title	description	sidebar_custom_props
Deployer	Deploy and initialize a smart contract using another smart contract.	tutorial level beginner

<title> Deploy and initialize a smart contract using another smart contract. </title>

The deployer example demonstrates how to deploy contracts using a contract.

Here we deploy a contract on behalf of any address and initialize it atomically.

[][oigp] [oigp]: https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/stellar/soroban-examples/tree/v20.0.0

:::info

In this example there are two contracts that are compiled separately, and the tests deploy one with the other.

:::

Run the Example

First go through the Setup process to get your development environment configured, then clone the v20.0.0 tag of soroban-examples repository:

git clone -b v20.0.0 https://github.com/stellar/soroban-examples

Or, skip the development environment setup and open this example in [Gitpod][oigp].

To run the tests for the example, navigate to the deployer/deployer directory, and use cargo test.

cd deployer/deployer
cargo test

You should see the output:

running 1 test
test test::test ... ok

Code

#[contract]
pub struct Deployer;

#[contractimpl]
impl Deployer {
    /// Deploy the contract Wasm and after deployment invoke the init function
    /// of the contract with the given arguments.
    ///
    /// This has to be authorized by `deployer` (unless the `Deployer` instance
    /// itself is used as deployer). This way the whole operation is atomic
    /// and it's not possible to frontrun the contract initialization.
    ///
    /// Returns the contract address and result of the init function.
    pub fn deploy(
        env: Env,
        deployer: Address,
        wasm_hash: BytesN<32>,
        salt: BytesN<32>,
        init_fn: Symbol,
        init_args: Vec<Val>,
    ) -> (Address, Val) {
        // Skip authorization if deployer is the current contract.
        if deployer != env.current_contract_address() {
            deployer.require_auth();
        }

        // Deploy the contract using the uploaded Wasm with given hash.
        let deployed_address = env
            .deployer()
            .with_address(deployer, salt)
            .deploy(wasm_hash);

        // Invoke the init function with the given arguments.
        let res: Val = env.invoke_contract(&deployed_address, &init_fn, init_args);
        // Return the contract ID of the deployed contract and the result of
        // invoking the init result.
        (deployed_address, res)
    }
}

Ref: https://github.com/stellar/soroban-examples/tree/v20.0.0/deployer

How it Works

Contracts can deploy other contracts using the SDK deployer() method.

The contract address of the deployed contract is deterministic and is derived from the address of the deployer. The deployment also has to be authorized by the deployer.

Open the deployer/deployer/src/lib.rs file to follow along.

Contract Wasm Upload

Before deploying the new contract instances, the Wasm code needs to be uploaded on-chain. Then it can be used to deploy an arbitrary number of contract instances. The upload should typically happen outside of the deployer contract, as it needs to happen just once. However, it is possible to use env.deployer().upload_contract_wasm() function to upload Wasm from a contract as well.

See the tests for an example of uploading the contract code programmatically. For the actual on-chain installation see the general deployment tutorial.

Authorization

:::info

This section can be skipped for factory contracts that deploy another contract from their own address (`deployer == env.current_contract_address()``).

:::

:::info

For introduction to Soroban authorization see the auth tutorial

:::

We start with verifying authorization of the deployer, unless its the current contract (at which point the authorization is implied).

if deployer != env.current_contract_address() {
    deployer.require_auth();
}

While deployer().with_address() performs authorization as well, we want to make sure that deployer has also authorized the whole operation, as besides deployment it also performs atomic contract initialization. If we didn't require deployer authorization here, then it would be possible to frontrun the deployment operation performed by deployer and initialize it differently, thus breaking the promise of atomic initialization.

See more details on the actual authorization payloads in tests.

deployer()

The deployer() SDK function comes with a few deployment-related utilities. Here we use the most generic deployer kind, with_address(deployer_address, salt).

let deployed_address = env
    .deployer()
    .with_address(deployer, salt)
    .deploy(wasm_hash);

with_address() accepts the deployer address and salt. Both are used to derive the address of the deployed contract deterministically. It is not possible to re-deploy an already existing contract.

deploy() function performs the actual deployment using the provided wasm_hash. The implementation of the new contract is defined by the Wasm file uploaded under wasm_hash.

:::tip

Only the wasm_hash itself is stored per contract ID thus saving the ledger space and fees.

:::

When only deploying the contract on behalf of the current contract, i.e. when deployer address is always env.current_contract_address() it is possible to use deployer().with_current_contract(salt) function for brevity.

Initialization

The contract can be called immediately after deployment, which is useful for initialization.

let res: Val = env.invoke_contract(&deployed_address, &init_fn, init_args);

invoke_contract can call any defined contract function with any arguments. We pass the actual function to call and the arguments from deploy inputs. The result can be any value, depending on the init_fn's return value.

