16. Challenge 0: NFT
Overview
Section titled “Overview”This is the required challenge of the module and the target of Lab 3. SpeedRun Ethereum is Austin Griffith’s series of build-and-ship challenges; Challenge 0 has you deploy an NFT collection and a frontend to mint and view it. It ties together everything so far — an ERC-721 contract (Module 2), Scaffold-ETH’s structure (lesson 15), and provider/signer interaction (lesson 14) — into one shippable app.
Key concepts
Section titled “Key concepts”- The SpeedRun flow — you fork a challenge repo, run it locally, implement/inspect the contract, deploy to a testnet, deploy the frontend, and submit your live URL. Following this flow is itself the skill: it’s how real dApps go from repo to shipped.
- What Challenge 0 builds — an ERC-721 NFT contract plus a UI to mint tokens and see the ones you own. This is the concrete version of the token-standard theory from lesson 10.
- Minting as a write transaction — clicking “mint” sends a transaction through the signer; the wallet prompts for confirmation and gas. Reading your NFTs back uses the provider. The whole read/write split is visible in one screen.
- Metadata and images — each NFT’s
tokenURIpoints to its metadata (recall lesson 10), so what shows in the UI comes from that pointer, not from the chain storing the image. - Testnet deployment and submission — you deploy to a public testnet, so the result has a real address, a block-explorer page, and a shareable frontend — the portfolio artifacts the course wants you to collect.
Common pitfalls
Section titled “Common pitfalls”- Skipping local verification and deploying straight to a testnet. Get it working on a local chain first; testnet iterations are slower.
- Running out of testnet ETH mid-challenge. Fund your wallet from a faucet before you start (Module 1, lesson 07).
- Forgetting to save your deployed contract address, explorer link, and frontend URL. These are exactly what Lab 3 asks you to submit.
- Treating it as “watch the video.” The point is to ship your own deployed app.
Check yourself
Section titled “Check yourself”- Which token standard does Challenge 0 use, and where does the NFT’s image actually come from?
- In the mint-and-view UI, which action uses the signer and which uses the provider?
- What three links should you have at the end to prove you completed it?
Watch the Video
Section titled “Watch the Video”
Challenge 0: NFT
Video credit: Austin Griffith · Duration: 25 minutes