How can I use Axelar to build cross-chain dApps?
A good starting point to learn more about the technical details of the Axelar network is the official documentation. Axelar’s developer docs can be found here: Developer Docs.
You can find a thread on how to get started building a cross-chain application here: Twitter.
Everything you need to know to get started to build on Axelar
With General Message Passing (GMP) coming to the Axelar network, you can relay any information efficiently and securely across chains. You can deploy a custom cross-chain token, NFT, relay transaction info, or perform general contract calls.
All transactions will be verified by the decentralized Axelar overlay network and can be relayed across networks permissionlessly by anyone.
So what does building a cross-chain application look like?
For simplicity, suppose you want to connect two chains. On the source chain, you can call the Axelar gateway specifying your X chain transaction: {a destination chain, a destination contract address, and a payload you want to pass} [you can send Axelar-supported tokens also]
On the destination chain gateway contract, once the Axelar network verifies the transaction, it will be marked as approved. From there, you can execute the data in your custom contract however you want.
On the destination chain, you can call the execution yourself once its approved [if you want to pay the fees or allow your users to do so], or users can “pay once and forget” on the source chain to a relayer contract.
To help you get started, we built a simple local dev environment. You can create EVM chains and develop and test your contracts end to end. The environment allows you to relay transactions locally and simulate all steps of the computation.
Once you’re happy with the results, you can transition to the testnet. We’ll update the network and instructions for testnet shortly.
Take a look at a video of one of our engineers doing a live demo of a cross-chain NFT on the road [with all colorful typos along the way].
Building on Axelar
To start building on Axelar, feel free to continue with the following documentation showing you the next steps for getting started.