This page will show you how to set up and run a local test network, deploy the colonyNetwork smart contracts to that local test network, and then connect to that local test network with colonyJS.

Prerequisites

For this example, you will need the following tools:

• Git >=2.6.4
• Node >=10.12.0
• Yarn >=1.12.0
• Docker >=18.09.0

If you have these installed, feel free to skip ahead to the next section.

Git

You will need to have Git installed. We recommend using version 2.6.4 or higher. If you do not have Git installed, check out Install Git. We also recommend connecting to Github with SSH.

Node

You will need to have Node installed. We recommend using version 10.12.0 or higher. If you do not have Node installed, check out Download Node. We highly recommend using Node Version Manager or Node Version Management to manage multiple Node versions.

Yarn

All of our repositories use Yarn and some of our tools require that you have Yarn installed. You are more than welcome to try running commands with NPM but we recommend using Yarn version 1.12.0 or higher. If you do not have Yarn installed, check out Yarn Installation.

Docker

You will also need to have Docker installed. The colonyNetwork smart contracts use a Docker image for the solidity compiler. We recommend using Docker Community Edition 2.0.0 or higher, which starts at version 18.09.0. If you do not have Docker installed, check out Get Started with Docker.

Initial Setup

Are you building a project from scratch or integrating colonyJS into an existing project? If the latter and you have both Git and Yarn already initialized, you can skip ahead to the next section.

Initialize Git

Within the root directory, run the following command:

git init

This will initialize your project as a Git repository. Now would be a good time to add a .gitignore file and include node_modules and any other files you want Git to ignore.

Initialize Yarn

Within the root directory, run the following command and follow the prompt:

yarn init

This will initialize your project as a Node package, allowing you to install other packages.

Add Scripts

In order for colonyJS to interact with colonyNetwork in a local development environment, you will need to compile the colonyNetwork smart contracts, deploy the contracts to a local test network, and then make the contract data available within your project.

Do not fear! We created a simple command line tool to make this easier for you. No need to install and configure services and add the colonyNetwork repository as a submodule to start building with colonyJS. We bundled up everything for you in colony-cli.

colony-cli is a command line tool that pulls down and installs colonyNetwork behind the scenes and makes services within colonyNetwork available via colony commands. Everything you need to run a local test network, compile and deploy the colonyNetwork smart contracts, and serve the contract data are made accessible in colony-cli using the service command.

Install colony-cli

Within your project, install the colony-cli package:

yarn add @colony/colony-cli

Add script commands

Within your package.json file, add the following scripts:

"scripts": {
  "start-ganache": "colony service start-ganache",
  "deploy-contracts": "colony service deploy-contracts",
  "start-trufflepig": "colony service start-trufflepig"
}

Note: You can specify different colonyNetwork versions with the --specific option added to any of the service commands. The default version is using the glider-rc.1 release. Using develop is not recommended if you are using colonyJS because colonyJS will not yet have an official release that supports an unreleased version of the colonyNetwork smart contracts.

Add colonyJS

Install dependencies

Next, you will need to install the following packages:

• @colony/colony-js-client
• @colony/purser-software

You can install these packages using the following command:

yarn add @colony/colony-js-client @colony/purser-software

Add connectNetwork script

Create a connectNetwork.js file in the root directory and add the following code:

const { getNetworkClient } = require('@colony/colony-js-client');
const { open } = require('@colony/purser-software');

(async () => {

  // Get a wallet instance (using the private key of the first ganache test account)
  const wallet = await open({
    privateKey: '0x0355596cdb5e5242ad082c4fe3f8bbe48c9dba843fe1f99dd8272f487e70efae',
  });

  // Check out the logs to see the wallet address
  console.log('Wallet Address: ', wallet.address);

  // Get a network client instance
  const networkClient = await getNetworkClient('local', wallet);

  // Check out the logs to see the network address
  console.log('Network Address: ', networkClient.contract.address);

})()
  .then(() => process.exit())
  .catch(error => console.error(error));

Test Local Setup

Start Ganache

Open a new terminal window and run the following command:

yarn start-ganache

Deploy Contracts

Open a new terminal window and run the following command:

yarn deploy-contracts

Start Trufflepig

Open a new terminal window and run the following command:

yarn start-trufflepig

Connect Network

Open a new terminal window and run the following command:

node connectNetwork

You should see the address of the network contract that was deployed to your local test network!

What's next?

• Learn about "colony roles" and managing permissions in Colony Roles.

• Learn about native colony tokens and managing colony funds in Tokens and Funding.

• Learn about domains and skills and how they relate to reputation in Domains and Skills.

• Learn about the task lifecycle and more about payments in Tasks and Payments.