Inkathon

inkathon is an open-source boilerplate for building full-stack dApps on Polkadot with ink! smart contracts, pairing a Rust contract backend with a Next.js frontend.

What is inkathon?

inkathon is a full-stack boilerplate for developing decentralized applications on Polkadot using ink! smart contracts. It takes a Rust-based ink! contract project and a Next.js frontend as its primary inputs, and produces a deployable dApp with type-safe TypeScript contract interactions. The boilerplate runs on PolkaVM and is maintained by scio-labs, with over 200 GitHub stars and more than 250 public projects depending on it.

What makes inkathon stand out?

• ink! v6 support — Full compatibility with ink! v6 and PolkaVM, letting you deploy contracts to the latest Polkadot virtual machine.
• Type-safe contract interactions via Papi — Generates typed TypeScript bindings for your ink! contracts, eliminating manual ABI handling.
• Modern frontend stack — Built with Next.js 15, React 19, Tailwind CSS v4, and Bun as the package runner and runtime.
• create-inkathon-app CLI — Scaffold a new project in seconds with bunx create-inkathon-app@latest, then run bun run dev.
• Production-ready deployment — Includes Docker support and self-hosting optimizations for shipping dApps to production.
• Improved developer experience — Better build scripts and deployment automation streamline the contract compile and deploy workflow.
• New documentation site — Documentation at docs.inkathon.xyz provides educational resources and guides for getting started.

Who should use inkathon?

• Polkadot dApp developers — Scaffold a full-stack dApp with ink! smart contracts and a Next.js frontend without configuring the wiring themselves.
• Rust smart-contract developers — Write ink! v6 contracts and compile them for PolkaVM while using Pop CLI for deployment tooling.
• Full-stack TypeScript developers — Work in a stack built on Next.js, React, and Tailwind CSS with type-safe contract calls via Papi.
• Blockchain teams shipping production apps — Use the Docker setup and self-hosting optimizations to deploy and scale their dApp.

What can you do with inkathon?

• Launch a new Polkadot dApp: Run the CLI to generate a boilerplate project, then implement your ink! smart contracts and frontend pages on top of it.
• Prototype contract interactions: Use the type-safe Papi bindings and prebuilt frontend components to test on-chain calls quickly.
• Publish a production dApp: Leverage Docker support, build scripts, and deployment automation to go from local development to a self-hosted deployment.

How does inkathon work?

The quickstart flow is: install Node.js v20+ and Bun, run bunx create-inkathon-app@latest, enter the generated project folder, and start the dev server with bun run dev. The boilerplate includes Rust smart-contract tooling for compiling ink! contracts and a Next.js frontend that talks to the chain through Papi.

FAQ

What is inkathon?

inkathon is a full-stack boilerplate for building decentralized applications on Polkadot with ink! smart contracts. It provides a preconfigured Rust contract backend and a Next.js frontend with type-safe interactions, so developers can focus on business logic instead of setup.

How do I get started with inkathon?

You need Node.js v20+ and Bun installed. Then run bunx create-inkathon-app@latest, change into the generated project folder, and run bun run dev to start the development environment.

Does inkathon support ink! v6?

Yes, inkathon v6 is built specifically for ink! v6 and PolkaVM. It replaces the older v5-compatible setup, which remains available on the v1 branch of the repository.

What tech stack does inkathon use?

inkathon uses Bun as the package runner, Next.js 15 and React 19 for the frontend, Tailwind CSS v4 for styling, Rust for ink! smart contracts, and Papi for type-safe contract interactions.

Is inkathon free to use?

Yes, inkathon is open source under the GPL v3 license. You can use it, modify it, and build commercial projects on it as long as you comply with the license terms.