Step 1

Hardhat is a development environment for Ethereum smart contracts. To set it up, follow these steps:

1. Install Node.js and npm: Ensure you have Node.js and npm installed on your machine. You can download them from nodejs.org.

2. Initialize a new Node.js project: Open a terminal and run these commands.

    mkdir Hello-World  //for make diretory
    cd Hello-World    // initialize folder
    npm init --yes   // npm in
   

   You will get package.json file after these three commands.

3. Install Hardhat: Run this to install Hardhat as a development dependency.

    npm install --save-dev hardhat
   

   If you have followed the instructions properly, and everything went according to the plan, you have HardHat installed. 🎉

   Also package-lock.json file created.

4. Initialize Hardhat: Run npx hardhat to initialize the Hardhat project. Follow the prompts to create a hardhat.config.js file.

    npx hardhat
   

   You will see something like this:

5. Create a JavaScript project: Just follow through the questions and answer them yes. For me it was something like below:

   

6. Hardhat ether: You need to install some more dependencies. Hardhat ethers is a plugin that gives us access to ethers.js library. ethers.js library gives us a way to interact with the blockchain world, we can deploy contracts, we can fetch contracts, we can call their functions, all thanks to this library.

    npm install --save-dev @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers ethers --force
   

   Lastly, run the following command on safe side to ensure that all required installations are done:

    npm install @nomiclabs/hardhat-ethers ethers hardhat @nomicfoundation/hardhat-toolbox --force
   

7. Install additional plugins (optional): Depending on your needs, you might want to install additional plugins. For example, you can install this plugin for Ethereum testing:

   npm install --save-dev @nomiclabs/hardhat-waffle

   Remember to update your hardhat.config.js file to include these plugins.

8. Project Structre:

   

   Side tip : Install Solidity Extension by Juan Blanco in VScode to help with syntax and coding error issues.

9. Write your smart contracts: Create your Ethereum smart contracts in the contracts/ directory.

10. Run tests (optional): If you installed the testing plugin, write tests in the test/ directory and run them using npx hardhat test.

11. Compile your contracts: Run npx hardhat compile to compile your smart contracts. The compiled artifacts will be stored in the artifacts/ directory.

12. Configure network settings: Edit your hardhat.config.js file to configure Ethereum network settings, such as the network to deploy to.

13. Deploy contracts (optional): If you want to deploy your contracts, you can do so using npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js.

14. Interact with your contracts: Use the Hardhat console or write scripts to interact with your deployed contracts.

That's a basic setup for Hardhat. Customize it based on your project requirements and explore the documentation for more advanced features.