Get Started

Azle helps you to build secure decentralized/replicated servers in TypeScript or JavaScript on ICP. The current replication factor is 13-40.

Please remember that Azle stable mode is continuously subjected to intense scrutiny and testing, however it has not yet undergone intense security review.

Azle runs in stable mode by default.

This mode is intended for production use after Azle's imminent 1.0 release. Its focus is on API and runtime stability, security, performance, TypeScript and JavaScript language support, the ICP APIs, and Candid remote procedure calls (RPC). There is minimal support for the Node.js standard library, npm ecosystem, and HTTP server functionality.

Installation

Windows is only supported through a Linux virtual environment of some kind, such as WSL

You will need Node.js and dfx to develop ICP applications with Azle:

Node.js

It's recommended to use nvm to install the latest LTS version of Node.js:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash

Restart your terminal and then run:

nvm install --lts

Check that the installation went smoothly by looking for clean output from the following command:

node --version

dfx

Install the dfx command line tools for managing ICP applications:

DFX_VERSION=0.27.0 sh -ci "$(curl -fsSL https://internetcomputer.org/install.sh)"

Check that the installation went smoothly by looking for clean output from the following command:

dfx --version

Deployment

To create and deploy a simple sample application called hello_world:

# create a new default project called hello_world
npx azle new hello_world
cd hello_world

# install all npm dependencies including azle
npm install

# start up a local ICP replica
dfx start --clean

In a separate terminal in the hello_world directory:

# deploy your canister
dfx deploy