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Develop with Polkadot

Introduction

This guide is a starting point for developers who wish to build in the Polkadot ecosystem. To get the most from this section:

  1. Identify your development pathway:
    • Parachain Developers - build, deploy, and maintain custom parachains with the Polkadot SDK
    • Smart Contract Developers - leverage smart contracts and execute custom logic over existing chains to streamline your development process
    • Application Developers - leverage Polkadot's underlying protocol features to create solutions for your users to interact with the ecosystem
  2. Use the sections under your pathway as follows:
    • Learn - content to deepen your knowledge and understanding
    • Build - connect to goal-oriented guides and step-by-step tutorials
    • Tools - tools commonly used in your pathway
    • Resources - resources for your pathway, including references, code repositories, and outside documentation

Development Pathways

Developers can choose from different development pathways to build applications and core blockchain functionality. Each pathway caters to different types of projects and developer skill sets while complementing one another within the broader network.

The Polkadot ecosystem provides multiple development pathways:

graph TD
    A[Development Pathways]
    A --> B[Parachain Development]
    A --> C[Smart Contract Development]
    A --> D[Application Development]

All three pathways can leverage Cross-Consensus Messaging (XCM) to create innovative cross-chain workflows and applications. To get started with XCM, see these resources:

Parachain Developers

Build, deploy, and maintain custom parachains with the Polkadot SDK.

Smart Contract Developers

Leverage smart contracts and execute custom logic over existing chains to streamline your development process.

The Polkadot smart contract ecosystem is in active development. Please expect frequent changes. To follow progress, or join the discussion, see Contracts on AssetHub Roadmap on the Polkadot Network Forum.

Application Developers

Integrate with the Polkadot blockchain's underlying protocol features to create solutions that allow users to interact with the ecosystem.

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