Using Stylus CLI

This guide will get you started using cargo stylus is a CLI toolkit built to facilitate the development of Stylus contracts.

It is available as a plugin to the standard cargo tool used for developing Rust programs.

Installing cargo stylus

Prerequisites

Rust toolchain

Follow the instructions on Rust Lang's installation page to install a complete Rust toolchain (v1.81 or older, v1.82 is currently not supported) on your system. After installation, ensure you can access the programs rustup, rustc, and cargo from your preferred terminal application.

Installation

In your terminal, run:

cargo install --force cargo-stylus

Add WASM (WebAssembly) as a build target for the specific Rust toolchain you are using. The below example sets your default Rust toolchain to 1.80 as well as adding the WASM build target:

rustup default 1.80
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown --toolchain 1.80

You can verify that cargo stylus is installed by running cargo stylus -V in your terminal, returning something like:stylus 0.5.6

Using cargo stylus

Cargo Stylus Commands

Command	Description	Options
new	Create a new Stylus project	• name: Project name (required) • --minimal: Create a minimal contract
init	Initialize a Stylus project in current directory	• --minimal: Create a minimal contract
export-abi	Export a Solidity ABI	• --output: Output file (defaults to stdout) • --json: Write JSON ABI using solc
activate	Activate an already deployed contract	• --address: Contract address to activate • --data-fee-bump-percent: Percent to bump estimated fee (default 20%) • --estimate-gas: Only estimate gas without sending tx
cache	Cache contract using Stylus CacheManager	Subcommands: • bid: Place bid on contract • status: Check contract status • suggest-bid: Get suggested minimum bid
check	Check a contract	• --wasm-file: WASM to check • --contract-address: Deploy address
deploy	Deploy a contract	• --estimate-gas: Only perform estimation • --no-verify: Skip reproducible container • --cargo-stylus-version: Version for Docker image
verify	Verify contract deployment	• --deployment-tx: Hash of deployment tx • --no-verify: Skip reproducible container • --cargo-stylus-version: Version for Docker image
cgen	Generate C code bindings	• input: Input file path • out_dir: Output directory path
replay	Replay transaction in gdb	• --stable-rust: Use stable Rust • --child: Child process flag
trace	Trace a transaction	• --endpoint: RPC endpoint • --tx: Transaction hash • --project: Project path • --use-native-tracer: Use native tracer

Common Options

These options are available across multiple commands:

Option	Description
--endpoint	Arbitrum RPC endpoint (default: http://localhost:8547)
--verbose	Print debug info
--source-files-for-project-hash	Paths to source files for project hash
--max-fee-per-gas-gwei	Optional max fee per gas in gwei

Authentication Options

Available for commands involving transactions:

Option	Description
--private-key-path	Path to file containing hex-encoded private key
--private-key	Private key as hex string (exposes to shell history)
--keystore-path	Path to Ethereum wallet keystore file
--keystore-password-path	Keystore password file path

Example Usage

Create a new Stylus project

cargo stylus new my_project

Initialize a Stylus project in the current directory

cargo stylus init

Export a Solidity ABI

cargo stylus export-abi --output abi.json

Activate an already deployed contract

cargo stylus activate --address 0x1234567890123456789012345678901234567890

Deploy a contract

cargo stylus deploy --RPC-endpoint http://localhost:8547 --private-key-path /path/to/private-key --max-fee-per-gas-gwei 100

Cache a contract using the Stylus CacheManager for Arbitrum chains

cargo stylus cache bid --address 0x1234567890123456789012345678901234567890

Verify a contract deployment

cargo stylus verify --deployment-tx 0x1234567890123456789012345678901234567890

Feel free to explore the Stylus Rust SDK reference for more information on using Stylus in your Arbitrum projects.