Follow the instructions on Rust Lang’s installation page to get a full Rust toolchain installed on your system. Make sure after installation that you have access to the programs rustup, rustc, and cargo from your preferred command line terminal (programs should be added to your system’s PATH, more instructions available on Rust’s website)
We recommend VSCode as the IDE of choice for developing Stylus contracts for its excellent Rust support. See code.visualstudio.com to install. Feel free to use another text editor or IDE if you’re comfortable with those.
Some helpful VS Code extensions for Rust development:
You’ll need some testnet ETH for deploying your Rust contract for live testing. Explained below in further detail.
When deploying on and interacting with a testnet chain, it’s important to use a fresh wallet that does not contain any real assets. You’ll often be including private keys as CLI arguments to execute transactions programmatically, so avoid using personal accounts for development.
If you’re using MetaMask, simply click the dropdown at the top middle of the plugin and then click “Add Account” to create a fresh account. It can be helpful to label the account as a dev wallet or “Stylus” for this purpose. You’ll need this newly created account’s private key (as well as some Sepolia ETH) for deploying a smart contract. Follow the instructions on MetaMask’s website to obtain your key.
The Stylus testnet settles directly to the Arbitrum Sepolia testnet. Follow these steps to acquire testnet ETH on the Stylus testnet: