How to create an NFT on the Cardano blockchain using JavaScript

Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeOliguGn7Y

Who is this guide for?

• For people who want to make NFT's
• For people who perhaps know Cardano

Benefits of NFT's on Cardano

• Low transaction fees
• Native on the blockchain (perhaps compare with Ethereum, eth is smart contract based)

Prerequisites

• cardano-node / cardano-cli set up on local machine (https://docs.cardano.org/projects/cardano-node/en/latest)
• node.js installed

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

3. Verify everything is set up properly

cardano-cli

cardano-cli version

output should be similar:

cardano-cli 1.26.1 - linux-aarch64 - ghc-8.10
git rev 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

cardano-node

cardano-node version

output should be similar:

cardano-node 1.26.1 - linux-aarch64 - ghc-8.10
git rev 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

node.js

node -v

v14.16.0

Overview of this tutorial

1. verify env

2. create project and inital setup

#make sure our db is in our $PATH
CARDANO_NODE_SOCKET_PATH="$NODE_HOME/db/socket"

mkdir minter
cd minter
npm init -y #creates package.json)
npm install cardanocli-js --save

3. Copy the Cardano node genesis latest build number from IOHK hydra website

   • https://hydra.iohk.io/build/5367762/download/1/index.html

4. Download Genesis config file needed for shelly-era

sudo nano fetch-config.sh

NODE_BUILD_NUM=5822084
wget -N https://hydra.iohk.io/build/${NODE_BUILD_NUM}/download/1/mainnet-shelley-genesis.json

sudo chmod +x fetch-config.sh
./fetch-config.sh

5. make src folder/directory and then create cardano client

mkdir src; cd src
sudo nano cardano.js

const Cardano = require("cardanocli-js");

const cardano = new Cardano({
  network: "mainnet",
  dir: __dirname + "/../",
  shelleyGenesisPath: __dirname + "/../mainnet-shelley-genesis.json",
});

module.exports = cardano;

8. create wallet

sudo nano create-wallet.js

const cardano = require("./cardano");

const createWallet = (account) => {
  cardano.addressKeyGen(account);
  cardano.stakeAddressKeyGen(account);
  cardano.stakeAddressBuild(account);
  cardano.addressBuild(account);
  return cardano.wallet(account);
};

createWallet("ADAPI");

cd minter
node src/create-wallet.js

9. Verify balance wallet balance is Zero, then we fund the wallet
   • First we need to create a get-balance.js script

# open text editor
cd minter/src; sudo nano get-balance.js

// create get-balance.js
const cardano = require("./cardano");

const sender = cardano.wallet("ADAPI");

console.log(sender.balance());

10. check the balance (utxo)

cd ..
node src/get-balance.js

11. Download IPFS

12. Upload your files to IPFS

• image - ipfs://QmQqzMTavQgT4f4T5v6PWBp7XNKtoPmC9jvn12WPT3gkSE
• src - ipfs://Qmaou5UzxPmPKVVTM9GzXPrDufP55EDZCtQmpy3T64ab9N

13. Generate policy id

14. Define your meta data

15. create mint transaction

const fs = require("fs");
const cardano = require("./cardano");

// 1. Get the wallet
// 2. Define mint script
// 3. Create POLICY_ID
// 4. Define ASSET_NAME
// 5. Create ASSET_ID
// 6. Define metadata
// 7. Define transaction
// 8. Build transaction
// 9. Sign transaction
// 10. Submit transaction

const buildTransaction = (tx) => {
  const raw = cardano.transactionBuildRaw(tx);
  const fee = cardano.transactionCalculateMinFee({
    ...tx,
    txBody: raw,
  });
  tx.txOut[0].amount.lovelace -= fee;
  return cardano.transactionBuildRaw({ ...tx, fee });
};

const signTransaction = (wallet, tx, script) => {
  return cardano.transactionSign({
    signingKeys: [wallet.payment.skey, wallet.payment.skey],
    scriptFile: script,
    txBody: tx,
  });
};

const wallet = cardano.wallet("ADAPI");

const mintScript = {
  keyHash: cardano.addressKeyHash(wallet.name),
  type: "sig",
};

const POLICY_ID = cardano.transactionPolicyid(mintScript);
const ASSET_NAME = "BerrySpaceGreen";
const ASSET_ID = POLICY_ID + "." + ASSET_NAME;

const metadata = {
  721: {
    [POLICY_ID]: {
      [ASSET_NAME]: {
        name: ASSET_NAME,
        image: "ipfs://QmQqzMTavQgT4f4T5v6PWBp7XNKtoPmC9jvn12WPT3gkSE",
        description: "Super Fancy Berry Space Green NFT",
        type: "image/png",
        src: "ipfs://Qmaou5UzxPmPKVVTM9GzXPrDufP55EDZCtQmpy3T64ab9N",
        authors: ["PIADA", "SBLYR"],
      },
    },
  },
};

const tx = {
  txIn: wallet.balance().utxo,
  txOut: [
    {
      address: wallet.paymentAddr,
      amount: { ...wallet.balance().amount, [ASSET_ID]: 1 },
    },
  ],
  mint: [{ action: "mint", amount: 1, token: ASSET_ID }],
  metadata,
  witnessCount: 2,
};

const raw = buildTransaction(tx);
const signed = signTransaction(wallet, raw, mintScript);
const txHash = cardano.transactionSubmit(signed);
console.log(txHash);

16. Run the minting script, then wait a few moments to check the balance (utxo)

cd ..
node src/mint-asset.js

node src/get-balance.js

17. send your nft back to your wallet
    • Create anew script to send nft to wallet

const cardano = require("./cardano");

// 1. get the wallet
// 2. define the transaction
// 3. build the transaction
// 4. calculate the fee
// 5. pay the fee by subtracting it from the sender utxo
// 6. build the final transaction
// 7. sign the transaction
// 8. submit the transaction

const sender = cardano.wallet("ADAPI");

console.log(
  "Balance of Sender wallet: " +
    cardano.toAda(sender.balance().amount.lovelace) +
    " ADA"
);

const receiver =
  "addr1qym6pxg9q4ussr96c9e6xjdf2ajjdmwyjknwculadjya488pqap23lgmrz38glvuz8qlzdxyarygwgu3knznwhnrq92q0t2dv0";

const txInfo = {
  txIn: cardano.queryUtxo(sender.paymentAddr),
  txOut: [
    {
      address: sender.paymentAddr,
      amount: {
        lovelace: sender.balance().amount.lovelace - cardano.toLovelace(1.5),
      },
    },
    {
      address: receiver,
      amount: {
        lovelace: cardano.toLovelace(1.5),
        "ad9c09fa0a62ee42fb9555ef7d7d58e782fa74687a23b62caf3a8025.BerrySpaceGreen": 1,
      },
    },
  ],
};

const raw = cardano.transactionBuildRaw(txInfo);

const fee = cardano.transactionCalculateMinFee({
  ...txInfo,
  txBody: raw,
  witnessCount: 1,
});

//pay the fee by subtracting it from the sender utxo
txInfo.txOut[0].amount.lovelace -= fee;

//create final transaction
const tx = cardano.transactionBuildRaw({ ...txInfo, fee });

//sign the transaction
const txSigned = cardano.transactionSign({
  txBody: tx,
  signingKeys: [sender.payment.skey],
});

//subm transaction
const txHash = cardano.transactionSubmit(txSigned);
console.log("TxHash: " + txHash);

18. view your nft in your wallet

19. View your asset on cardanoassets.com

20. View your asset on pool.pm (see the actual picture)

21. Show the original minting metadata

22. open the src ipfs to prove that it work