> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tenderly.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Hardhat and Github Actions > Use Tenderly Github action to set up Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) to test and stage Solidity smart contracts with Hardhat Learn how to configure a GitHub Action to set up a Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment pipeline (CI/CD) with Hardhat on Tenderly Virtual Environments. Use the [Tenderly Virtual Environment Setup](https://github.com/marketplace/actions/tenderly-virtual-testnet-setup) to enable automated builds that test and deploy your contracts across multiple networks. After successful testing, you can stage them for the rest of your team by deploying them to provisioned Virtual Environments. In this guide, you need to complete two stages: 1. Local setup: Set up Hardhat and create and test the workflow file. 2. Github setup: Set up a GitHub Action, configure GitHub secrets and variables, and test the build. For reference, use this example project: This guide demonstrates a CI setup that relies on Hardhat-ignition. For `hardhat-verify` setup, the process and configuration are similar. Continuous integration (CI) and continous deployment (CD) with Virtual Environments ## Stage 1: Local setup First, we'll install necessary dependencies and create a workflow file. ### Install dependencies Make sure you have the following packages installed: ```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} npm install --save-dev @tenderly/hardhat-tenderly @nomicfoundation/hardhat-ignition ``` ### Create the workflow file To set up the GitHub Action, create a new workflow: ```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} mkdir -p .github/workflows touch ci-cd.yaml ``` Next, paste the following yaml file that configures two jobs: * **`test`** job to run hardhat tests using a single network for testing * **`deploy`** job to deploy contracts to multiple networks (Mainnet and Base) after successful testing The `mode` argument takes values `CI` and `CD`. * The `CD` mode keeps the Virtual Environment active and you can work with deployed contracts. * The `CI` mode pauses the Virtual Environment after the step completes. You'll be able to inspect transactions but won't be able to send further RPC requests. ```yaml showLineNumbers title="ci-cd.yaml" theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} name: Hardhat CI/CD Multichain on: [push, pull_request] env: ## Needed available as env variables for hardhat.config.js TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME: ${{ vars.TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME }} TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME: ${{ vars.TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME }} jobs: test: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Setup Node.js uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: '20' cache: 'npm' - name: Setup Virtual Environment uses: tenderly/vnet-github-action@v1.0.14 with: mode: CI # pauses the Virtual Environment after deployment access_key: ${{ secrets.TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY }} project_name: ${{ vars.TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME }} account_name: ${{ vars.TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME }} testnet_name: "Testing" network_id: 1 chain_id_prefix: 7357 public_explorer: true verification_visibility: 'src' push_on_complete: true - name: Install dependencies run: npm install working-directory: examples/hardhat-ignition - name: Run Tests run: npm run test:1 working-directory: examples/hardhat-ignition deploy: needs: test runs-on: ubuntu-latest permissions: contents: write steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 - name: Setup Node.js uses: actions/setup-node@v4 with: node-version: '20' cache: 'npm' - name: Setup Virtual Environment uses: tenderly/vnet-github-action@v1.0.14 with: mode: CD access_key: ${{ secrets.TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY }} project_name: ${{ vars.TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME }} account_name: ${{ vars.TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME }} testnet_name: "Staging" network_id: | 1 8453 chain_id_prefix: "" public_explorer: true verification_visibility: 'src' push_on_complete: true - name: Install dependencies run: npm install working-directory: examples/hardhat-ignition - name: Deploy Contracts Mainnet run: npm run deploy:1 -- --deployment-id deploy-1-${BUILD_SLUG} working-directory: examples/hardhat-ignition - name: Deploy Contracts Base run: npm run deploy:8453 -- --deployment-id deploy-8453-${BUILD_SLUG} working-directory: examples/hardhat-ignition ``` ### Prepare environment variables For local testing, set up an `.env` file using this template: ```dotenv theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} ## Access parameters TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY=... TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME=... TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME=... ## Network-specific parameters (populated by the action in CI/CD) TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_1=... # Mainnet RPC TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_8453=... # Base RPC TENDERLY_CHAIN_ID_1=... # Mainnet chain ID TENDERLY_CHAIN_ID_8453=... # Base chain ID ``` Required variables: * `TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY`: Learn how to [get your access key](/platform/account/projects/api-tokens) * `TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME` and `TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME`: Follow steps to [get your account and project name](/platform/account/projects/api-tokens) ### Configure Hardhat Add the Virtual Environment configuration to `hardhat.config.ts`: ```typescript title='hardhat.config.ts' showLineNumbers theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} dotenv.config(); const config: HardhatUserConfig = { solidity: "0.8.27", networks: { mainnet: { url: process.env.TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_1, chainId: parseInt(process.env.TENDERLY_CHAIN_ID_1 || "1") }, base: { url: process.env.TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_8453, chainId: parseInt(process.env.TENDERLY_CHAIN_ID_8453 || "8453") } }, etherscan: { apiKey: { mainnet: process.env.TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY!, base: process.env.TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY! }, customChains: [ { network: "mainnet", chainId: parseInt(process.env.TENDERLY_CHAIN_ID_1!), urls: { apiURL: `${process.env.TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_1}/verify`, browserURL: process.env.TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_1! } }, { network: "base", chainId: parseInt(process.env.TENDERLY_CHAIN_ID_8453!), urls: { apiURL: `${process.env.TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_8453}/verify`, browserURL: process.env.TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_8453! } } ] }, tenderly: { project: process.env.TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME!, username: process.env.TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME!, accessKey: process.env.TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY! }, sourcify: { enabled: false } }; export default config; ``` ### Add test and deploy scripts Add the following scripts to your `package.json` for multi-network testing and deployment: ```json theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} { "scripts": { "deploy:1": "npx hardhat ignition deploy ./ignition/modules/Counter.js --network mainnet", "deploy:8453": "npx hardhat ignition deploy ./ignition/modules/Counter.js --network base", "test:1": "npx hardhat test --network mainnet" } } ``` The deploy commands use the BUILD\_SLUG environment variable (provided by the action) to create unique deployment identifiers. ### Test the build locally To test the build locally, run the following commands: ```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} # Test on mainnet fork npx hardhat test:1 # Deploy to mainnet fork npx hardhat deploy:1 # Deploy to Base fork npx hardhat deploy:8453 ``` ### Test the Github Action locally To test your action locally, you can use [Act](https://github.com/nektos/act): ```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} act --secret-file .env --var-file .env ``` ## Stage 2: Github Setup After successful local setup, proceed by configuring Github with environment variables and necessary secrets. ### Configure secrets and environment variables in GitHub You must configure the following Github variables and secret: **Variables:** * `TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME` * `TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME` **Secrets:** * `TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY` You can configure these via the [GitHub UI](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/how-tos/write-workflows/choose-what-workflows-do/use-variables#creating-configuration-variables-for-a-repository) or using the `gh` command line: ```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} source .env gh variable set TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME --body ${TENDERLY_PROJECT_NAME} gh variable set TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME --body ${TENDERLY_ACCOUNT_NAME} gh secret set TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY --body ${TENDERLY_ACCESS_KEY} ``` ### Push the updates To trigger the GitHub Action, push your changes: ```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"catppuccin-latte","dark":"catppuccin-mocha"}} git add . git commit -m "Add CI/CD workflow for multichain deployment" git push ``` ### Check your action Go to your Github repository and check the Actions tab. You should see: 1. Test job running against the mainnet fork 2. Deploy job creating two Virtual Environments (mainnet and Base) 3. Deployment artifacts being pushed to the repository ### Get the RPC links To get the RPC links for your deployed contracts: 1. Go to **Tenderly dashboard > Virtual Environments** 2. Find your CD Virtual Environments (one for mainnet fork, one for Base fork) 3. Click on each to get their respective RPC URLs ## Environment Variables Reference The GitHub Action exposes the following network-specific variables: | Variable | Description | | -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | `TENDERLY_TESTNET_ID_{network_id}` | Virtual Environment UUID | | `TENDERLY_ADMIN_RPC_URL_{network_id}` | Admin RPC endpoint with cheatcode methods | | `TENDERLY_PUBLIC_RPC_URL_{network_id}` | Public RPC endpoint | | `TENDERLY_CHAIN_ID_{network_id}` | Chain ID | | `TENDERLY_TESTNET_SLUG_{network_id}` | Unique Virtual Environment slug | | `BUILD_SLUG` | Unique identifier for the current build | ## Next steps Explore other examples: * [Hardhat with ethers-v6](https://github.com/Tenderly/vnet-github-action/tree/main/examples/hardhat) * [Foundry setup](https://github.com/Tenderly/vnet-github-action/tree/main/examples/foundry) * [Advanced deployment patterns](https://github.com/Tenderly/vnet-github-action/tree/main/examples/advanced)