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To start developing applications on NEAR you will need a NEAR testnet account. This account will allow you to deploy and test your applications without spending real money.
If you already have a NEAR account and want to use it in another wallet or the CLI, check out our guide on Importing a NEAR account

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Using a wallet

1

Visit wallet.near.org

Go to wallet.near.org and choose one of the wallets listed there. All wallets have been curated for security and reliability.
2

Choose your wallet

All wallets offer similar functionality. Some wallets readily allow you to create named accounts (e.g. alice.testnet), which are easier to remember.
3

Secure your account

Write down your seed phrase - it’s the only way to recover your account!
Make sure to create a testnet account (ending with .testnet, e.g. alice.testnet), not a mainnet account (ending with .near).NEAR testnet is a separate network that allows you to test applications without spending real money.
Need testnet funds? Try using one of our faucets

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Through the CLI

When developing smart contracts you will spend lots of time interacting with the NEAR blockchain through the command line interface (CLI).
1

Install NEAR CLI

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf \
  https://github.com/near/near-cli-rs/releases/latest/download/near-cli-rs-installer.sh \
  | sh
2

Create your account

Run the following command to create a new testnet account:
near account create-account sponsor-by-faucet-service <your-account-name>.testnet autogenerate-new-keypair save-to-keychain network-config testnet create
Replace <your-account-name> with your desired account name.
3

View your account

Once created, you can view your account details:
near account view-account-summary <your-account-name>.testnet network-config testnet now

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What’s next?

Get testnet tokens

Fund your account with testnet NEAR tokens

Build a smart contract

Create your first smart contract on NEAR

Import your account

Learn how to import your account into other tools

Explore the protocol

Understand how NEAR Protocol works

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

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