Contract Dependency Manager (CDM)

A CLI tool for managing PVM smart contract dependencies on Polkadot. CDM automates contract deployment ordering, cross-contract address resolution, and TypeScript type generation.

Browse published contracts at contracts.paseo.li.

Table of Contents

• Install CLI
• Quick Start
• Writing CDM Contracts
• Using CDM Contracts from TypeScript
• Example: Shared Counter
• Commands

Install

curl -fsSL https://contracts.paseo.li/install | bash

This installs the cdm binary, the Rust nightly toolchain with rust-src, and cargo-pvm-contract.

Quick Start

# Scaffold a new project (current workspace directory)
cdm template shared-counter

# Initialize, fund & map dev account for deploying to paseo
cdm init
cdm account map -n paseo

# Deploy all workspace contracts
cdm deploy -n paseo

Important: Before deploying, open each contract's lib.rs and change the org name from "example" to your own unique org name (e.g. "myteam"). Contract names are scoped by org, so deploying with "example" will conflict with other users.

Writing CDM Contracts

Annotate your contract with a CDM package name:

#[pvm::contract(cdm = "@yourorg/mycontract")]
mod mycontract {
    #[pvm::constructor]
    pub fn new() -> Result<(), Error> { Ok(()) }

    #[pvm::method]
    pub fn do_something() -> u32 { 42 }
}

To call another CDM contract:

cdm::import!("@someorg/other_contract")

// Add the contract as a cdm dependency using `cdm install`
// Then use cdm_reference() for runtime address lookup
let other = other_contract::cdm_reference();
other.do_something().expect("call failed");

Using Contracts from TypeScript

After deploying contracts, you can interact with them from TypeScript using @dotdm/cdm.

1. Install contract ABIs

cdm install -n paseo @yourorg/counter @yourorg/counter-writer @yourorg/counter-reader

This fetches contract ABIs from the on-chain registry, saves them to cdm.json, and generates TypeScript types in .cdm/cdm.d.ts. You get full autocomplete and type safety for every contract method.

2. Create a CDM instance and call contracts

import { createCdm } from "@dotdm/cdm";

// Reads cdm.json from cwd, connects to the chain automatically
const cdm = createCdm({ defaultSigner: signer });

// Get typed contract handles
const counter = cdm.getContract("@yourorg/counter");
const counterWriter = cdm.getContract("@yourorg/counter-writer");

// Query (read-only, no transaction)
const count = await counter.getCount.query();
console.log(count); // { success: true, value: 0 }

// Send a transaction (state-changing)
await counterWriter.writeIncrement.tx();

// Clean up WebSocket connection
cdm.destroy();

Every contract method exposes .query() for dry-run reads and .tx() for signed transactions. Arguments are positional:

await counterWriter.writeIncrementN.tx(5);

3. Custom signer

By default createCdm() uses the Alice dev account. To use a custom signer, pass it to .tx():

await counter.increment.tx({ signer: myPolkadotSigner });

Example: Shared Counter

The included shared-counter template demonstrates a 3-contract system:

• counter - Stores a shared count value
• counter-writer - Calls counter to increment (depends on counter via CDM)
• counter-reader - Queries counter for the current value (depends on counter via CDM)

cdm template shared-counter
cdm deploy deploy -n paseo
cdm install @<yourorg>/counter @<yourorg>/counter-writer @<yourorg>/counter-reader

bun run src/index.ts

Commands

cdm build

Build all contracts with the ContractRegistry address baked in.

cdm build --contracts counter counter_writer    # Build specific contracts
cdm build --root /path/to/workspace             # Custom workspace root

cdm deploy -n <chain>

Build & deploy/register all contracts

cdm deploy -n paseo

# Options
cdm deploy -n paseo --signer Bob  # Use different signer
cdm deploy -n paseo --dry-run     # Preview deployment plan

cdm install -n <chain> <library>

Add a CDM contract library for use with @dotdm/cdm or the polkadot-api. Queries the on-chain registry for the contract's ABI metadata and installs it locally.

cdm i -n paseo @polkadot/reputation @polkadot/disputes

cdm template [name]

Scaffold a complete example project with 3 contracts demonstrating cross-contract CDM dependencies.

cdm template shared-counter

Development

git clone https://github.com/paritytech/contract-dependency-manager.git
cd contract-dependency-manager
make setup

# Run in dev mode
bun run src/apps/cli/src/cli.ts --help

# Run tests
make test

# Build native binary
make compile

# Cross-compile for all platforms
make compile-all

Architecture

src/
  apps/
    cli/                  CLI tool (Commander.js, Bun runtime)
      src/
        cli.ts            Entry point
        commands/          build, deploy, install, template
        lib/              Pipeline orchestration, Ink UI
    frontend/             Web dashboard (React 19, Vite)
  lib/
    contracts/            @dotdm/contracts — Detection, deployer, publisher, registry, builder
    env/                  @dotdm/env — Chain connections, signer, chain presets
    utils/                @dotdm/utils — Shared constants, utilities
    scripts/              @dotdm/scripts — embed-templates, deploy-registry
    cdm/                  Stub packages (Rust + TypeScript)
  contract/               ContractRegistry (Rust/PolkaVM)
  templates/              Project scaffolding templates

License

Apache-2.0