Build Overview
As a builder, Polkadot offers a number of places to deploy your product or service. This page will take you through different avenues of how to deploy on or integrate with Polkadot.
Deploying a Blockchain on Polkadot
If you need to have an independent blockchain, because:
- a) You have custom consensus needs (e.g. prioritizing certain transaction types)
- b) You want an environment dedicated to a specific purpose (e.g. an appchain for a game)
- c) You have a custom token you would like to use as gas or to govern the configuration of the chain
You can deploy a blockchain on Polkadot, which is also known as a parachain, Polkadot rollup or appchain. Blockchains on Polkadot inherit the underlying security of the network (e.g. “economic security”) and operate on a sharded model.
Previously, when Polkadot was initially released, to deploy a blockchain you needed to acquire a Parachains lease via a crowdloan auctions, which granted a slot on the network for 1-2 years. We have recently transitioned to a coretime model, where any blockchain can acquire blockspace on-demand.
Configuring your Parachain
OpenZeppelin provides audited templates as starting points to configure your parachain, such as a generic template or EVM template. You’re able to add custom pallets as needed. For further developments, including the 3.0 release, including configuration improvements and better Tanssi support, see the video below from Sub0 2024 Reset.
Deploying a Smart Contract on Polkadot
Deploying a blockchain requires running infrastructure (e.g. validators or collaters), which require continuous upkeep or monitoring. Builders who are interested in deploying a product or service but not be interested in running infrastructure may deploy smart contracts to one of the smart contract environments running on Polkadot.
Developing with Solidity on PolkaVM
Polkadot is integrating the ability to deploy Solidity contracts to the Asset Hub system chain. Polakdot Asset Hub is currently the central point of liquidity inflow/outflow between Polkadot and centralized exchanges (CEXs), and will become the home for staking, governance and smart contracts.
Contracts on Asset Hub will run on PolkaVM, a Risc-V virtual machine. The main contract language will be Solidity, and contracts will be compiled to run on PolkaVM. It’s also possible to write interoperable contracts in Rust, or any other language that compiles to PolkaVM (Risc-V). This will make it possible to reuse standard audited contracts from EVM environments, while writing code that needs higher performance in Rust.
Developing with Ink
Ink is a Rust-based DSL to write smart contracts that run in WASM environments. It’s currently being ported to PolkaVM, where contracts will be interoperable with any other PolkaVM-based contracts. Ink contract deployment will also be available on Pop Network.
Other Learning Resources
Polkadot Blockchain Academy
The Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA) is a hybrid online and in-person university-level program that teaches developers about blockchain and Polkadot.
Kudos - Help Ecosystem Teams
Kudos is an ecosystem project that helps developers start to contribute to Polkadot.
OpenGuild’s Educational Database
For now, check out OpenGuild’s ecosystem educational database for a list of classes, tutorials and explanations about building on Polkadot.
Dot Code School
Introductory courses about Polkadot that can run in your browser: https://dotcodeschool.com/
Libro - Polkadot SDK Best Practices
Check out Blockdeep’s “best practices” guide for the Polkadot SDK, compiled after doing code reviews for multiple projects within the ecosystem.