Welcome to this guide where you can find all the tools and resources needed to build your project on Stellar. Walk through the ‘How to get started’ section to get a high-level understanding of Stellar, consult the 'Developer Resources' for guidance to help you start building, and check out the ‘Tips and Tricks’ section for valuable insights from the Stellar Development Foundation team. Good luck!

 

How to get started

Join us for an exciting developer workshop on March 11 where you will learn how to create innovative NFTs on Stellar using JavaScript. Register here to attend either virtually or in-person in Austin.

In the meantime, follow these easy steps to become an expert of Stellar in no time!

1. Take a look at these high-level overviews:

2. Go through the learn section of Stellar Quest to get hands-on experience with the tech of Stellar and collect cool NFTs to track your learning progress.

 

And to learn more NFTs on Stellar, check out these resources:

3. Experience the Stellar NFT ecosystem on NFT marketplace Litemint 

4. Explore what innovative NFT experiences on Stellar look like through these SmartNFTs created by SDF’s ecosystem engineer Tyler van der Hoeven!

5. Watch the recording of the developer workshop on 3/11: How to create innovative NFTs on Stellar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v576JFBuwFU

6. These are the main resources you can use that were shared in the workshop:

 

Developer resources

Now you know how Stellar works, it’s time to start coding! Below are some key resources and tools you can use to build your project on Stellar.

First, a quick note: for the NFT Wizard challenge, you'll be building on the Stellar testnet.  That's a requirement.  We want you to experiment in a sandbox safe from live assets.  You don't need to set up your own Stellar infrastructure to use the testnet: the SDF offers a public Horizon API instance that allows you to access it immediately and free of charge, and we encourage you to use it: https://horizon-testnet.stellar.org/.

 

Documentation 

 

Project tools 

Building a project using a technology you don’t know yet can feel like a lot. Don’t worry, you don’t need to start from scratch! These tools and resources are great building blocks to start developing on Stellar.

  • Stellar SDKs — A list of links to all the Stellar SDKs, each of which has its own robust set of docs. You can build on Stellar in your programming language of choice!

  • Create Stellar Token (JS) — A script that allows you to quickly create a Stellar token on testnet.

  • Create Stellar Token + Orderbook (Python) — A script that allows you to quickly create a Stellar token and a market for that token on the testnet.

  • SDF Test Anchor API — A free public anchor server that allows you to connect your app to a test on/off ramp to simulate deposits and withdrawals of real-world currencies.

  • Albedo — A browser extension that allows other Stellar apps to request transaction signing or identity verification without ever exposing your secret key.

 

Ecosystem tools

Use these tools to interact with and explore the network.

  • Stellar Laboratory — An interface that allows you to build, sign, and submit transactions and to make requests to any of the Horizon endpoints. It's a great way to learn how to use the Stellar API!

  • Stellar Expert — A block explorer and analytics platform for the Stellar Network that allows you to find information about accounts, transactions, and assets.

 

Community Support

Looked everywhere but can’t find a (complete) answer to your question? Reach out to the Stellar community to get help.

  • Join community channels on Discord — Dedicated community members are always around, and they love to help with questions, or just talk about Stellar-related things!

  • Stack Exchange — Search through past questions or post a new question related to Stellar.

 

Next steps: grow your project in the Stellar Community Fund!

The Stellar Community Fund is an open-application grant program administered by the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) that gives people all over the world a chance to grow and kickstart their Stellar-based projects and connect to the thriving Stellar community.

Twice a year, a round is hosted where submitters can apply, the community can engage with their project and verified community members vote for their favorite projects. Awards range from a few thousand dollars worth of XLM (Stellar's native currency) for hackathon-style projects to several hundred thousand for full-fledged companies!

Check it out on communityfund.stellar.org and join the Discord!

 

Tips and tricks from the SDF team

When building your project, keep these useful tips and tricks in mind:

  1. Think about security, and make sure to follow security best practices. Make sure you always protect your user’s information. Leaking users' secret keys, even in test mode, will disqualify you from winning awards.

  2. It’s always smart to integrate third-party APIs into your project.

  3. Look into what we as judges care about. SDF strives to create equitable access to the global financial system.

  4. Once you’ve formed your idea, try to look at it from a user’s perspective. If you're building something with broad appeal, your user may not know anything about blockchain, and that's okay! When you're building on Stellar, you can take steps to conceal the complexity of blockchain to offer a simple user experience.

  5. Be descriptive in your submission. Answer questions like: “What problem do you want to solve? Who are your users? How are you taking advantage of Stellar in a way that will benefit them? How will your project make revenue (eventually)? What would your next steps be?” Perhaps even: “Why is Stellar the best solution for this problem?” For more info, take a look at this checklist for hackathon idea presentations.

  6. Learn from what others have done before you! Make sure you are building a unique and useful project