# Hardhat

Hardhat is a development environment to compile, deploy, test, and debug your Ethereum software.

Repository: https://github.com/NomicFoundation/hardhat
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hardhat
Homepage: https://hardhat.org
Language: TypeScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: ethereum, smart-contracts, blockchain, dapps, javascript, tooling, task-runner, solidity, typescript, debugging
Last push: 2026-08-26T21:14:47+00:00
Link (homepage): https://hardhat.org
Link (site_page): https://hardhat.org/docs
Link (site_page): https://hardhat.org/docs/getting-started
Link (site_page): https://hardhat.org/ignition/docs/getting-started
Link (site_page): https://hardhat.org/docs/guides/testing/using-solidity

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 86, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3063, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 13, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 442}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8506, forks 1731 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:23.186144+00:00)

## What it is
Hardhat is an Ethereum development environment for compiling, deploying, testing, and debugging Solidity smart contracts, built on a Rust-powered runtime (EDR) with local blockchain simulation. It is extensible via a plugin ecosystem and includes Hardhat Ignition for declarative deployments.

## Use cases
- compile and deploy solidity smart contracts
- test ethereum smart contracts in solidity or typescript
- debug reverted transactions with solidity stack traces
- run a local ethereum blockchain for development
- fuzz and invariant test smart contracts
- simulate op stack and base chains before deploying
- set up a boilerplate dapp project with contracts and frontend

## When to choose
- you are building Ethereum or EVM-compatible smart contracts and need an all-in-one dev environment
- you want fast Solidity-native unit tests plus TypeScript integration tests
- you need reliable, resumable, parallelized deployments via Hardhat Ignition
- you target multiple chains like OP Stack and want accurate chain simulation

## When to avoid
- you are not developing blockchain or smart contract software
- you need a non-EVM blockchain like Solana or Cosmos
- you only want a lightweight contract compiler without a full toolchain

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: active
- function: testing, build-tool, cli, developer-tools, fuzzing, deployment, plugin-system
- domain: blockchain, developer-tools, testing
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: ethereum, solidity, smart-contracts, dapps, hardhat-ignition, evm, local-blockchain, op-stack, task-runner, web3, debugging, nodejs, typescript, javascript

## Member repositories
- NomicFoundation/hardhat (main) score 95
- NomicFoundation/hardhat-boilerplate (examples) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:23.186144+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:26:42.357434+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/NomicFoundation/hardhat (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:23.186144+00:00, sha 28fa6fd57e88)
  - homepage: https://hardhat.org (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.444854+00:00, sha 8d47fb34cb2f)
  - site_page: https://hardhat.org/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.454912+00:00, sha 0d4856d81d44)
  - site_page: https://hardhat.org/docs/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.457252+00:00, sha e05cd8dd302d)
  - site_page: https://hardhat.org/ignition/docs/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.459193+00:00, sha d71c8cc96c85)
  - site_page: https://hardhat.org/docs/guides/testing/using-solidity (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.461084+00:00, sha 82e91d22e566)
  - site_page: https://hardhat.org/docs/reference/edr-simulated-networks (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.462962+00:00, sha 305413c39efe)
  - site_page: https://hardhat.org/docs/guides/testing (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.464775+00:00, sha 011f28222631)
  - site_page: https://hardhat.org/docs/explanations/multichain-support (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.466500+00:00, sha c9965245e9e4)
  - site_page: https://hardhat.org/docs/guides/deployment/using-ignition (fetched 2026-08-29T08:27:32.468085+00:00, sha 34c79e18450d)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.