Rohit Ramesh Updated on Apr 9, 2024 8 min read

How to Create and Mint NFTs on Ethereum

Learn how to create NFT Collections and mint NFTs on Ethereum in a few mins using a few simple API calls. You can also mint NFTs to an email address or a wallet address.

This tutorial aims to equip you with the knowledge and tools necessary to create and mint Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain, utilizing Crossmint's seamless integration capabilities.

Crossmint, a comprehensive platform, enables developers and enterprises to effortlessly incorporate blockchain assets like NFTs into applications, making the blockchain aspect virtually invisible to end-users. Ethereum, known for its smart contract functionality, serves as the backbone for this process, providing a decentralized and secure environment for deploying dApps and minting NFTs.

By the end of this guide, you will understand how to leverage Crossmint and Ethereum to mint NFTs, with the entire process taking approximately less than an hour to complete.

Create and Mint NFTs with No-code

If you are wondering how you can create an NFT Collection and mint NFTs with no-code, please read the in-depth guide linked below that teaches you how to do this with 0 code.

However, the rest of this guide will show you how you can create NFT Collections and mint NFTs on Ethereum using 2 simple API calls.

Setup

In this section, we'll prepare the groundwork necessary for creating and minting NFTs on Ethereum using Crossmint. The setup phase involves differentiating between staging and production environments, creating an API Key with Crossmint, and understanding the required scopes for our operations.

Difference between Staging and Production

Understanding the environments is key. The staging environment is ideal for testing; it simulates the production environment without using real assets or incurring transaction costs. Access Crossmint's staging at https://staging.crossmint.com. The production environment, accessed via https://www.crossmint.com, is where actual transactions occur. It's crucial to test thoroughly in staging before moving to production to ensure smooth deployment.

Creating a Developer Account and API Key

An API key connects your project to Crossmint's services securely. Here's how to create one:

Go to the Crossmint Developer Console and set up your developer account.
Navigate to the "API Keys" section within the console.
Select "Create new key," choosing the "Server-side Key" for enhanced security.
Configure the key's scopes based on your project's needs.

Required Scopes for the API Key

For NFT minting and collection creation, your API key needs specific permissions:

"nfts.create": Required to mint new NFTs.
"nfts.read": Grants the ability to read NFT data.
"collections.create": Allows the creation of NFT collections.
"collections.update": Enables updates to existing collections.
"collections.read": Permits reading collection information.

Create and Mint NFTs on Ethereum

This foundational setup is crucial for a successful integration with Crossmint on Ethereum, enabling you to proceed with creating and minting NFTs efficiently.

Create an NFT Collection on Ethereum

Creating an NFT collection on Ethereum using Crossmint involves a straightforward process that can be accomplished in a few steps. Here, you'll learn how to programmatically create a new NFT collection on the Ethereum blockchain, which can later be populated with your unique NFTs.

First, you need to ensure that you have your API key obtained from the Crossmint developer console. This key is essential for authentication and interacting with the Crossmint API.

Set up Crossmint API Key and Base URL

Before we start, ensure you have your Crossmint API key ready. Also, decide whether you'll be working in the staging or production environment based on your needs. The staging environment is suitable for testing, while the production environment is for actual deployments.

const axios = require('axios');

// Replace 'YOUR_API_KEY' with your actual Crossmint API key
const CROSSMINT_API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY';

// Use the appropriate URL based on your environment choice
const BASE_URL = 'https://www.crossmint.com/api'; // Production environment

// Setup axios instance for API calls
const apiClient = axios.create({
  baseURL: BASE_URL,
  headers: {
    'X-API-KEY': CROSSMINT_API_KEY,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
});

This code sets up the basic configuration needed to make requests to the Crossmint API, including your API key and the base URL pointing to the production environment.

Create a Collection

To create an NFT collection on Ethereum, compose a POST request to the "/2022-06-09/collections/" endpoint with the necessary parameters. Ensure you specify "ethereum"as the "chain"value to deploy the collection on the Ethereum blockchain.

async function createNFTCollection() {
  try {
    const response = await apiClient.post('/2022-06-09/collections/', {
      chain: 'ethereum',
      metadata: {
        name: 'My Awesome NFT Collection',
        imageUrl: 'https://www.example.com/collection-image.png',
        description: 'A collection of unique NFTs',
        symbol: 'MAWC',
      },
      fungibility: 'non-fungible', // 'semi-fungible' is also an option for EVM collections
      supplyLimit: 1000, // Set according to your collection's needs
    });

    console.log('Collection created:', response.data);
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to create NFT collection:', error.message);
  }
}

// Call the function to create the collection
createNFTCollection().then(collectionData => {
  console.log('NFT Collection ID:', collectionData.id);
  // You can now use this collection ID for minting NFTs in the collection
});

This function sends a request to create a new NFT collection with specified metadata including its name, image URL, description, and symbol. It logs the collection's creation response, which includes the collection ID. This ID is essential for minting NFTs within this collection in subsequent steps.

