Deploy a smart contract on Arbitrum Nova

This guide covers adding the network to a browser wallet, then deploying a simple contract using Foundry and Hardhat — pick whichever you prefer.

Arbitrum Nova is EVM-compatible, so contracts deploy with the standard Solidity toolchain — Foundry, Hardhat, or Remix — pointed at a GetBlock endpoint. This guide covers adding the network to a wallet and deploying a first contract to Arbitrum Nova.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and a package manager, or Foundry

• An EVM wallet (such as MetaMask) with ETH on Arbitrum Nova for gas — see Add Network to Your Wallet and Funding Your Deployer

• A GetBlock access token — the endpoint is https://shared.eu-central-1.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/

• A funded deployer address with ETH on Arbitrum Nova

Network Details

Property	Value
Network Name	Arbitrum Nova
RPC URL	https://shared.eu-central-1.getblock.io//
Chain ID	42170 (0xa4ba)
Currency Symbol	ETH
Block Explorer	nova.arbiscan.io

Add Network to Your Wallet

Ethereum Mainnet is pre-configured in MetaMask by default. Arbitrum Nova is not, so it must be added manually — use the button below or the manual steps that follow.

To add the network manually:

1

Open your wallet

Open MetaMask (or your EVM wallet of choice).

2

Add a custom network

Open the network selector and choose Add a custom network.

3

Enter network details

Enter the values from the Network Details table above.

4

Confirm the Chain ID

Confirm the Chain ID resolves to 42170.

5

Save and switch networks

Save and switch to the newly added Arbitrum Nova network.

Funding Your Deployer

Arbitrum Nova gas is paid in ETH bridged from Ethereum.

• Mainnet — bridge ETH from Ethereum L1 using the official Arbitrum Bridge and select Arbitrum Nova as the destination. Bridged ETH becomes spendable on Arbitrum Nova for gas.

• Testing — Arbitrum Nova has no dedicated public testnet; contract logic is typically validated on Arbitrum Sepolia or a local Nitro dev node before deploying to Nova mainnet.

Deploy with Foundry

1

Install Foundry and initialize

curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash
foundryup
forge init hello-nova && cd hello-nova

2

Write the contract

src/Hello.sol

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.24;

contract Hello {
    string public greeting = "Hello, Arbitrum Nova";

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

3

Deploy

export NOVA_RPC_URL=https://shared.eu-central-1.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/
export PRIVATE_KEY=0xyour_deployer_private_key

forge create src/Hello.sol:Hello \
  --rpc-url $NOVA_RPC_URL \
  --private-key $PRIVATE_KEY \
  --broadcast

4

Verify on the block explorer

Arbitrum Nova uses an Arbiscan (Etherscan-compatible) explorer:

forge verify-contract <DEPLOYED_ADDRESS> src/Hello.sol:Hello \
  --chain-id 42170 \
  --verifier etherscan \
  --verifier-url https://api-nova.arbiscan.io/api \
  --etherscan-api-key <ARBISCAN_API_KEY>

Deploy with Hardhat

1

Create the project

mkdir hello-nova && cd hello-nova
npm init --yes
npm install --save-dev hardhat
npx hardhat init

2

Configure the network

hardhat.config.js

require('@nomicfoundation/hardhat-toolbox');

const NOVA_CHAIN_ID = 42170;

module.exports = {
  solidity: '0.8.24',
  networks: {
    nova: {
      url: process.env.NOVA_RPC_URL,
      chainId: NOVA_CHAIN_ID,
      accounts: [process.env.PRIVATE_KEY]
    }
  },
  etherscan: {
    apiKey: { nova: process.env.ARBISCAN_API_KEY },
    customChains: [
      {
        network: 'nova',
        chainId: NOVA_CHAIN_ID,
        urls: {
          apiURL: 'https://api-nova.arbiscan.io/api',
          browserURL: 'https://nova.arbiscan.io'
        }
      }
    ]
  }
};

3

Write the contract

contracts/Hello.sol

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
pragma solidity ^0.8.24;

contract Hello {
    string public greeting = "Hello, Arbitrum Nova";

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

4

Deploy

export NOVA_RPC_URL=https://shared.eu-central-1.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/
export PRIVATE_KEY=0xyour_deployer_private_key

npx hardhat ignition deploy ./ignition/modules/Hello.js --network nova

5

Verify on the block explorer

export ARBISCAN_API_KEY=your_arbiscan_api_key
npx hardhat verify --network nova <DEPLOYED_ADDRESS>

For accurate gas estimation on Arbitrum Nova, query the NodeInterface precompile (virtual address 0xC8) via gasEstimateComponents, which separates the L2 execution gas from the L1 data component. A plain eth_gasPrice reflects only the L2 component.