If You're Thinking of Building on Tezos, Start Here

There are a lot of reasons to build on Tezos. From a tech perspective, it's very easy to work with thanks to extensive tooling, developer guides, and scalability that supports a vast array of applications, from DeFi to AI. But beyond the technicals, which we'll delve into further in a moment, there's also the cultural benefits of planting a flag in the Tezos ecosystem.

It's earned a reputation as the blockchain for social good, supporting projects with benevolent or environmental causes attached and powered by a genuine community spirit. In short, Tezos is a friendly place to build, where developer teams are made to feel welcome and where the willingness to experiment abounds.

If you want to create the next memecoin launchpad to send onchain volumes skyrocketing and degens FOMO'ing in from other chains, you can. But if you'd rather just create a simple payments application, to test your coding skills, or a retro 8-bit web3 game, likewise. In Tezos land, you can make whatever you like. No pressure. No forced narratives. Just devs devving and builders building.

Now that we've outlined the big picture, let's zoom in and see exactly what Tezos has to offer. We'll explore the key resources outlined in the Tezos Build portal, including the Developer Portal, Open Tezos, and Taqueria. Then we'll take a look at other valuable tools and community resources to support your development journey. Let's begin.

Tezos Developer Portal: Your Gateway to Building

The Developer Portal is the primary resource for developers entering the Tezos ecosystem. Described as a builders' manual, it offers a comprehensive set of tools, documentation, and tutorials to help you get up to speed on what makes Tezos tick.

The starting point for becoming au fait with Tezos' tech is the tutorials, which range from beginner-friendly (setting up a Tezos wallet) to more advanced topics like smart contract development, dapp creation, and NFT implementation. Examples include "NFTs for Beginners," "Mastering dApp Development," and "LIGO Basics." LIGO is Tezos' smart contract language—but if you're considering building there, you hopefully already know that.

After getting a high-level overview of Tezos' core components, your next port of call should be the project's Documentation, where you'll find detailed guides on Tezos' architecture, smart contract languages, development workflows, and much more. Once you've absorbed that—or at the very least skimmed it—it's on to Frameworks and Libraries to get hands-on with SDKs and testing tools to streamline development.

Learn with Open Tezos: Structured Learning and Certification

Open Tezos is a dedicated training platform for developers looking to dive deeper into the blockchain's technical and economic concepts. It offers a structured learning experience through a series of modules. These cover topics like Tezos' consensus mechanism, smart contract development, and economic incentives.

Once you're feeling confident about how Tezos slots together, there's a chance to demonstrate your newfound knowledge by completing quizzes or acquiring an official certificate from Open Tezos upon completing modules, validating your expertise. It's not that you need this to hang on your wall as a badge of honor (though you're welcome to do so), but it may prove useful when applying to join Tezos projects. In such cases, the ability to show that you understand Tezos 101 may come in handy.

Start Building with Taqueria: Streamlined Development Workflow

If you're hungry for more, head on over to the Taqueria. This open-source, plugin-based framework is designed to simplify the development, testing, and deployment of Tezos dapps. Maintained by Trilitech, it offers a whole bunch of tasty treats. Taqueria integrates tools for creating powerful applications, reducing the complexity of setting up a development environment, and supporting a seamless workflow.

The command-line interface and Visual Studio Code plugin bring development tools into a single, cohesive environment, eliminating the need to switch between IDEs. Choose between the CLI and VS Code plugins. There's also support for the entire blockchain application lifecycle, from initial testing to deployment and maintenance.

Now that we're starting to get into the nuts and bolts of Tezos development, let's go deeper and discuss the languages you'll need to master—or at the very least become proficient at—to aid your dapp development.

• Michelson: A low-level, stack-based language designed for formal verification, ideal for understanding Tezos' inner workings.
• LIGO: A high-level language with TypeScript- and OCaml-inspired syntaxes, offering robust testing and static analysis.
• SmartPy: A Python-based language with a simple syntax, supporting functional programming and formal verification.

Other options include Morley, Fi, and Archetype, allowing you to choose the language with which you're most comfortable.

Don't Go It Alone

While you're welcome to strike out alone in Tezos land, building is much more satisfying when you can turn to fellow devs for support, be it moral or technical. As we've already noted, the Tezos community is friendly and tight-knit, and forms a vital resource for developers. You can connect with fellow devs through the following channels:

• Tezos Agora Forum: A platform to discuss Tezos' long-term direction and technical topics.
• Tezos Community Forum: An unofficial forum for all things Tezos, ideal for troubleshooting and collaboration.
• Reddit (r/tezos): A community-driven space for news and discussions.
• Tezos Community: For events and hackathons, find meetups and other get-togethers here.

If you've read this far, there's a good chance you're at least interested in building something on Tezos. We'll close this out by running through a few compelling reasons to turn that notion into action.

Why Build on Tezos?

• Energy Efficiency: Tezos' Proof of Stake consensus mechanism makes it one of the most environmentally friendly blockchains, consuming significantly less energy than competitors like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
• Onchain Governance: Stakeholders can vote on protocol upgrades, ensuring continuous improvement without the need for disruptive hard forks.
• Diverse Use Cases: Tezos supports a wide range of applications, including NFTs, DeFi, gaming, and tokenized assets, with adoption by major organizations like McLaren Racing, Ubisoft, and Société Générale.
• Smart Contract Safety: Tezos' Michelson language and high-level alternatives like LIGO and SmartPy support formal verification, enhancing security.
• Vibrant Community: A global community of developers, artists, and researchers drives innovation and collaboration.

Whether you're building a decentralized finance platform, NFT marketplace, or gaming application, Tezos provides a secure and developer-friendly environment. Take the Tezos pill and take the plunge.