Low-code NFT minting tool#

For non-developers, Concordium has developed a minting tool to mint your NFT collections without minimal development effort. With this super simple dApp you will be able to:

Connect with your Concordium Wallet for Web
Create your own NFT Contract
Mint your own NFT
Mint you own Semi-Fungible Token
Mint your own NFT Collection

Install the minting tool#

Before starting, make sure that you have the following installed:

Concordium Wallet for Web - setup instructions
node.js verion 14.17.0 or above. If you already have node.js run node -v to check the version. You can use nvm to manage multiple Node versions installed on a single machine.
Yarn - a performance package manager for JavaScript; replaces the npm client.
A code editor of your choice, such as Visual Studio Code.

Once you have the above installed, do the following:

Clone the repo and install its dependencies.

git clone https://github.com/Concordium/concordium-dapp-examples/tree/main/low-code-nft-marketplace

cd Low-Code-NFT-Framework/mint-ui && yarn install

black screen of code editor with terminal window open at bottom

Now run your store web server locally with the following command.
yarn start

It will start the minting screen in the example dApp in localhost:3000 automatically, starting with the dashboard page.

Mint#

Concordium provides a library of sample images you can download and use to practice minting NFTs.

Mint NFTs with metadata

In this section you will learn how to mint an NFT with metadata file from a new contract.

When you mint an NFT, in most of the cases you will be storing a URL value that redirects people to a JSON-formatted file. That file should contain a link to the digital asset itself, its name, and description and could potentially include lots of additional attributes to suffice Concordium Interoperability Standard 2(CIS-2). You can host these files and assets anywhere but using a decentralized solution will be our approach.

Note

CIS-2 token metadata example and details can be found in this link.

To prepare the metadata, you should have a link to your digital asset, preferably from the Interplanetary File System (IPFS). You can check this tutorial to learn about how you can store data on IPFS<upload-nft> with running a node.

When you have an IPFS link to the asset, create a JSON file in a text editor, fill it like below and save it.

{
    "name": "YOUR NFT NAME",
    "description": "YOUR NFT DESCRIPTION",
    "display": {
        "url": "https://ipfs.io/ipfs....paste your url here"
    },
    "attributes": [
        {
            "name": "some attribute",
            "type": "string",
            "value": "999"
        }
        {
            "name": "another attribute",
            "type": "string",
            "value": "1"
        }
        {
            "name": "third attribute",
            "type": "string",
            "value": "7.2"
        }
    ]
}

Now, you need to store this page on the IPFS as well; it will generate a URL that you will store on-chain.

When your platform is up and running, click DEPLOY NEW to mint your brand-new NFTs as shown below.
The wallet pops up and asks for your signature. Click Sign & Submit.
You will see the figure below, since you are going to provide the metadata.json file, you don’t need to use the connect Pinata function. Click SKIP.

That will lead you to the Prepare Metadata section. Provide the metadata.json file’s URL to the text box and click the “OK” button.

Then you will be asked to specify the token ID and amount in the following screens. Your image will be fetched from IPFS or the server where you stored assets.

Click SET TOKEN ID, and you will be asked for the quantity.

In order to mint an NFT you must set this Token Quantity as 1 and then click the “SET QUANTITY” and “DONE” buttons.

When every step is completed as described, the platform will show you the preview of the token and you can check even the metadata by clicking the token’s display. If all is ok, click MINT. Your Concordium Wallet for Web will pop up once more and ask for your approval. You can check the token details in the wallet, minting fees, etc.

When the transaction is finalized, an alert window shows that your tokens are minted.

One thing to note in the figure above is “CONTRACT: 2668/0 (CIS2-MULTI)”. This statement says that your tokens are minted on the contract with the address <2668,0>. A contract adderss has two parts; the index is the first number and the subindex is the second number which is always zero. This could be any contract deployed to Concordium. For example, when you create a new instance of an NFT contract, the creator account will be the owner of that contract instance. By using that address value, the owner can handle some owner-specific operations, anyone can check some accounts’ balances if it’s a token contract, etc. As an example, when you click DEPLOY NEW, you create a new contract instance that you own; and when you minted that NFT it is recorded in that smart contract instance’s state on the blockchain. For every operation about that token like transfer, sell, etc. you will keep storing that changes on your contract’s state. This is your contract now at that address.

Mint NFTs with Pinata

The Concordium NFT Minting Tool has built-in integration with Pinata and IPFS that allows artists to mint their collection with a few steps.

NFT Metadata

If you have a huge collection, creating metadata might be an issue. You need to run an IPFS node or store the data in a server, use the URL in a JSON file that is compliant with CIS-2, and use the JSON to mint your token. Just the node running part might be an issue. Luckily, there are solutions like Pinata emerging every day. Pinata is a pinning solution, meaning it hosts your data and stores that in a decentralized way in multiple locations. It produces the URL that needs to be put in the metadata file.

Note

Pinata is a commercial, pinning solution that pins your data stored on IPFS. You can find more info about it in this link.

When you upload data on IPFS, the most important thing that you need to be careful about is making sure that data is stored/hosted on at least one device; this is achievable by running a node all the time somewhere. But that may not be an option for everybody who wants to mint NFTs for various reasons like cost, time, and some technical skills. At that moment, Pinata solves that issue; they run a node on your behalf and give you an API key. You can access your IPFS node via that API key through their gateway.

Since IPFS and Pinata are widely used in the space, the Concordium NFT Minting Tool has built-in integration with them. To use this functionality create an API key on the platform and copy it.

NFT minting

Now you will create a brand new contract instance for your NFT collection.

Click MINT in the top navigation bar of your marketplace.
In the Connect Pinata screen paste your API key and click CONNECT.
Once connected, upload images either by selecting them from a folder or just dragging and dropping them. You are not limited to uploading 1-2 images, and thanks to the template, the metadata generator is easier than creating for one metadata file for every item.

Mint NFT collection

Set your token IDs and click Upload for each.

The template’s backend will use your API key to upload the data, and retrieves the IPFS link of it and then you will just complete the details about your tokens as described in the next step.
Add data to them and the marketplace will create metadata for you when you click CREATE for each of the tokens. Specify the quantity as 1 and click DONE.
Click MINT. Your Concordium Wallet for Web prompts you to click Sign and Submit to approve the transaction and mint your NFTs.