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Quickstart Parachain Development With Pop CLI

Introduction

Pop CLI is a powerful command-line tool designed explicitly for rapid parachain development within the Polkadot ecosystem. It addresses essential developer needs by providing streamlined commands to set up development environments, scaffold parachain templates, and manage local blockchain networks.

Pop CLI simplifies parachain development with features like:

  • Quick initialization of parachain development environments

  • Project scaffolding from predefined parachain templates

  • Easy deployment and management of local development networks

Developers can quickly begin coding and testing, significantly reducing setup overhead.

Install Pop CLI

To install Pop CLI, run the following command:

cargo install --force --locked pop-cli

Confirm that Pop CLI is installed by running pop --help in your terminal:

pop --help

Set Up Your Development Environment

To develop and build Polkadot SDK-based chains, preparing your local environment with the necessary tools and dependencies is essential. The Install Polkadot SDK Dependencies guide walks you through this setup step-by-step.

However, you can automate this entire process by running:

pop install

This command provides an interactive experience that checks and installs all necessary dependencies for you. It’s the fastest and easiest way to prepare your development environment for building parachains with Pop CLI.

pop install ┌ Pop CLI : Install dependencies for development │ ⚙ ℹ️ Mac OS (Darwin) detected. │ ⚙ More information about the packages to be installed here: https://docs.substrate.io/install/macos/ │ ◆ 📦 Do you want to proceed with the installation of the following packages: homebrew, protobuf, openssl, rustup and cmake ? │ ● Yes / ○ No

Initialize a Project

Start a new project quickly using Pop CLI's pop new parachain command:

pop new

The command above scaffolds a new parachain project using the default template included with Pop CLI. For more specialized implementations, additional templates are available; you can explore them by running pop new parachain --help.

Once the project is generated, move into the new directory and build your parachain:

cd my-parachain
pop build --release

Note

Under the hood, pop build --release runs cargo build --release, but pop build adds functionality specific to Polkadot SDK projects, such as deterministic runtime builds and automatic management of feature flags like benchmark or try-runtime.

Pop CLI integrates the Zombienet SDK allowing you to easily launch ephemeral local networks for development and testing. To start a network, simply run the following:

pop up network -f ./network.toml

This command will automatically fetch the necessary binaries and spin up a Polkadot network with your configured parachains.

You can also interact with your local network using Pop CLI's pop call chain command:

pop call

Where to Go Next

For a comprehensive guide to all Pop CLI features and advanced usage, see the official Pop CLI documentation.

Tip

Pop CLI also offers powerful solutions for smart contract developers. If you're interested in that path, check out the Pop CLI Smart Contracts documentation.

Last update: May 1, 2025
| Created: May 1, 2025