dfx deploy

Use the dfx deploy command to register, build, and deploy a dapp on the local canister execution environment, on the IC or on a specified testnet. By default, all canisters defined in the project dfx.json configuration file are deployed.

This command simplifies the developer workflow by enabling you to run one command instead of running the following commands as separate steps:

dfx canister create --all
dfx build
dfx canister install --all

Note that you can only run this command from within the project directory structure. For example, if your project name is hello_world, your current working directory must be the hello_world top-level project directory or one of its subdirectories.

Basic usage

dfx deploy [flag] [option] [canister_name]

Options

You can use the following options with the dfx deploy command.

Option	Description
--network <network>	Overrides the environment to connect to. By default, the local canister execution environment is used.
--argument <argument>	Specifies an argument using Candid syntax to pass to the canister during deployment. Note that this option requires you to define an actor class in the Motoko program.
--with-cycles <number-of-cycles>	Enables you to specify the initial number of cycles for a canister in a project.

Arguments

You can specify the following arguments for the dfx deploy command.

Argument	Description
canister_name	Specifies the name of the canister you want to register, build, and deploy. Note that the canister name you specify must match at least one name in the canisters section of the dfx.json configuration file for the project. If you don’t specify a canister name, dfx deploy will deploy all canisters defined in the dfx.json file.

Examples

You can use the dfx deploy command to deploy all or specific canisters on the local canister execution environment, on the IC or on a specified testnet.

For example, to deploy the hello project on the hypothetical ic-pubs testnet configured in the dfx.json configuration file, you can run the following command:

dfx deploy hello_backend --network ic-pubs

To deploy a project on the local canister execution environment and pass a single argument to the installation step, you can run a command similar to the following:

dfx deploy hello_actor_class --argument '("from DFINITY")'

Note that currently you must use an actor class in your Motoko dapp. In this example, the dfx deploy command specifies an argument to pass to the hello_actor_class canister. The main program for the hello_actor_class canister looks like this:

actor class Greet(name: Text) {
    public query func greet() : async Text {
        return "Hello, " # name # "!";
    };
};

You can use the dfx deploy command with the --with-cycles option to specify the initial balance of a canister created by your wallet. If you don’t specify a canister, the number of cycles you specify will be added to all canisters by default. To avoid this, specify a specific canister by name. For example, to add an initial balance of 8000000000000 cycles to a canister called "hello-assets", run the following command:

dfx deploy --with-cycles 8000000000000 hello-assets