Creating a local testnet

A local testnet enables developers and projects building on Cardano to test new features or functionality prior to deployment on global testnet environments. While preview and pre-production environments benefit the wider developer community, a local testnet allows the execution of a hard fork in your own setup and subsequent testing of DApp behavior.

There are several possible solutions to create a local testnet. These include the use of Plutip (a tool for private network creation) or Nix (a tool for package management and system configuration).

Creating a local testnet using Plutip

Plutip (opens in a new tab), a tool developed on the Cardano blockchain, facilitates the creation of a private network to run Plutus contracts on.

Plutip can be used in two different ways:

• One option is to use the Plutip tool with a setup that provides an executable for starting a private network and setting up some funded wallets. See this tutorial (opens in a new tab).
• Another option is to use a separate branch of Plutip, which provides a modified setup for hard forks and instructions on how to execute them. See this tutorial (opens in a new tab).
• The third option is to run Plutip with cardano-transaction-lib, which provides a declarative interface to local clusters for using in test suites. See this tutorial (opens in a new tab).

Tutorials referenced above are created by the MLabs team.

Creating a local testnet using Nix

Another possible option is to spin up a local testnet using Nix. For more information, learn about the packaging principles (opens in a new tab), and see how to create a local testnet using Nix (opens in a new tab).