
View transaction history
Connect wallets to verify ownership
This makes the platform useful beyond the initial deployment. You can test your contracts, mint test NFTs, and verify everything works before moving to mainnet.
What This Platform Is (And Isn’t)
This is not:
A token launchpad
A marketplace
An NFT minting platform for end users
A DeFi protocol
It’s infrastructure for developers and technical teams.
The platform is useful for:
Prototyping token systems without writing Solidity from scratch
Teaching blockchain concepts with real deployments
Managing multiple contract deployments systematically
Experimenting with different token configurations
Building governance or DAO systems that need repeatable deployment
If you’re building a consumer product, this is the backend infrastructure layer. If you’re teaching blockchain, this lets students deploy real contracts without getting stuck in configuration. If you’re a founder testing governance models, this gives you a repeatable process for deploying and tracking contracts.
What I Learned Building This
I come from an operations background — supply chain, business analysis, process optimization. I’m used to asking: “How do we do this 100 times without breaking it?”
Blockchain development often doesn’t think that way. It treats each deployment as a unique event rather than a repeatable process.
Building this platform changed how I approach smart contract work. I now think about the full lifecycle:
Development (writing Solidity)
Testing (unit tests, local deployment)
Deployment (to testnet/mainnet)
Verification (Etherscan)
Tracking (metadata and history)
Interaction (post-deployment operations)
Writing good Solidity is important, but it’s only one part of the picture. The infrastructure around deployment — how you deploy, how you track what’s deployed, how you verify and interact with contracts — matters just as much.
One major lesson: architecture decisions need to consider deployment environments from the start. What works perfectly in local development might break in production. My initial Hardhat-based approach worked beautifully on my laptop but failed in Vercel’s serverless environment. Refactoring to Ethers.js taught me to think about portability and environmental constraints from the beginning, not as an afterthought.
Good infrastructure works everywhere, not just in ideal conditions. Whether you’re deploying to Vercel, AWS Lambda, a traditional VPS, or containerized environments, the system should be portable. That meant choosing tools and patterns that don’t assume specific execution environments — no process spawning, minimal file system dependencies, and stateless operations.
This experience made me a better engineer. I now think about production constraints during the design phase, not after deployment fails.
Good infrastructure is invisible when it works. You only notice it when it’s missing.
What’s Next
I’m actively working on expanding the platform:
Multi-chain support — Starting with Polygon and Arbitrum. The architecture is already designed to support multiple networks; it’s mostly about adding RPC configurations and network-specific logic.
AI agents for user assistance — Building intelligent agents that help users throughout the deployment process. This includes a customer service agent that answers questions about the platform, and a deployment assistant that guides users step-by-step through token creation. The goal is to make the platform conversational and intuitive, especially for non-technical users.
Governance templates — Pre-built contract templates for DAOs, token voting, timelock controllers, and multi-sig wallets. Deploy a complete governance system in minutes instead of days.
Public deployment pages — Each deployment gets a public URL showing its details, verification status, and transaction history. Basically an on-chain portfolio of everything you’ve deployed.
The broader vision is to make blockchain deployment accessible to technical founders, small dev teams, and educators who understand the value of smart contracts but don’t want to become Solidity experts. Lower the barrier without hiding the complexity entirely.
Open Source and Community
This project is fully open source. The code is on GitHub, the platform is live on Sepolia, and anyone can use it or contribute.
I built this because I needed it myself, and I’m sharing it because others might find it useful. If you’re working on similar problems — deployment infrastructure, blockchain tooling, educational platforms — I’d be interested to hear from you.
GitHub Repository: https://github.com/Kowshikkumar1997/chainforge-backend
https://github.com/Kowshikkumar1997/chainforge-ui
Live Platform: https://chainforge-ui.vercel.app/
Connect with me: www.linkedin.com/in/kowshik-kumar-m-166199138
If you’re building token systems, teaching blockchain development, or experimenting with governance models, feel free to try the platform or reach out. I’m always interested in talking with people solving similar problems.
Closing Thoughts
This project started as a way to understand smart contract deployment beyond running a script. It turned into infrastructure that makes deployment more systematic, traceable, and repeatable.
Treating deployment as an operational concern — not just a one-time command — shaped almost every design decision. That mindset came directly from my operations background, where process and traceability are everything.
If you’re building on blockchain, I’d encourage you to think beyond the Solidity code itself. Look at the full deployment lifecycle. Ask yourself: “Can I repeat this process six months from now? Can someone else understand what I deployed and why? Do I have an audit trail?”
The answers to those questions often matter more than the smart contract code itself.
If this resonates with you — whether you’re a developer, founder, or educator — reach out. I’m always up for a conversation about blockchain infrastructure and what’s missing in the current tooling landscape.
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