Below is a Q&A session the Tezos Foundation had with Truffle Head of Engineering Nick D’Andrea about the integration.

Tezos is the first non-Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) based chain that Truffle has integrated. What led to the decision to branch out from EVM chains?

Almost all of the work we do at Truffle involves making blockchain application development more accessible to developers. This means building tools that let developers focus on what they care about most: their application.

Developing on all blockchains is difficult, and, for many, a totally new development experience. We wanted to bring blockchain development to all and give developers first-class tooling, no matter the underlying blockchain architecture.

How did this integration become a reality?

Having been aware of Tezos since 2016, watching the technology and community grow over the past few years is really what inspired this partnership. In line with Truffle’s multi-blockchain strategy, for our first non-EVM integration we sought a blockchain platform with a vibrant community working off of a strong technical foundation. Tezos excels in both areas, making it an obvious choice. We were ecstatic to learn that the Tezos Foundation was just as excited as we were to bring our tooling to their platform.

What are the immediate next steps for the Tezos-Truffle integration?

We first plan to support the SmartPy programming language, to complement our existing support for LIGO. LIGO and SmartPy are arguably the two most popular Tezos smart contract programming languages, so it’s only natural that Truffle supports both.

Second, we plan to mature our integration and include it by default in our normal, stable distribution of Truffle.

Third, and perhaps the most exciting, we’re adding Tezos support to Ganache, our popular blockchain simulator, which will let developers create Tezos-based smart contracts with ease.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the Tezos Foundation and the community for giving us such great feedback during development.

What is a “ganache”?

Ganache is the delicious creamy chocolate filling that goes in chocolate truffles, of course!

In the Truffle suite of tools, Ganache is a programmable, developer-first blockchain simulator. Ganache lets developers quickly iterate on their smart contracts, processing transactions instantly and giving quick feedback on how their application is performing. Ganache speeds up automated testing, development, and debugging of blockchain applications and is built to be portable. Having an easy-to-use sandbox allows developers to focus solely on their application and not have to waste time setting up their environment. And giving developers a Tezos-flavored Ganache means they can start building on the Tezos platform more quickly.

Where do you see Tezos in the Truffle toolset long term?

We hope to add Tezos support to all tools and products within our tools suite and bring Tezos development on par with other supported blockchain architectures. We also hope to solve Tezos developer’s needs through Truffle Teams, adding operational, infrastructure, and deployment support to those building mission-critical applications on top of Tezos.

What about Truffle more broadly – what do the Truffle tools look like in 2 years?

In the next two years, expect to see continued improvements to the Truffle Suite by way of new features, developer-experience improvements, and even new tools. We seek to provide world class, developer-first tooling to all major blockchain platforms, offering solutions for all common development workflows. Stay tuned!