Verify Collection Deployment

It's possible to check the status of your collection's deployment process using the action ID returned from the collection creation request.

async function checkCollectionDeploymentStatus(actionId) {
  try {
    const response = await apiClient.get(`/2022-06-09/actions/${actionId}`);
    console.log('Deployment Status:', response.data.status);

    if (response.data.status === 'success') {
      console.log('Collection Deployed Successfully');
    } else {
      console.log('Collection Deployment is pending or has failed');
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to check deployment status:', error.message);
  }
}

// Example usage:
// Assuming 'actionId' was obtained and passed on from the collection creation step
// checkCollectionDeploymentStatus('your_action_id_here');

After triggering the collection creation, you can use the action ID to check the deployment status. This function will request the status of the collection deployment and log whether it has been successfully deployed, is still pending, or has failed.

By following these steps, you've initiated the creation of an NFT collection on the Ethereum blockchain using Crossmint and verified its deployment. This collection can now serve as the foundation for minting individual NFTs.

Create and Mint NFTs on Ethereum

After successfully setting up your API key and creating a collection, you're now ready to mint NFTs within your collection on Ethereum. This process involves generating a unique NFT within the collection you've created and verifying the minting process. We'll guide you through minting an NFT and checking its minting status using Crossmint and Ethereum.

Mint an NFT on the Created Collection

To mint an NFT, you'll need the "collectionId" of the collection you've created. The minting process requires specifying the recipient and providing metadata for the NFT. This metadata includes the name, image, and description of the NFT, among other optional fields.

Here's how you can mint an NFT to a specified recipient:

const axios = require('axios');
const API_KEY = 'your_crossmint_api_key';
const collectionId = 'your_collection_id';  // Replace with your actual collection ID

const nftMetadata = {
    recipient: 'email:testy@crossmint.io:ethereum',  // Recipient format
    metadata: {
        name: "Crossmint Example NFT",
        image: "https://www.crossmint.com/assets/crossmint/logo.png",
        description: "My NFT created via the mint API!",
    },
};

axios.post(`https://www.crossmint.com/api/2022-06-09/collections/${collectionId}/nfts`, nftMetadata, {
    headers: {
        'X-API-KEY': API_KEY,
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    }
})
.then(response => {
    console.log(`NFT Minting initiated. Action ID: ${response.data.actionId}`);
})
.catch(error => {
    console.error('Error minting NFT:', error);
});

This code snippet sends a POST request to the Crossmint API to create and mint an NFT. The "recipient"can be specified in several formats, including directly using a wallet address or an email address as shown above. The "metadata" object contains details about the NFT being minted.

Verify the NFT was Minted Using the Action ID

Once you've initiated the minting process, you'll receive an "actionId". You can use this ID to check the status of the minting process. It's a good practice to verify whether the minting was successful.

Here's how you can check the status:

const actionId = 'received_action_id';  // Replace with your actual action ID received from the minting response

axios.get(`https://www.crossmint.com/api/2022-06-09/actions/${actionId}`, {
    headers: {
        'X-API-KEY': API_KEY,
    }
})
.then(response => {
    console.log(`NFT Minting Status: ${response.data.status}`);
    if (response.data.status === 'success') {
        console.log('NFT minted successfully!');
    } else {
        // Handle other statuses accordingly
        console.log(response.data);
    }
})
.catch(error => {
    console.error('Error checking minting status:', error);
});

This code snippet uses the "actionId" you received from the minting process to make a GET request to Crossmint. It checks the status of the action, letting you know whether the minting process was successful or if there were any issues.

By following these steps, you can mint NFTs on Ethereum using Crossmint's APIs. Remember to handle errors accordingly and ensure you have the correct permissions set up with your API key.

Conclusion

In this guide, we walked through the process of creating and minting NFTs on Ethereum using Crossmint. You learned to navigate between staging and production environments, generate an API key with the necessary scopes, and establish your own NFT collection on Ethereum. Following that, we demonstrated how to mint an NFT within your collection and validate its creation with an action id. This streamlined approach not only simplifies the complexities associated with blockchain technology but also empowers creators with the ability to launch their digital assets swiftly and efficiently.

What's Next?

If you are wondering how Crossmint has helped enterprises and brands by powering their NFT Drops, you can click on the link below to read all our Case Studies.

If you want to learn how to use the Crossmint to create Custodial Wallets for your users using their Email Address, please watch the YouTube video below.