ERC20 Token Creation Tutorial

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

An Alchemy account
Metamask installed in your browser
Some Sepolia test tokens (available from Alchemy's Sepolia Faucet)

Step 1: Create Project Structure

mkdir reddy

Navigate to the folder and initialize your project:

npm init

Step 2: Install Dependencies

npm install --save-dev hardhat

Create a Hardhat project:

npx hardhat init

Step 3: Project Setup

Create the necessary directories:

mkdir contracts
mkdir scripts

Step 4: Install OpenZeppelin

npm install @openzeppelin/contracts

Step 5: Create Token Contract

Create MyToken.sol in the contracts folder:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

pragma solidity 0.8.20;

import "@openzeppelin/contracts/token/ERC20/ERC20.sol";

contract MyToken is ERC20 {
    uint constant _initial_supply = 10000 * (10 ** 18);
    constructor() ERC20("MyToken", "MKT") {
        _mint(msg.sender, _initial_supply);
    }
}

Step 6: Environment Setup

Install required packages:

npm install dotenv --save
npm install ethers@5.7.2
npm install --save-dev @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers

Create .env file:

API_URL="https://eth-sepolia.g.alchemy.com/v2/your-api-key"
PRIVATE_KEY="your-metamask-sepolia-private-key"

Step 7: Configure Hardhat

require('dotenv').config();
require("@nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers");

const { API_URL, PRIVATE_KEY } = process.env;

module.exports = {
    solidity: "0.8.20",
    defaultNetwork: "sepolia",
    networks: {
        hardhat: {},
        sepolia: {
            url: API_URL,
            accounts: [`0x${PRIVATE_KEY}`]
        }
    },
}

Important: Note the difference between single quotes ('') and backticks (``). Using the wrong one can cause errors.

Step 8: Deploy Script

Create deploy.js in the scripts folder:

async function main() {
    const [deployer] = await ethers.getSigners();
    console.log("Deploying contract with the account:", deployer.address);
    const weiAmount = (await deployer.getBalance()).toString();
    console.log("Account Balance:", ethers.utils.formatEther(weiAmount));
    const Token = await ethers.getContractFactory("MyToken");
    const token = await Token.deploy();
    console.log("Token address:", token.address);
}

main()
    .then(() => process.exit(0))
    .catch((error) => {
        console.error(error);
        process.exit(1);
    });

Step 9: Deploy to Sepolia

npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js --network sepolia

After Deployment

Copy the token address from the deployment output
Open Metamask and switch to Sepolia network
Click "Import Token"
Paste the token address
Your new tokens should now be visible in your wallet

Creating an ERC20 Token Using Hardhat