NFT Minting Template

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Digital Assets are the NFT standard for Aptos. The NFT minting dapp template provides an end-to-end NFT minting dapp.

With this dapp, you can:

  1. Create a NFT collection on Aptos.
  2. Modify a pre-made UI to build a NFT minting dapp users can quickly adjust.
  3. Learn how to write a Move contract and front end connected to that contract.

You can read more about the Aptos Digital Asset Standard here.

Template Pages

The NFT minting dapp template provides 3 pages:

  1. "Public Mint" Page - A page for the public to mint NFTs.
  2. "Create Collection" Page - A page for creating new NFT collections. This page is not accessible in production.
  3. "My Collections" Page - A page to view all the collections created with the template Move module. This page is also not accessible in production.

Quick Start

Generate the NFT minting dapp template

On your terminal, navigate to the directory you want to work in and run:

Follow the CLI prompts.

If you are using the Testnet network, you will need to fund a module publisher account manually through the faucet web view on https://aptos.dev/en/network/faucet and then fill out the MODULE_PUBLISHER_ACCOUNT_PRIVATE_KEY and MODULE_PUBLISHER_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS in your project .env file.

Create Collection Assets

In order to create a Collection using create-aptos-app, you will need to create a folder with the following information in it.

assets
collection.jpeg
collection.json
images
metadata

The following steps will break down how to do that.

Create an assets folder for your collection.

Make a collection.json file.

All collections are required to have the following fields:

The image field of collection.json above will be filled in automatically when we upload the images, so we can leave it empty.

Add an image for the collection itself in the assets folder.

Create a folder called images in the assets folder.

Add all potential NFT images to the images folder.

All images must have the same file extension for this template app to work.

Create a folder called metadata in the assets folder.

Add a metadata json file for each NFT image in the images folder.

The metadata files should match the names of the images in the images folder. Ex. 1.jpeg -> 1.json.

All fields in the example below other than attributes are required.

The attributes section is optional, and can contain any key-value pairs.

The name field of the metadata.json must be unique for this collection.

Here is an example of what each metadata file should look like:

We recommend the developers follow the ERC-1155 off-chain data schema to format their JSON files.

The image field of the metadata.json files above will be filled in automatically when we upload the images, so we can leave it empty.

The file structure should now look something like this:

assets
collection.jpeg
collection.json
images
metadata

Publish the Move Contract

In the .env file, set VITE_COLLECTION_CREATOR_ADDRESS to be the same as your account address.

This determines which account is allowed to create collections using the dapp.

If you haven't set up an account, you can create one with an Aptos wallet like Petra. Make sure to set up the account on the same network as your template project.

For example:

On the project root folder, run the below command to publish the contract.

You will have to confirm the gas fee in the console.

This command will:

  1. Publish the contract to chain.
  2. Setting the VITE_MODULE_ADDRESS in the .env file to set the contract object address.

Publishing the collection on-chain

After you have published the Move contract to chain

Run the app and open the preview.

In the top-right corner, click "Connect a Wallet".

Use the same account that you set in .env for the VITE_COLLECTION_CREATOR_ADDRESS. Or, if you use a different account, set the VITE_COLLECTION_CREATOR_ADDRESS to the account you sign in with and republish the contract.

Do not use the "Google Account" option if it is available. The account generated from that will not work as the VITE_COLLECTION_CREATOR_ADDRESS. Use a wallet created with an Aptos wallet provider such as Petra.

In the app, go to the "Create Collection" page (if not on that page already)

Upload the assets folder you created previously.

If you do not have an assets folder or other properly formatted collection data, see the beginning of these steps for how to make one.

Choose the required fields.

  1. Choose the mint start date to determine when users can start minting NFTs.
  2. Choose a mint limit per account.

The rest are optional fields to help customize your mint.

  • (Optional) Choose the mint end date to determine when users can no longer mint NFTs. If no date selected, the mint is open forever.
  • (Optional) Royalty Percentage for each NFT - this defines the royalties marketplaces should send you when users trade these NFTs.
  • (Optional) Mint fee per NFT - this defines the cost public users pay to mint this NFT.
  • (Optional) Mint for myself - this defines how many NFTs you would want to mint for yourself once the collection is created.

