Quickstart

In this quickstart you deploy a smart contract to BOT Chain testnet, verify its source code on BOTScan and call it from your terminal. It takes about 15 minutes and needs nothing from Uzo, so it works today.

Everything on this page uses testnet (chain 968). Get free test tokens from the faucet.

What you’ll build

You’ll build a Counter contract that stores a number. You can increment the number and read it back. You will:

Create a wallet that lives only on your machine.
Fund it with free test tokens.
Deploy the contract with Foundry.
Verify the source on BOTScan.
Send a transaction and read the result.

Prerequisites

A terminal. On Windows, use WSL or Git Bash, because the Foundry installer needs a Unix shell.
Git, which forge init uses.
About 15 minutes.

You don’t need MetaMask for this page. If you want to see your balance in a browser wallet later, follow Connect a wallet.

Steps

Install Foundry

Install foundryup, then use it to install forge, cast and anvil.

curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash

Open a new terminal so your PATH updates, then run:

foundryup

Check that it worked:

forge --version

These docs were tested with Foundry 1.8.3. Any later 1.x version should work.

Create a wallet

Create a new key and save it as an encrypted keystore named uzo-dev. Cast asks you for a password. Pick one you’ll remember, because you’ll type it each time you send a transaction.

cast wallet new uzo-dev

The keystore is saved in ~/.foundry/keystores/uzo-dev. Cast prints your new address. You can print it again at any time:

cast wallet address --account uzo-dev

Use this wallet for testnet only. Never send real funds to a key you created for testing, and never paste a private key into a file you might commit.

Get test tokens

Open the BOT Chain faucet.
Paste your address, complete the check and claim.
Wait a few seconds, then check your balance:

cast balance --ether YOUR_ADDRESS --rpc-url https://rpc.bohr.life

Replace YOUR_ADDRESS with the address from the last step. You should see 10.000000000000000000. The faucet gives each address up to 10 tBOT every 24 hours, which is far more than this quickstart uses. If the BOT Chain faucet doesn’t work for you, the Uzo Labs faucet gives 0.1 tBOT, which is enough for this quickstart. See Get testnet tokens if nothing arrives.

Create a project

forge init hello-bot
cd hello-bot

This creates src/Counter.sol, a test in test/Counter.t.sol and a deploy script in script/. The contract looks like this:

src/Counter.sol

// SPDX-License-Identifier: UNLICENSED
pragma solidity ^0.8.13;

contract Counter {
    uint256 public number;

    function setNumber(uint256 newNumber) public {
        number = newNumber;
    }

    function increment() public {
        number++;
    }
}

Point Foundry at BOT Chain

Replace the contents of foundry.toml with this:

foundry.toml

[profile.default]
src = "src"
out = "out"
libs = ["lib"]
evm_version = "cancun"

[rpc_endpoints]
bot_testnet = "https://rpc.bohr.life"
bot_mainnet = "https://rpc.botchain.ai"

evm_version = "cancun" matters. Newer Solidity compilers can target upgrades that BOT Chain doesn’t support yet. See Supported EIPs.Build and run the tests:

forge build
forge test

Both tests should pass.

Deploy the contract

forge create src/Counter.sol:Counter --rpc-url bot_testnet --account uzo-dev --broadcast

Enter your keystore password when asked. The output ends like this, with your own addresses and hash:

Deployer: 0xEc526474F4F9De027942d5f7118A9613266B0C4c
Deployed to: 0x8ef544af3CE913Bb5eC12ba2F34fe7FA29225c0b
Transaction hash: 0xccc49942d944c87f72490f4337c09957a0613ab202e5f633c6bfa1d3a6e8c26e

Deploying Counter and calling it once cost about 0.004 tBOT when we tested on 2026-10-02.Copy the Deployed to address and save it in a shell variable so the next steps can use it:

export COUNTER=PASTE_DEPLOYED_ADDRESS_HERE

Verify the source on BOTScan

BOTScan runs on Blockscout, so use Foundry’s Blockscout verifier. No API key is needed.

forge verify-contract $COUNTER src/Counter.sol:Counter \
  --chain 968 \
  --verifier blockscout \
  --verifier-url https://scan.bohr.life/api/ \
  --watch

--watch makes Foundry wait for the result. Verification usually finishes in a few seconds. The output ends like this:

Contract verification status:
Response: `OK`
Details: `Pass - Verified`
Contract successfully verified

If Foundry says the contract is already verified, that’s fine. BOTScan verifies a contract automatically when its bytecode matches one that’s already verified, which often happens with the default Counter.

Call the contract

Send a transaction that increments the counter:

cast send $COUNTER "increment()" --rpc-url bot_testnet --account uzo-dev

Then read the value back. Reads are free and need no wallet:

cast call $COUNTER "number()(uint256)" --rpc-url bot_testnet

It prints 1.

Verify it worked

Open your contract on BOTScan. Replace the address at the end of this URL with yours:

https://scan.bohr.life/address/PASTE_DEPLOYED_ADDRESS_HERE

BOTScan testnet Contract tab for the Counter contract, showing Contract Source Code Verified (Exact Match) and the Solidity source

You should see:

A green check next to Contract, which means the source is verified.
On the Contract tab, a Contract Source Code Verified banner, the contract name Counter and your source code.
Under Transactions, the deployment and your increment call.
Under Read/Write contract, number reads 1.

Troubleshooting

insufficient funds for gas * price + value

Your wallet has no tBOT on testnet. Check the balance with cast balance --ether YOUR_ADDRESS --rpc-url https://rpc.bohr.life, then claim from the faucet. Make sure you claimed for the same address that cast wallet address --account uzo-dev prints.

invalid opcode or EVM error 0x1e when deploying

Your compiler targeted an EVM upgrade newer than BOT Chain supports. Set evm_version = "cancun" in foundry.toml, run forge clean, then build and deploy again.

forge create prints the transaction but nothing is deployed

Foundry only simulates unless you pass --broadcast. Run the command again with --broadcast at the end.

Verification fails or says the contract is not found

The explorer may not have indexed the deployment yet. Wait 10 to 20 seconds and run forge verify-contract again. Check that you used the address from Deployed to, not the transaction hash, and that --verifier-url ends in /api/.

Error: keystore not found or wrong password

--account uzo-dev looks in ~/.foundry/keystores/. Run cast wallet list to see the names you have. If you forgot the password, create a new wallet and claim from the faucet again.

curl or foundryup not found on Windows

Run the installer inside WSL or Git Bash, not PowerShell or Command Prompt. Open a new terminal after installing so foundryup is on your PATH.

More errors and fixes are in Troubleshooting.

Next steps

Build your first dApp

Read and write this contract from JavaScript and a web page.

Foundry setup

A fuller Foundry setup for real projects.

Connect a wallet

Add BOT Chain to MetaMask.

Known limitations

What works differently on BOT Chain.

Introduction

BOT Chain basics

Quickstart

What you’ll build

Prerequisites

Steps

Verify it worked

Troubleshooting

Next steps

Build your first dApp

Foundry setup

Connect a wallet

Known limitations

​What you’ll build

​Prerequisites

​Steps

​Verify it worked

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

Build your first dApp

Foundry setup

Connect a wallet

Known limitations

What you’ll build

Prerequisites

Steps

Verify it worked

Troubleshooting

Next steps