Quai Network is a sharded network of EVM blockchains. Each shard within the network utilizes a modified EVM, designed to facilitate trustless cross-chain transactions.
Quai also has a sharded address space, wherein each EVM has a set of addresses it can modify. Each address can only have its state modified by its associated EVM.
There are two types of smart contract applications on Quai: single-chain dApps, and multi-chain dApps.
Deploying a smart contract or decentralized application on a single Quai chain is very similar to deployment on any other EVM blockchain. The only major difference in the developer experience between a single Quai chain and Ethereum is currently the available tooling for writing, testing, and deploying contracts.
Multi-chain smart contracts and decentralized applications within Quai Network exist as a network of interconnected “sister contracts.” Once sister contracts are deployed and linked (via Trust on First Use transactions), they are able to function as a single multi-chain application.
For example, if a QRC-20 token named “$EXAMPLE” is created with sister contracts on three chains within Quai Network, then $EXAMPLE tokens can be transferred within and between any of those three chains. If, instead, only a single $EXAMPLE token contract exists on a single Quai chain, then transfers of $EXAMPLE tokens are limited to within that chain.
This page is not meant to be a comprehensive development tutorial, but rather a centralized location to access some of the resources available for you to use when developing on Quai.
The best place for you to learn more about Quai Network, the changes to the EVMs, and how to deploy in a single or multi-chain manner is in the Quai Network Documentation (linked below).
<aside> 💬 The Quai Network developer environment is in its infancy, with many tools still under construction. If you are developing on Quai and need assistance, be sure to ask for help in the Quai Discord!
</aside>