BlockThoughts is a chat forum service. A user can add their username, post threads and comment on other peoples threads. BlockThoughts is decentralized and data is stored on a blockchain. Specifically, the protocol is written in Solidity and can run on Ethereum compatible blockchains, however it is not deployed on mainnet yet. The repo contains a guide for deploying locally and hosting an example website to show how the protocol could be used in practice.

There have been many implementations of decentralized chat forums using peer-to-peer networks such as https://retroshare.cc/ and https://getaether.net/. However, a decentralized chat forum on a blockchain network has yet to be practically implemented. This is likely due to a variety of issues regarding gas fees and scalability.

Start by cloning the repository and install all dependencies

git clone [email protected]:Osksacho/DD2485-Smart-Contract-Project.git
npm install

Now you can start a local blockchain using

npx hardhat node

In another terminal you can now compile and deploy the contract with the command (use network-name "localhost" to deploy on local blockchain).

npx hardhat compile
npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js --network [network-name]

You can run the tests and get a coverage report of 100% by using

npx hardhat coverage

There are a few extra steps here. First, to host the site locally you can go inte blockthoughts-site folder and

npm run dev

To interact with the local blockchain you will need to have metamask installed in your browser and add your localhost as the blockchain network

You will also need to copy one of the private keys of an address generated by the local hardhat chain and create an account on metamask. This account will be given 10000 ETH by default.

Finally, make sure that the contract address on the local blockchain is correctly specified in model.js. The ABI should be up to date.

Now you should be able to enter the site on http://127.0.0.1:5173/. Metamask will prompt you to allow access from the site.

When signing a transaction, you might get an RPC error. This often happens after restarting the hardhat network. Fix this error by clearing activity in Metamask (clearing browser cache might also work)