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Since January 2026, we are unfortunately unable to actively maintain or develop ink! further.

We have written down the details in a Polkadot Forum post.

Version: v6

Cargo Contract Title Picture

Compile Your Contract

Run the following command in your flipper directory to compile your smart contract:

pop build

This command will build the following for your contract: a binary (.polkavm), a metadata file (.json), and a .contract file which bundles both.

If all goes well, you should see a target folder that contains these files:

target
  └─ ink
    └─ flipper.polkavm     <-- Raw contract binary
    └─ flipper.json        <-- Metadata for the contract
    └─ flipper.contract    <-- JSON file that combines binary + metadata

Learn more about metadata and the ink! metadata format for detailed information about the structure of these files.

Debug vs. Release Build​

By default, contracts are built in debug mode, which includes debugging information and increases the contract's size. For production deployments, you should always build with the --release flag:

pop build --release

This will ensure that nothing unnecessary is compiled into the binary blob, making your contract faster and cheaper to deploy and execute.