If the initialization fails, then the whole deploy call falls and thus the contract won't be deployed. This behavior is required for the atomic initialization guarantee as well.

The contract returns the deployed contract's address and the result of executing the initialization function.

 (deployed_address, res)

Tests

Open the deployer/deployer/src/test.rs file to follow along.

Import the test contract Wasm to be deployed.

// The contract that will be deployed by the deployer contract.
mod contract {
    soroban_sdk::contractimport!(
        file =
            "../contract/target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_deployer_test_contract.wasm"
    );
}

That contract contains the following code that exports two functions: initialization function that takes a value and a getter function for the stored initialized value.

#[contract]
pub struct Contract;

const KEY: Symbol = symbol_short!("value");

#[contractimpl]
impl Contract {
    pub fn init(env: Env, value: u32) {
        env.storage().instance().set(&KEY, &value);
    }
    pub fn value(env: Env) -> u32 {
        env.storage().instance().get(&KEY).unwrap()
    }
}

This test contract will be used when testing the deployer. The deployer contract will deploys the test contract and invoke its init function.

There are two tests: deployment from the current contract without authorization and deployment from an arbitrary address with authorization. Besides authorization, these tests are very similar.

Curent contract deployer

In the first test we deploy contract from the Deployer contract instance itself.

#[test]
fn test_deploy_from_contract() {
    let env = Env::default();
    let deployer_client = DeployerClient::new(&env, &env.register_contract(None, Deployer));

    // Upload the Wasm to be deployed from the deployer contract.
    // This can also be called from within a contract if needed.
    let wasm_hash = env.deployer().upload_contract_wasm(contract::WASM);

    // Deploy contract using deployer, and include an init function to call.
    let salt = BytesN::from_array(&env, &[0; 32]);
    let init_fn = symbol_short!("init");
    let init_fn_args: Vec<Val> = (5u32,).into_val(&env);
    let (contract_id, init_result) = deployer_client.deploy(
        &deployer_client.address,
        &wasm_hash,
        &salt,
        &init_fn,
        &init_fn_args,
    );

    assert!(init_result.is_void());
    // No authorizations needed - the contract acts as a factory.
    assert_eq!(env.auths(), vec![]);

    // Invoke contract to check that it is initialized.
    let client = contract::Client::new(&env, &contract_id);
    let sum = client.value();
    assert_eq!(sum, 5);
}

In any test the first thing that is always required is an Env, which is the Soroban environment that the contract will run in.

let env = Env::default();

Register the deployer contract with the environment and create a client to for it.

let deployer_client = DeployerClient::new(&env, &env.register_contract(None, Deployer));

Upload the code of the test contract that we have imported above via contractimport! and get the hash of the uploaded Wasm code.

let wasm_hash = env.deployer().upload_contract_wasm(contract::WASM);

The client is used to invoke the deploy function. The contract will deploy the test contract using the hash of its Wasm code, call the init function, and pass in a single 5u32 argument. The expected return value of init function is just void (i.e. no value).

let salt = BytesN::from_array(&env, &[0; 32]);
let init_fn = symbol_short!("init");
let init_fn_args: Vec<Val> = (5u32,).into_val(&env);
let (contract_id, init_result) = deployer_client.deploy(
    &deployer_client.address,
    &wasm_hash,
    &salt,
    &init_fn,
    &init_fn_args,
);

The test checks that the test contract was deployed by using its client to invoke it and get back the value set during initialization.

let client = contract::Client::new(&env, &contract_id);
let sum = client.value();
assert_eq!(sum, 5);

External deployer

The second test is very similar to the first one.

#[test]
fn test_deploy_from_address() {
    let env = Env::default();
    let deployer_client = DeployerClient::new(&env, &env.register_contract(None, Deployer));

    // Upload the Wasm to be deployed from the deployer contract.
    // This can also be called from within a contract if needed.
    let wasm_hash = env.deployer().upload_contract_wasm(contract::WASM);

    // Define a deployer address that needs to authorize the deployment.
    let deployer = Address::random(&env);