Click "Create Collection"

When adding the folder, it submits the files to Irys, a decentralized asset server, that will store your files.

During the upload process, you will need to sign two messages to approve file uploading to Irys. Additionally, you may need to fund an Irys node. Read more about the process here.

Once you approve the transaction, you have successfully created a Collection on Aptos!

Customizing the Front-End

Most data on the front end is customizable in frontend/config.ts.

Set the collection_address config

In order to add a collection to the public mint page, set collection_address in .env with the collection address.

You can use a collection that you have minted using the tool by going to the "My Collections" page and copying its address.

Modify static content

Once the collection address has been configured, view the frontend/config.ts file to change any static content on the page. You can also modify the code itself as you wish.

How to add static images?

The public mint page uses static images in the UI. Initially, the images are imported from the frontend/assets/placeholder folder. To use custom images, you should add the image you want to use to the frontend/assets folder (under any new folder you want to create) and then import the image as seen below in the frontend/config.ts file and add it under the section you want to have it.

For example, to update an image in the "Our Team" section - add the image under the frontend/assets/<my-new-folder> folder, import the image as import MyImage from "@/assets/<my-new-folder>/my-image.png"; and change theimgproperty in the ourTeam section with MyImage.

My Collections Page

This page displays all the collections that have been created under the current Move module. You can click on the contract address, which redirects you to the Aptos Explorer site where you can see your collection.

When you are ready to allow others to mint NFTs from your collection, you will need to copy the collection address into frontend/config.ts's collection_id variable. This will then allow that collection to be used on the "Public Mint" page that anyone can access.

Some stats are available on this page, like the amount of minted NFTs and Max Supply of the NFTs.

How can I take it from here?

Remember, one of the goals of this template is to educate and provide a real life example on how a NFT minting dapp can be on Aptos. We provide some basic concepts and features but there is much more you can do for your dapp.

Some ideas you can try are:

  1. Adding Allowlist mint stages.
  2. Building custom flows for after someone mints a NFT (or even token gated experiences).

Check out our TS SDK to see what other API queries you can use to add more features and fetch other types of data.

Ready for Mainnet

If you started your dapp on testnet, and you are happy with your NFT collection testing, you will want to get your collection on mainnet.

Creating a collection on mainnet follows the same flow as creating a collection on testnet. But, we need to change some configuration.

Note: Make sure you have created an existing account on the Aptos mainnet

  1. Change the VITE_APP_NETWORK value to mainnet on the .env file
  2. Update the VITE_MODULE_PUBLISHER_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS to be the existing account address on the .env file
  3. Update the VITE_MODULE_PUBLISHER_PRIVATE_KEY to be the existing account private key on the .env file
  4. Create or get the account you want to create a collection with, open the .env file and assign the account address as the VITE_COLLECTION_CREATOR_ADDRESS value.
  5. Finally, run npm run move:publish to publish your move module on Aptos mainnet.
  6. The next step would be to create a collection using the account you set as the VITE_COLLECTION_CREATOR_ADDRESS. Simply follow the instructions here

API Key

  1. If you are using an API Key, make sure to update the VITE_APTOS_API_KEY with your MAINNET API Key.
  2. If you are not using an API Key, make sure to create one and update the VITE_APTOS_API_KEY with your API Key.

Deploy to a live server

create-aptos-dapp provides an npm command to easily deploy the static site to Vercel.

At the root of the folder, simply run

Then, follow the prompts. Please refer to Vercel docs to learn more about the Vercel CLI

If you are looking for different services to deploy the static site to, create-aptos-dapp utilizes Vite as the development tool, so you can follow the Vite deployment guide. In a nutshell, you would need to:

  1. Run npm run build to build a static site
  2. Run npm run preview to see how your dapp would look like on a live server
  3. Next, all you need is to deploy your static site to a live server, there are some options for you to choose from and can follow this guide on how to use each

Update the look and feel of the dapp

This template is styled with Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui. These libraries provide the app with a neutral and clean look and feel while leaving it open to a lot of customization so that you can make the app truly yours.

Please refer to the following questions in the FAQ to learn about how to customize the UI of your dapp: