External Plugin

This is a third-party plugin. Please report issues in its Github Repository

# hardhat-deploy-ethers

Hardhat plugin for integration with ethers.js.

# What

This plugin brings to Hardhat the Ethereum library ethers.js, which allows you to interact with the Ethereum blockchain in a simple way.

it is in based on the existing effort by @nomiclabs : @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers And add extra functionality and the ability to get signer from address string

# Installation

Since hardhat-deploy-ethers is a fork of @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers and that other plugin might have an hardcoded dependency on @nomiclabs/hardhat-etehrs the best way to install hardhat-deploy-ethers and ensure compatibility is the following:

npm install --save-dev @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers@npm:hardhat-deploy-ethers ethers

Which means you then add the following statement to your hardhat.config.js:

require("@nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers");

Or, if you are using TypeScript, add this to your hardhat.config.ts:

import "@nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers";

Note that in the future, hardhat-deploy-ethers will be an extension of @nomiclabs/hardhat-etehrs but this is not currently possible without losing features.

Note that if you are sure that no other plugins need @nomiclabs/hardhat-etehrs to be installed you can do :

npm install --save-dev hardhat-deploy-ethers ethers

Then add the following statement to your hardhat.config.js:

require("hardhat-deploy-ethers");

Or, if you are using TypeScript, add this to your hardhat.config.ts:

import "hardhat-deploy-ethers";

# Tasks

This plugin creates no additional tasks.

# Environment extensions

This plugins adds an ethers object to the Hardhat Runtime Environment.

This object has add some extra hardhat-deploy specific functionalities.

# Provider object

A provider field is added to ethers, which is an ethers.providers.Provider automatically connected to the selected network.

# Helpers

These helpers are added to the ethers object:

interface Libraries {
  [libraryName: string]: string;
}

interface FactoryOptions {
  signer?: ethers.Signer;
  libraries?: Libraries;
}

function getContractFactory(name: string, signer?: ethers.Signer | string): Promise<ethers.ContractFactory>;

function getContractFactory(abi: any[], bytecode: ethers.BytesLike, signer?: ethers.Signer | string): Promise<ethers.ContractFactory>;

function getContractFactory(name: string, factoryOptions: FactoryOptions): Promise<ethers.ContractFactory>;


function getContractAt(nameOrAbi: string | any[], address: string, signer?: ethers.Signer | string): Promise<ethers.Contract>;

function getSigners() => Promise<ethers.Signer[]>;

function getSigner(address: string) => Promise<ethers.Signer>;
function getSignerOrNull: (address: string) => Promise<SignerWithAddress | null>;
function getNamedSigners: () => Promise<Record<string, SignerWithAddress>>;
function getNamedSigner: (name: string) => Promise<SignerWithAddress>;
function getNamedSignerOrNull: (name: string) => Promise<SignerWithAddress | null>;
function getUnnamedSigners: () => Promise<SignerWithAddress[]>;

function getContract(deploymentName: string, signer?: ethers.Signer | string): Promise<ethers.Contract>;
function getContractOrNull(deploymentName: string, signer?: ethers.Signer | string): Promise<ethers.Contract | null>;

The Contracts and ContractFactorys returned by these helpers are connected to the first signer returned by getSigners by default, if available. For Contracts if no signers are available it fallback to a read-only provider.

# Usage

There are no additional steps you need to take for this plugin to work.

Install it and access ethers through the Hardhat Runtime Environment anywhere you need it (tasks, scripts, tests, etc). For example, in your hardhat.config.js:

usePlugin("hardhat-deploy-ethers");

// task action function receives the Hardhat Runtime Environment as second argument
task(
  "blockNumber",
  "Prints the current block number",
  async (_, { ethers }) => {
    await ethers.provider.getBlockNumber().then((blockNumber) => {
      console.log("Current block number: " + blockNumber);
    });
  }
);

module.exports = {};

And then run npx hardhat blockNumber to try it.

Read the documentation on the Hardhat Runtime Environment to learn how to access the HRE in different ways to use ethers.js from anywhere the HRE is accessible.

# Library linking

Some contracts need to be linked with libraries before they are deployed. You can pass the addresses of their libraries to the getContractFactory function with an object like this:

const contractFactory = await this.env.ethers.getContractFactory(
  "Example",
  {
    libraries: {
      ExampleLib: "0x..."
    }
  }
);

This allows you to create a contract factory for the Example contract and link its ExampleLib library references to the address "0x...".

To create a contract factory, all libraries must be linked. An error will be thrown informing you of any missing library.

It also automatically integrate with the hardhat-deploy plugin if detected

const contract = await hre.ethers.getContract('<deploymentName>');

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