Contract deployment

This guide covers deploying the Agora DAO contracts using Hardhat on various networks.

Prerequisites

Before deploying, ensure you have:

Node.js and Yarn installed
A funded wallet for deployment
RPC provider access (Alchemy, Infura, etc.)
Etherscan API key for verification (optional)

Quick start

Generate a deployment account

cd packages/hardhat
yarn account:generate

This creates an encrypted private key and stores it in .env

Fund your deployment account

yarn account

This displays your address and balance on all configured networks

Deploy to a network

yarn deploy --network sepolia

Deploys contracts to Sepolia testnet

Verify contracts (optional)

yarn verify --network sepolia

Verifies source code on Etherscan

Available commands

From packages/hardhat/package.json:

Key deployment commands

{
  "scripts": {
    "deploy": "ts-node scripts/runHardhatDeployWithPK.ts",
    "compile": "hardhat compile",
    "verify": "hardhat etherscan-verify",
    "hardhat-verify": "hardhat verify",
    "test": "REPORT_GAS=true hardhat test --network hardhat",
    "clean": "hardhat clean"
  }
}

yarn compile

Compiles all Solidity contracts in contracts/ directory.

yarn compile

Output: Artifacts in artifacts/ and type definitions in typechain-types/

yarn deploy

Runs deployment scripts in deploy/ directory in order.

# Deploy to local Hardhat network
yarn deploy

# Deploy to specific network
yarn deploy --network sepolia
yarn deploy --network base
yarn deploy --network polygonAmoy

Scripts are executed in alphabetical order:

00_deploy_agora_factory.ts
01_deploy_agora_dao.ts

yarn verify

Verifies deployed contracts on Etherscan-compatible explorers.

yarn verify --network sepolia

Requires ETHERSCAN_V2_API_KEY in .env

yarn test

Runs test suite with gas reporting.

yarn test

Tests are located in test/ directory

Network configuration

Supported networks from hardhat.config.ts:48-129:

Mainnet networks

Ethereum

yarn deploy --network mainnet

Arbitrum

yarn deploy --network arbitrum

Optimism

yarn deploy --network optimism

Polygon

yarn deploy --network polygon

Base

yarn deploy --network base

Scroll

yarn deploy --network scroll

Celo

yarn deploy --network celo

Gnosis

yarn deploy --network gnosis

Testnet networks

Sepolia

yarn deploy --network sepolia

Arbitrum Sepolia

yarn deploy --network arbitrumSepolia

Optimism Sepolia

yarn deploy --network optimismSepolia

Polygon Amoy

yarn deploy --network polygonAmoy

Base Sepolia

yarn deploy --network baseSepolia

Scroll Sepolia

yarn deploy --network scrollSepolia

Network configuration details

All networks use Alchemy RPC endpoints (except Gnosis, Chiado, Base, and Celo which use public RPCs):

From hardhat.config.ts:61-64

sepolia: {
  url: `https://eth-sepolia.g.alchemy.com/v2/${providerApiKey}`,
  accounts: [deployerPrivateKey],
}

Set your Alchemy API key in .env:

ALCHEMY_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Constructor parameters

AgoraDaoFactory

The factory contract requires one parameter: the initial owner address.

From AgoraDaoFactory.sol:43

constructor(address initialOwner) Ownable(initialOwner) {
    daoCategories.push("SERVICE");
    daoCategories.push("GOVERNANCE");
    daoCategories.push("SOCIAL IMPACT");
    daoCategories.push("ENERGY");
}

Deployment script (deploy/00_deploy_agora_factory.ts:25-34):

await deploy("AgoraDaoFactory", {
  from: deployer,
  args: [deployer],  // Sets deployer as initial owner
  log: true,
  autoMine: true,
});

The deployer address is automatically used as the initial owner. This can be changed to a multisig or DAO governance address.

AgoraDao

Individual DAO contracts require two parameters:

From AgoraDao.sol:27-32

constructor(address _fabric, address _creator) {
    fabric = _fabric;                           // Parent factory address
    _grantRole(DEFAULT_ADMIN_ROLE, _creator);  // Grant admin to creator
    userCounter++;
}

Deployment script (deploy/01_deploy_agora_dao.ts:25-34):

await deploy("AgoraDao", {
  from: deployer,
  args: [
    "0x486dd25072a665db79330b1DEDc4Bac473148019",  // Factory address
    "0x486dd25072a665db79330b1DEDc4Bac473148019"   // Creator address
  ],
  log: true,
  autoMine: true,
});

In production, individual DAOs are created via AgoraDaoFactory.createDao(), not directly deployed. The deployment script above is for testing purposes only.

Deployment scripts

Deployment scripts are located in packages/hardhat/deploy/ and use Hardhat Deploy.

