Author: Matt McKinney - ArcBlock VP of Marketing

ArcBlock has several examples to help you get started and to show you some of the newest features available to everyone.

ArcBlock just released the latest technical preview of the ABT Node, a next-generation developer and infrastructure platform that is designed to give developers better building blocks for the decentralized web.

In this post, we will give you several examples that show you how easy it is to get started including deploying your node, creating a blockchain and installing a package from the marketplace. Before we begin, be sure to download and install the ABT Wallet as it will be used to connect the services to your identity, and secure your services using industry-best cryptography.

1. Deploy ABT Node

ABT Node represents the next-generation of ArcBlock's platform and brings together everything ArcBlock has to offer in an easy to use platform that allows you to create, deploy and manage apps, blockchains, users and so much more. You've got two options to deploy with more coming in the near future. Today, you can deploy ABT Node on your device, or from the AWS Marketplace.

Deploy locally

Getting started with ABT Node is simple. To start, run the following commands in your terminal.

Once the node is started, enter the URL into your browser, scan the QR code using your ABT Wallet and confirm your consent to connect to the node to your identity. That's it, your node is now up and running. You will see the new ABT Node Getting Started page for you to scan and begin your setup of the ABT Node.

Deploy on AWS

You can also deploy the new ABT Node using AWS's Free Tier. Follow this link to get step-by-step directions to setup ABT Node on AWS. After setup, you will see the ABT Node Getting Started page.

abtnode login

2. Create a Blockchain

In this example, we will create and deploy a new blockchain.

  1. Login to your ABT Node
  2. Go to the marketplace on the left-hand navigation
  3. Find the "Blockchain Manager" blocklet and select install After installing, select open select the option to start near the top of the window.
  4. Under the Overview tab find the admin interface and click on it.
  5. Select +create chain and enter in the details. For more advanced users there is an option to advanced create at the bottom.
  6. Be sure to add select create moderator and scan the QR Code with your ABT Wallet.
  7. click on create
  8. Now select start to launch the chain
  9. That is it. You just build a new blockchain in less than 2 minutes.

create chain

3. Install a Package

Packages are a key component used by developers when building applications and services. For ArcBlock, we've gone one step further by creating ready-made packages called Blocklets that allow anyone to easily add new capabilities to their development environment and apps in a single click. In this example, we will visit the marketplace and install a couple of blocklets into our node.

  1. Login to your ABT Node
  2. Select the marketplace on the left-hand navigation
  3. Now you will see several different blocklets available to you. Let's go ahead and install the static-demo-blocklet by selecting install latest
  4. Once installed, select open and click on start near the top.
  5. Now, if you go back to the overview tab you will see a public URL. Click on it.
  6. Go ahead and play a quick match. In this example, we installed a new package that added some code and business logic that allows us to run a simple game on our node. Any component or service can be added with a simple click of the mouse.

static demo