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Svelte Dapp with Motoko & Internet Identity

This repository is meant to give Svelte developers an easy on-ramp to get started with developing decentralized applications (Dapps in short) for the Internet Computer blockchain. Dapps, also known as smart contracts are specialized software that run on a blockchain.

This template contains

  • a Svelte frontend app under src/frontend to be hosted on-chain, with support for authentication using Internet Identity
  • a Motoko dapp under src/backend to serve as a backend to the Svelte frontend

You can see a deployed version of this template here: https://zixfv-4yaaa-aaaam-aaatq-cai.ic0.app/

What is the Internet Computer?​

The Internet Computer is a novel blockchain that has the unique capability to serve web content while not requiring the end users to use a browser extension, such as Metamask.

Coupled with super fast execution the Internet Computer provides the worlds first truly user friendly Web 3.0 experience.

What are canisters?​

Dapps on the Internet Computer live in canisters, which are special smart contracts that run WebAssembly, and can respond to regular HTTP requests, among other capabilities.

This repository uses Svelte for the frontend running in the browser, and the backend dapp is written in Motoko, it serves as the business logic of your dapp.

You will build and deploy the following canisters:

  • backend that is written in Motoko, and will hold the business logic of your dapp.
  • frontend that is your regular Svelte app, transferred into a frontend asset canister.
  • internet_identity that this repository uses as an authentication provider. It is written in Rust.

What is Motoko?​

Motoko is a new language designed for the Internet Computer. Easy to learn for JavaScript and Solidity developers. Created by the Motoko team at the DFINITY Foundation, led by WebAssembly co-creator Andreas Rossberg. To learn more about the language, check out the SDK.

What is Internet Identity?​

This starter template also includes integration with Internet Identity. Internet Identity is a new authentication framework similar to Github or Google login, but providing complete anonimity to the users. To learn more about Internet Identity check out the documentation.

Security Considerations and Security Best Practices​

If you base your application on this example, we recommend you familiarize yourself with and adhere to the Security Best Practices for developing on the Internet Computer. This example may not implement all the best practices.

For example, the following aspects are particularly relevant for creating frontends:

Install dependencies​

Make sure you have node.js installed.

How to get this template​

To clone this template without downloading the entire repository, run the following command:

npx degit dfinity/examples/svelte/svelte-motoko-starter svelte-motoko-starter

DFX​

Install dfx by running

sh -ci "$(curl -fsSL https://internetcomputer.org/install.sh)"

Rust​

To compile a local version of Internet Identity, you need to have Rust installed.

Also install that target wasm32-unknown-unknown by running the command:

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

Start the local replica​

Open a new terminal window in the project directory, and run the following command to start the local replica. The replica will not start unless dfx.json exists in the current directory.

dfx start --background

When you're done with development, or you're switching to a different dfx project, running

dfx stop

from the project directory will stop the local replica.

Install Internet Identity​

To use Internet Identity during development you need to have it running on your local replica. This repository includes it in a submodule.

To clone the II repository, run:

git submodule update --init --recursive

When the repository is cloned, switch to its directory and install it:

cd internet-identity
npm install
II_FETCH_ROOT_KEY=1 dfx deploy --no-wallet --argument '(null)'

This will take several minutes to complete.

Build & run the dapp​

Make sure you switch back to the project root directory.

First, install the frontend dependencies by running

cd src/frontend
npm install
cd ..

To build and deploy the project run

dfx deploy

When the process completes you'll have a backend and a frontend canister running locally. To find the frontend canister's ID, run

dfx canister id frontend

It will output something similar to rno2w-sqaaa-aaaaa-aaacq-cai. Copy this ID and open it in the browser using http://localhost:8000?canisterId=<canister ID>, eg. http://localhost:8000?canisterId=rno2w-sqaaa-aaaaa-aaacq-cai.

Local development​

During local development you will be building and deploying the Motoko backend to the local replica. Building the backend will generate so called declaration files, that are Candid and JavaScript files helping the frontend communicate to the back end.

Motoko back end​

If you're using Visual Studio Code it is recommended to use the Motoko extension developed by the DFINITY Foundation.

To build the backend canister and regenerate the Candid interface declaration files for the frontend run

dfx build backend

To deploy the backend canister to the local replica you have several options:

dfx deploy backend will upgrade your backend canister. In short, upgrading will keep the contents of the variables you marked as stable, in contrast to reinstalling, which will clear the state of your canister.

dfx deploy backend --mode reinstall will reinstall the backend canister clearing all existing state.

For more options and other commands see the dfx CLI reference.

Svelte frontend​

You can serve the frontend in development mode like you normally develop a svelte app using the command

npm run dev

from the project root directory, it is not necessary to deploy it to the frontend canister during development.

Deploying to the IC​

To host the frontend and backend on the IC, you'll need to have some cycles available. Cycles pay for the execution of your app, and they are also needed to create canisters.

You can get $20 worth of cycles for free from the Cycles Faucet, if you have a GitHub account. To claim them, follow this guide.

You should have a canister running the cycles wallet on the IC at this point. The cycles wallet makes it easy to pay for canister creation.

You can check the balance by running

dfx wallet --network ic balance

After making sure you have cycles available you can run

dfx deploy --network ic

The command will build the project, create two new canisters on the IC and deploy both the Svelte and Motoko dapps. The command will also create a new file canister_ids.json which will help the dfx tool deploy to the same canisters in future updates. You can commit this file in your repository.

You can now open your Svelte app running on the IC. You can find the canister ID in the deploy command output, or use the frontend ID in canister_ids.json.

The link to your app is <frontend canister id>.ic0.app. For example if your frontend canister ID is zixfv-4yaaa-aaaam-aaatq-cai, your app will be at https://zixfv-4yaaa-aaaam-aaatq-cai.ic0.app/.