Welcome

Welcome to the developer resources section! Here you will find references to the resources that will help you with developing on Cardano.

Getting started

• To get started, head over to the Developer portal. There, you will find guides and tutorials on how to install and run the Cardano node and create simple transactions.
• Alternatively, explore the Cardano course material.

Interfacing with Cardano

There are various ways to interact with the Cardano node:

• Via the official command-line interface (CLI) – cardano-cli
• Via a proxy interface like Ogmios (JSON/WebSocket) or the submit-api (CBOR/HTTP)
• Via an SDK/library such as cardano-api (Haskell), Pallas (Rust), Yaci (Java), or ouroboros-network-js (JavaScript).

You can also rely on third-party services and managed API query layers such as Blockfrost, Koios, Maestro, or FreeLoaderz.

For more tools, refer to the most commonly used builder tools on the developer portal or see this list of community-built developer tools.

note

Please note that this information is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation of any specific tool or service.

Native tokens

To start working with native tokens, see:

• Developer portal native token tutorials
• Ledger explanations about native tokens.

You can also explore Cardano assets using a variety of explorer tools.

Smart contracts

To start working with smart contracts, see:

• Developer portal smart contract tutorials
• Plutus Core documentation

There are also many languages you can use to develop smart contracts:

• Aiken (Rust-like language)
• PlutusTx (Haskell-based language for high assurance)
• Marlowe (TypeScript),  Plu-ts (TypeScript)
• OpShin (Python)
• Scalus (Scala).

Tools

Explore Cardano's ecosystem:

• A list of community-built developer tools on Cardano
• Builder tools
• Cardano Cube
• Built on Cardano.

Going further

• If you’re beginning your developer journey with Cardano, check out the Cardano course learning material. It includes simple tutorials on how to get started.
• And if you want to know more about blockchain, distributed ledgers, and Cardano, check out the Cardano Academy video course!

Keep navigating this section to learn more about native tokens, smart contracts, and scalability solutions on Cardano. You will also find release notes, links to the ecosystem builder tools, and weekly development updates.