Quickstart

Deploy your first Solidity contract on Rome in under 5 minutes.

Deploy your first Solidity contract on Rome in under 5 minutes. This guide targets Martius, the public testnet chain; the same steps work on Hadrian (devnet) by swapping the network values.

Prerequisites

• Node.js v22.13+

• MetaMask browser extension

• A Solana wallet (e.g. Phantom) set to Devnet

1. Add Martius to MetaMask

Add it manually (Settings → Networks → Add network):

Field	Value
Network Name	Rome Martius
RPC URL	https://martius.testnet.romeprotocol.xyz/
Chain ID	121214
Currency Symbol	USDC
Block Explorer	https://via-martius.testnet.romeprotocol.xyz/

2. Fund your wallet

Gas is paid in the chain's SPL gas token (USDC on Martius). Two ways to get it:

From Solana — get devnet SOL from the Solana faucet (set your Solana wallet to Devnet), then open the Rome App, connect both wallets, and wrap into the gas token.

By bridging in — mint test USDC on Ethereum Sepolia from the Circle faucet, then bring it to Rome with the Rome Bridge (CCTP). You'll need a little Sepolia ETH for the source-side transaction — see Faucets for every faucet.

How much? Contract deploys on Rome carry Solana-side account costs, so gas estimates run well above Ethereum intuition — the quickstart contract estimates ~20M gas and costs about 0.2 USDC to deploy, and wallets pre-check roughly double the estimate up front. Fund at least 0.5 USDC of gas; 1 USDC leaves comfortable headroom.

If a Solana-side deposit fails with an "insufficient SOL" warning despite a funded wallet, set your Solana wallet to Testnet Mode / Devnet (see the FAQ).

3. Create a Hardhat project

mkdir rome-hello && cd rome-hello
npx hardhat --init

Accept the defaults when prompted — Hardhat 3, the current directory, and the TypeScript + Node Test Runner + viem template — and let it install dependencies. The template ships an example Counter contract with tests; they don't interfere with this guide.

4. Configure Hardhat for Rome

Edit the generated hardhat.config.ts and add the Rome networks inside defineConfig({ ... }):

  networks: {
    martius: {
      type: "http",
      chainType: "l1",
      chainId: 121214,
      url: "https://martius.testnet.romeprotocol.xyz/",
      accounts: [configVariable("PRIVATE_KEY")],
    },
  },

configVariable("PRIVATE_KEY") resolves from the environment, so export your MetaMask private key:

export PRIVATE_KEY="0xYOUR_PRIVATE_KEY"

(For anything beyond a throwaway key, prefer the encrypted keystore that ships with the toolbox: npx hardhat keystore set PRIVATE_KEY.)

5. Write a contract

Create contracts/HelloRome.sol:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.28;

contract HelloRome {
    string public greeting = "Hello from Solana!";
    uint256 public counter;

    event Greeted(address indexed sender, uint256 count);

    function greet() external returns (string memory) {
        counter++;
        emit Greeted(msg.sender, counter);
        return greeting;
    }

    function setGreeting(string calldata _greeting) external {
        greeting = _greeting;
    }
}

6. Deploy

Create scripts/deploy.ts:

import hardhat from "hardhat";

async function main() {
  const { viem } = await hardhat.network.connect();
  const publicClient = await viem.getPublicClient();

  const hello = await viem.deployContract("HelloRome");
  console.log("HelloRome deployed to:", hello.address);

  const hash = await hello.write.greet();
  await publicClient.waitForTransactionReceipt({ hash });

  console.log("Counter:", (await hello.read.counter()).toString());
  console.log("Greeting:", await hello.read.greeting());
}

main().catch((error) => {
  console.error(error);
  process.exitCode = 1;
});

Deploy to Martius:

npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.ts --network martius

Expected output (your address will differ):

HelloRome deployed to: 0x09c437e305eeb698e1776cff23ca16c1bb25aabd
Counter: 1
Greeting: Hello from Solana!

Open the deployed address in the explorer to see the Solana instructions behind your transaction. Your Solidity contract is now running on Solana.

What's Next

• Deploy Solidity — Hardhat and Foundry deployment in depth

• Call Solana from EVM — call Solana programs from Solidity via CPI

• Architecture — how Rome executes EVM inside Solana

Common Errors

Error	Cause	Fix
insufficient funds	Not enough gas token — wallets pre-check ~2× the gas estimate	Fund at least 0.5 USDC of gas (see step 2) via the Rome App or bridge
nonce too low	Transaction nonce mismatch	Reset the account (MetaMask → Settings → Advanced → Clear activity)
execution reverted	Contract execution failed	Check contract logic; use eth_call to debug
Connection timeout	RPC unreachable	Verify the RPC URL