Welcome to the Cardano Developer Portal
Welcome to the Cardano Developer Portal. This is the place to learn how to build on Cardano, organized as a curriculum of seven modules that build on each other, from first principles to production. Work through them in order, or jump to whatever you need.
Give it current Cardano context first so it answers from today's APIs, not stale training data: Set up your AI assistant.
The curriculum
Each module builds on the last, taking you from understanding Cardano to shipping and running a real application.
| # | Module | What you'll learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Learn the Fundamentals | What a blockchain is, cryptography, Ouroboros consensus, the platform's architecture, and the eUTXO ledger (addresses, wallets and keys, transactions, fees) |
| 2 | Start Building | Pick your tools, get test ADA, build/sign/submit transactions, attach metadata, and query the chain |
| 3 | Mint Tokens & NFTs | Mint fungible tokens and NFTs |
| 4 | Staking & Governance | Delegate stake, claim rewards, and integrate CIP-1694 governance in your app |
| 5 | Write Smart Contracts | Validators, datum/redeemer/context, writing and testing on-chain code, design patterns, and security |
| 6 | Build a dApp | Build DeFi on the eUTXO model, connect a browser wallet (CIP-30), authenticate users, and bring real-world data on-chain with oracles |
| 7 | Ship to Production | A pre-mainnet checklist, scaling (Hydra, Mithril), infrastructure and providers, and secure key handling |
When you're ready to build something specific, Module 6 (Build a dApp) covers payments, AI agents, and a hands-on Internet of Things workshop, and there's a standalone Exchange integrations guide for custodial platforms.
Where to start
- New to blockchain? Begin with Cardano Fundamentals.
- Want to build something right away? Jump to Start Building.
- Coming from Ethereum? Read Cardano for Ethereum developers first. The mental model differs in important ways.
What is Cardano?
Cardano is a collection of open-source, patent-free protocols, a platform to store, transform, and manage value, identity, and governance. It is built on peer-reviewed research: the development followed academic rigor producing more than 100 papers, including “Ouroboros: A Provably Secure Proof-of-Stake Blockchain Protocol”, one of the most cited security papers of 2015–2019.
A few things that make Cardano different, and worth understanding early:
- The eUTXO model. State and value live in unspent transaction outputs, not account balances. This shapes everything from determinism to how you design DeFi.
- Native tokens. Tokens (including ADA) live on the ledger as first-class citizens. You send them in a standard transaction; no token smart contract to write or exploit.
- Smart contracts are validators. They approve or reject transactions rather than executing actions imperatively, a direct consequence of the eUTXO model.
Why build on Cardano?
- Predictable costs. Deterministic fees with no gas auctions. You know a transaction's cost and outcome before you submit it.
- Secure by design. A proof-of-stake chain built with high-assurance, formally-specified methods; native assets and determinism remove whole classes of attacks.
- Energy-efficient. Proof of stake consumes a fraction of the energy of proof of work.
When you're ready, start with Cardano Fundamentals.