This is a deprecated tutorial. Now, it will be archived just for people to use the old tutorial for their own education

How to create a NFT on the Cardano blockchain using JavaScript

Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeOliguGn7Y

Who is this guide for?

For people who want to make NFT's
For people who perhaps know Cardano

Benefits of NFT's on Cardano

Low transaction fees
Native on the blockchain (perhaps compare with Ethereum, eth is smart contract based)

Prerequisites

cardano-node / cardano-cli set up on local machine (https://docs.cardano.org/projects/cardano-node/en/latest)
node.js installed

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Verify everything is set up properly

cardano-cli

cardano-cli version

output should be similar:

cardano-cli 1.34.1 - linux-aarch64 - ghc-8.10
git rev 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

cardano-node

cardano-node version

output should be similar:

cardano-node 1.34.1 - linux-aarch64 - ghc-8.10
git rev 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

node.js

node -v

v14.19.0

Overview of this tutorial

verify env
create project and initial setup

#make sure our db is in our $PATH
CARDANO_NODE_SOCKET_PATH="$NODE_HOME/db/socket"

mkdir cardano-minter
cd cardano-minter
npm init -y #creates package.json)
npm install cardanocli-js --save

Copy the Cardano node genesis latest build number from IOHK hydra website
- https://hydra.iohk.io/build/5367762/download/1/index.html
Download Genesis config file needed for shelly-era

nano fetch-config.sh

echo export NODE_BUILD_NUM=$(curl https://hydra.iohk.io/job/Cardano/iohk-nix/cardano-deployment/latest-finished/download/1/index.html | grep -e "build" | sed 's/.*build\/\([0-9]*\)\/download.*/\1/g') >> $HOME/.bashrc
wget -N https://hydra.iohk.io/build/${NODE_BUILD_NUM}/download/1/testnet-shelley-genesis.json

chmod +x fetch-config.sh
./fetch-config.sh

make src folder/directory and then create Cardano client

mkdir src; cd src
nano cardano.js

const CardanocliJs = require("cardanocli-js");
const os = require("os");
const path = require("path");

const dir = path.join(os.homedir(), "cardano-minter");
const shelleyPath = path.join(
  os.homedir(),
  "pi-pool/files",
  "testnet-shelley-genesis.json"
);

const cardanocliJs = new CardanocliJs({
//   era: "mary",
  network: 'testnet-magic 1097911063',
  dir,
  shelleyGenesisPath: shelleyPath,
});

module.exports = cardanocliJs

create wallet

nano create-wallet.js

const cardano = require("./cardano");

const createWallet = (account) => {
  cardano.addressKeyGen(account);
  cardano.stakeAddressKeyGen(account);
  cardano.stakeAddressBuild(account);
  cardano.addressBuild(account);
  return cardano.wallet(account);
};

createWallet("ADAPI");

cd cardano-minter
node src/create-wallet.js

Verify balance wallet balance is Zero, then we fund the wallet
- First we need to create a get-balance.js script

# open text editor
cd cardano-minter/src; nano get-balance.js

// create get-balance.js
const cardano = require("./cardano");

const sender = cardano.wallet("ADAPI");

console.log(sender.balance());

check the balance (utxo)

cd ..
node src/get-balance.js

Download IPFS
Upload your files to IPFS

image - ipfs://QmQqzMTavQgT4f4T5v6PWBp7XNKtoPmC9jvn12WPT3gkSE
src - ipfs://Qmaou5UzxPmPKVVTM9GzXPrDufP55EDZCtQmpy3T64ab9N

Generate policy id
Define your meta data
create mint transaction

const cardano = require("./cardano")

// 1. Get the wallet

const wallet = cardano.wallet("ADAPI")

// 2. Define mint script

const mintScript = {
    keyHash: cardano.addressKeyHash(wallet.name),
    type: "sig"
}

// 3. Create POLICY_ID

const POLICY_ID = cardano.transactionPolicyid(mintScript)

// 4. Define ASSET_NAME

const ASSET_NAME = "TimeWarpBerry"

// Convert Asset ASCII name to HEX

const ASSET_NAME_HEX = ASSET_NAME.split("").map(c => c.charCodeAt(0).toString(16).padStart(2, "0")).join("");