    // Deploy contract using deployer, and include an init function to call.
    let salt = BytesN::from_array(&env, &[0; 32]);
    let init_fn = symbol_short!("init");
    let init_fn_args: Vec<Val> = (5u32,).into_val(&env);
    env.mock_all_auths();
    let (contract_id, init_result) =
        deployer_client.deploy(&deployer, &wasm_hash, &salt, &init_fn, &init_fn_args);

    assert!(init_result.is_void());

    let expected_auth = AuthorizedInvocation {
        // Top-level authorized function is `deploy` with all the arguments.
        function: AuthorizedFunction::Contract((
            deployer_client.address,
            symbol_short!("deploy"),
            (
                deployer.clone(),
                wasm_hash.clone(),
                salt,
                init_fn,
                init_fn_args,
            )
                .into_val(&env),
        )),
        // From `deploy` function the 'create contract' host function has to be
        // authorized.
        sub_invocations: vec![AuthorizedInvocation {
            function: AuthorizedFunction::CreateContractHostFn(CreateContractArgs {
                contract_id_preimage: ContractIdPreimage::Address(ContractIdPreimageFromAddress {
                    address: deployer.clone().try_into().unwrap(),
                    salt: Uint256([0; 32]),
                }),
                executable: xdr::ContractExecutable::Wasm(xdr::Hash(wasm_hash.into_val(&env))),
            }),
            sub_invocations: vec![],
        }],
    };
    assert_eq!(env.auths(), vec![(deployer, expected_auth)]);

    // Invoke contract to check that it is initialized.
    let client = contract::Client::new(&env, &contract_id);
    let sum = client.value();
    assert_eq!(sum, 5);
}

The main difference is that the contract is deployed on behalf of the arbitrary address.

// Define a deployer address that needs to authorize the deployment.
let deployer = Address::random(&env);

Before invoking the contract we need to enable mock authorization in order to get the recorded authorization payload that we can verify.

env.mock_all_auths();
let (contract_id, init_result) =
        deployer_client.deploy(&deployer, &wasm_hash, &salt, &init_fn, &init_fn_args);

The expected authorization tree for the deployer looks as follows.

let expected_auth = AuthorizedInvocation {
    // Top-level authorized function is `deploy` with all the arguments.
    function: AuthorizedFunction::Contract((
        deployer_client.address,
        symbol_short!("deploy"),
        (
            deployer.clone(),
            wasm_hash.clone(),
            salt,
            init_fn,
            init_fn_args,
        )
            .into_val(&env),
    )),
    // From `deploy` function the 'create contract' host function has to be
    // authorized.
    sub_invocations: vec![AuthorizedInvocation {
        function: AuthorizedFunction::CreateContractHostFn(CreateContractArgs {
            contract_id_preimage: ContractIdPreimage::Address(ContractIdPreimageFromAddress {
                address: deployer.clone().try_into().unwrap(),
                salt: Uint256([0; 32]),
            }),
            executable: xdr::ContractExecutable::Wasm(xdr::Hash(wasm_hash.into_val(&env))),
        }),
        sub_invocations: vec![],
    }],
};

At the top level we have the deploy function itself with all the arguments that we've passed to it. From the deploy function the CreateContractHostFn has to be authorized. This is the authorization payload that has to be authorized by any deployer in any context. It contains the deployer address, salt and executable.

This authorization tree proves that the deployment and initialization are authorized atomically: actual deployment happens within the context of deploy and all of salt, executable, and initialization arguments are authorized together (i.e. there is one signature to authorizes this exact combination).

Then we make sure that deployer has authorized the expected tree and that expected value has been stored.

assert_eq!(env.auths(), vec![(deployer, expected_auth)]);

let client = contract::Client::new(&env, &contract_id);
let sum = client.value();
assert_eq!(sum, 5);

Build the Contracts

To build the contract into a .wasm file, use the soroban contract build command. Build both the deployer contract and the test contract.

soroban contract build

Both .wasm files should be found in both contract target directories after building both contracts:

target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_deployer_contract.wasm

target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_deployer_test_contract.wasm

Run the Contract

If you have soroban-cli installed, you can invoke the contract function to deploy the test contract.

Before deploying the test contract with the deployer, install the test contract Wasm using the install command. The install command will print out the hash derived from the Wasm file (it's not just the hash of the Wasm file itself though) which should be used by the deployer.

soroban contract install --wasm contract/target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_deployer_test_contract.wasm

The command prints out the hash as hex. It will look something like 7792a624b562b3d9414792f5fb5d72f53b9838fef2ed9a901471253970bc3b15.

We also need to deploy the Deployer contract:

soroban contract deploy --wasm deployer/target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/soroban_deployer_contract.wasm --id 1

This will return the deployer address: CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD2KM.

Then the deployer contract may be invoked with the Wasm hash value above.

soroban contract invoke --id 1 -- deploy \
    --deployer CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD2KM
    --salt 123 \
    --wasm_hash 7792a624b562b3d9414792f5fb5d72f53b9838fef2ed9a901471253970bc3b15 \
    --init_fn init \
    --init_args '[{"u32":5}]'

And then invoke the deployed test contract using the identifier returned from the previous command.

soroban contract invoke \
    --id ead19f55aec09bfcb555e09f230149ba7f72744a5fd639804ce1e934e8fe9c5d \
    -- \
    value

The following output should occur using the code above.

5