Scaffold Stellar - Stellar Developer Docs

Scaffold Stellar is a developer toolkit for building decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts on the Stellar blockchain. It helps you go from idea to working full-stack dApp faster — by providing CLI tools, reusable contract templates, a smart contract registry, and a modern frontend. Visit the Scaffold Stellar homepage for guides, docs, and more.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following installed:

Tool	Description	Install Link
Rust & Cargo	For writing and compiling smart contracts	`curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf \| sh`
Node.js & npm	For frontend development	Download from official site
Stellar CLI	For building, deploying, and interacting with smart contracts	`Link for the repo`
Docker	For running a local Stellar network via the `stellar/quickstart` image	Download Docker Desktop

Getting Started

Installation

Install the required CLI tools:

# Install stellar-scaffold CLI
cargo install --locked stellar-scaffold-cli

# Install registry CLI (to easily deploy your contract to the registry)
cargo install --locked stellar-registry-cli

For a faster install, use cargo-binstallInstead of building from source, you can speed up the installation by getting the binary directly using cargo-binstall. This is especially useful in CI environments.

# Install cargo-binstall (see other install methods in their README linked above)
cargo install cargo-binstall

# Install the binaries
cargo binstall stellar-scaffold-cli stellar-registry-cli

While the CLIs are installing, check out this intro to Scaffold Stellar!

Creating a New Project

Initialize a new project:

stellar scaffold init my-project
cd my-project

This will create the project scaffold in the directory you specified with a few sample contracts. Or you can start from the OpenZeppelin Wizard to customize your contract and start a Scaffold Stellar project from there.

Start the app:

npm start

You’ll have a running dApp integrated with the starter contracts, ready to start building! Explore the environments.toml file to customize your development environment(s) that’s set by your .env file.

Project Structure

When you run stellar scaffold init, it creates a full-stack project structure with example contracts and a modern frontend:

my-project/
├── contracts/          # Rust smart contracts (compiled to WASM)
├── packages/           # Auto-generated TypeScript contract clients
├── src/                # React frontend code
│   ├── components/     # Reusable UI components
│   ├── contracts/      # Contract interaction logic
│   ├── App.tsx         # Main app component
│   └── main.tsx        # Entry point
├── environments.toml   # Configuration per environment (dev/test/prod)
├── .env                # Local environment variables
├── package.json        # Frontend packages
└── target/             # Build outputs

This template provides a ready-to-use frontend application with example smart contracts and their TypeScript clients. The frontend is set up with Vite, React, and includes basic components for interacting with the contracts.

Features

CLI Plugins for Stellar
- stellar scaffold init: Initialize new Stellar smart contract projects
- stellar scaffold upgrade: Transform existing Stellar contract workspaces into Scaffold projects
- stellar scaffold build: Build contracts and generate TypeScript clients
- stellar scaffold watch: Development mode with hot reloading
- stellar registry: Publish, deploy, and manage smart contracts
Environment Management
- Environment-specific builds (development, testing, staging, production)
- Seamless integration with both local and deployed contracts
- Network configuration via environments.toml
- Support for multiple deployment environments
Smart Contract Registry
- On-chain publishing platform for Wasm binaries
- Version management and contract naming
- Contract verification and dependency management
- Secure deployment workflow for testnet and mainnet

More Resources

For more information, check out the project on GitHub!

Video Series

Check out the Scaffold Stellar video series on YouTube for step-by-step tutorials and guides:

Scaffold Stellar | A Boilerplate For Stellar Developers - Comprehensive walkthrough of Scaffold Stellar as a boilerplate for Stellar development.
Scaffold Stellar: Getting Started and Guess the Number - A practical tutorial that walks through improving the default “Guess the Number” dApp included in Scaffold Stellar.
Building dApps with Scaffold Stellar - An overview of the open source Scaffold Stellar development toolkit and how it streamlines the creation and management of Stellar apps.
Live Demo of Scaffold Stellar - A live demonstration showing Scaffold Stellar in action.
Intro to Scaffold Stellar - Introduction to the Scaffold Stellar toolkit and its features.
Which Frontend? - Guide on choosing and working with frontend frameworks in Scaffold Stellar.
Scaffold Stellar: Get started building - Learn how to install Scaffold Stellar, review included libraries and integrations, and get your development environment up and running.
Rapid Application Development with Scaffold Stellar | Meridian 2025 - Introduction to Scaffold Stellar’s rapid development environment, showing how to go from prototype to production.

​Prerequisites

​Getting Started

​Installation

​Creating a New Project

​Project Structure

​Features

​More Resources

​Video Series