// 5. Create ASSET_ID

const ASSET_ID = POLICY_ID + "." + ASSET_NAME_HEX

// 6. Define metadata

const metadata = {
    721: {
        [POLICY_ID]: {
            [ASSET_NAME]: {
                name: ASSET_NAME,
                image: "ipfs://QmUxRuzTi3UZS33rfqXzbD4Heut7zwtGUhuD7qSv7Qt584",
                description: "Time Warp Berry NFT",
                type: "image/png",
                src: "ipfs://QmUxRuzTi3UZS33rfqXzbD4Heut7zwtGUhuD7qSv7Qt584",
                // other properties of your choice
                authors: ["PIADA", "SBLYR"]
            }
        }
    }
}

// 7. Define transaction

const tx = {
    txIn: wallet.balance().utxo,
    txOut: [
        {
            address: wallet.paymentAddr,
            value: { ...wallet.balance().value, [ASSET_ID]: 1 }
        }
    ],
    mint: [
        { action: "mint", quantity: 1, asset: ASSET_ID, script: mintScript },
      ],
    metadata,
    witnessCount: 2
}



if(Object.keys(tx.txOut[0].value).includes("undefined")|| Object.keys(tx.txIn[0].value.includes("undefinded"))){
    delete tx.txOut[0].value.undefined
    delete tx.txIn[0].value.undefined
}

// 8. Build transaction

const buildTransaction = (tx) => {

    const raw = cardano.transactionBuildRaw(tx)
    const fee = cardano.transactionCalculateMinFee({
        ...tx,
        txBody: raw
    })

    tx.txOut[0].value.lovelace -= fee

    return cardano.transactionBuildRaw({ ...tx, fee })
}

console.log(tx)
const raw = buildTransaction(tx)

// 9. Sign transaction

const signTransaction = (wallet, tx) => {

    return cardano.transactionSign({
        signingKeys: [wallet.payment.skey, wallet.payment.skey ],
        txBody: tx
    })
}

const signed = signTransaction(wallet, raw)

// 10. Submit transaction

const txHash = cardano.transactionSubmit(signed)

console.log(txHash)

Run the minting script, then wait a few moments to check the balance (utxo)

cd ..
node src/mint-asset.js

node src/get-balance.js

send your nft back to your wallet
- Create anew script to send nft to wallet

const cardano = require("./cardano");

// 1. get the wallet
// 2. define the transaction
// 3. build the transaction
// 4. calculate the fee
// 5. pay the fee by subtracting it from the sender utxo
// 6. build the final transaction
// 7. sign the transaction
// 8. submit the transaction

const sender = cardano.wallet("ADAPI");

console.log(
  "Balance of Sender wallet: " +
    cardano.toAda(sender.balance().amount.lovelace) +
    " ADA"
);

const receiver =
  "addr_test1qqqydvg5wzd6twvernsjcdjd9akmygyqp7gky7zpm0hrmq3ccwlnumzzuum6k6ja2k47g5dv2p4kwt753mpjjzx8fsmsq2aj0p";

const txInfo = {
  txIn: cardano.queryUtxo(sender.paymentAddr),
  txOut: [
    {
      address: sender.paymentAddr,
      amount: {
        lovelace: sender.balance().amount.lovelace - cardano.toLovelace(1.5),
      },
    },
    {
      address: receiver,
      amount: {
        lovelace: cardano.toLovelace(1.5),
       "9e57c3a4aa769063ab4963e3e2fc18aeafb6808b3adbc3f1670a9c00.54696d65576172704265727279": 1,
      },
    },
  ],
};

const raw = cardano.transactionBuildRaw(txInfo);

const fee = cardano.transactionCalculateMinFee({
  ...txInfo,
  txBody: raw,
  witnessCount: 1,
});

//pay the fee by subtracting it from the sender utxo
txInfo.txOut[0].amount.lovelace -= fee;

//create final transaction
const tx = cardano.transactionBuildRaw({ ...txInfo, fee });

//sign the transaction
const txSigned = cardano.transactionSign({
  txBody: tx,
  signingKeys: [sender.payment.skey],
});

//subm transaction
const txHash = cardano.transactionSubmit(txSigned);
console.log("TxHash: " + txHash);

view your nft in your wallet
View your asset on cardanoassets.com
View your asset on pool.pm (see the actual picture)
Show the original minting metadata
open the src ipfs to prove that it work

armada-alliance/cardano-minter

How to create a NFT on the Cardano blockchain using JavaScript

Who is this guide for?

Benefits of NFT's on Cardano

Prerequisites

Overview of this tutorial