Factory deployment

File: deploy/00_deploy_agora_factory.ts

import { HardhatRuntimeEnvironment } from "hardhat/types";
import { DeployFunction } from "hardhat-deploy/types";

const deployAgoraDaoFactory: DeployFunction = async function (hre: HardhatRuntimeEnvironment) {
  const { deployer } = await hre.getNamedAccounts();
  const { deploy } = hre.deployments;

  await deploy("AgoraDaoFactory", {
    from: deployer,
    args: [deployer],  // initialOwner
    log: true,
    autoMine: true,
  });
};

export default deployAgoraDaoFactory;
deployAgoraDaoFactory.tags = ["AgoraDaoFactory"];

Usage:

# Deploy only the factory
yarn deploy --tags AgoraDaoFactory --network sepolia

Custom deployment script

To deploy with custom parameters:

deploy/00_deploy_agora_factory.ts

await deploy("AgoraDaoFactory", {
  from: deployer,
  args: [
    "0xYourMultisigAddress"  // Use multisig as owner
  ],
  log: true,
  autoMine: true,
});

Verification process

After deployment, verify your contracts on block explorers:

Automatic verification

yarn verify --network sepolia

This runs hardhat-deploy’s built-in verification using configuration from hardhat.config.ts:135-139:

verify: {
  etherscan: {
    apiKey: `${etherscanApiKey}`,
  },
}

Manual verification

For manual verification or troubleshooting:

yarn hardhat-verify --network sepolia \
  --contract contracts/AgoraDaoFactory.sol:AgoraDaoFactory \
  DEPLOYED_ADDRESS \
  CONSTRUCTOR_ARGS

Example:

yarn hardhat-verify --network sepolia \
  --contract contracts/AgoraDaoFactory.sol:AgoraDaoFactory \
  0x1234567890123456789012345678901234567890 \
  0xDeployerAddress

Etherscan API key

Set in .env:

ETHERSCAN_V2_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Get API keys from:

Ethereum: https://etherscan.io/myapikey
Polygon: https://polygonscan.com/myapikey
Arbitrum: https://arbiscan.io/myapikey
Optimism: https://optimistic.etherscan.io/myapikey
Base: https://basescan.org/myapikey

Production deployment example

Complete deployment flow for production:

Import your deployment wallet

yarn account:import

Enter your private key when prompted (stored encrypted)

Configure environment

Edit .env:

ALCHEMY_API_KEY=your_alchemy_key
ETHERSCAN_V2_API_KEY=your_etherscan_key

Verify account balance

yarn account

Ensure sufficient balance on target network

Compile contracts

yarn compile

Verify successful compilation

Run tests

yarn test

Ensure all tests pass

Deploy to testnet first

yarn deploy --network sepolia

Test on testnet before mainnet

Verify on testnet

yarn verify --network sepolia

Deploy to mainnet

yarn deploy --network mainnet

Double-check network before confirming

Verify on mainnet

yarn verify --network mainnet

Transfer ownership (optional)

Transfer factory ownership to multisig or DAO governance

Post-deployment configuration

After deployment, you may want to:

Add custom DAO categories

// Only factory owner can add categories
agoraDaoFactory.addDaoCategory("DEFI");
agoraDaoFactory.addDaoCategory("NFT");

Transfer ownership

// Transfer to multisig or governance contract
agoraDaoFactory.transferOwnership(multisigAddress);

Create initial DAOs

agoraDaoFactory.createDao(
  "Example DAO",
  "A description of the DAO",
  0,  // categoryID (0 = SERVICE)
  "ipfs://QmImageHash"
);

Troubleshooting

Insufficient funds error

Error: sender doesn't have enough funds to send txSolution: Fund your deployment account:

yarn account  # Get your address

Send ETH to the displayed address on your target network.

Nonce too high error

Error: nonce has already been usedSolution: Reset your local deployment state:

yarn clean
rm -rf deployments/[network_name]

Verification failed

Error: already verified or does not matchSolution: Ensure constructor args match exactly:

yarn hardhat-verify --network sepolia \
  --contract contracts/AgoraDaoFactory.sol:AgoraDaoFactory \
  ADDRESS \
  CORRECT_ARGS

Network connection issues

Error: request failed or timeoutSolution: Check RPC endpoint:

Verify Alchemy API key in .env
Try alternative RPC (Infura, QuickNode)
Check network status

Gas optimization

The contracts are compiled with optimizer settings from hardhat.config.ts:31-36:

optimizer: {
  enabled: true,
  runs: 200,
}

Runs: 200 balances deployment cost vs runtime cost:

Lower runs (100) = cheaper deployment, higher execution cost
Higher runs (1000) = expensive deployment, cheaper execution
200 is a good balance for most use cases

To view gas costs during testing:

REPORT_GAS=true yarn test

Overview

Contracts

​Prerequisites

​Quick start

​Available commands

​Network configuration

​Mainnet networks

Ethereum

Arbitrum

Optimism

Polygon

Base

Scroll

Celo

Gnosis

​Testnet networks

Sepolia

Arbitrum Sepolia

Optimism Sepolia

Polygon Amoy

Base Sepolia

Scroll Sepolia

​Network configuration details

​Constructor parameters

​AgoraDaoFactory

​AgoraDao

​Deployment scripts

​Factory deployment

​Custom deployment script

​Verification process

​Automatic verification

​Manual verification

​Etherscan API key

​Production deployment example

​Post-deployment configuration

​Add custom DAO categories

​Transfer ownership

​Create initial DAOs

​Troubleshooting

​Gas optimization

​Next steps

Architecture

Overview

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Prerequisites

Quick start

Available commands

Network configuration

Mainnet networks

Testnet networks

Network configuration details

Constructor parameters

AgoraDaoFactory

AgoraDao

Deployment scripts

Factory deployment

Custom deployment script

Verification process

Automatic verification

Manual verification

Etherscan API key

Production deployment example

Post-deployment configuration

Add custom DAO categories

Transfer ownership

Create initial DAOs

Troubleshooting

Gas optimization

Next steps