As a blockchain developer working primarily on the Ethereum network, I’ve had the chance to experiment with many frameworks, testing tools, and libraries. From building smart contract systems to integrating dApps with wallet features, some tools have become absolutely essential.
If you're building on Ethereum in 2025, here are 5 tools I can’t live without and why you should be using them too.
1. Foundry: The Fastest Way to Build and Test Solidity Contracts
Foundry has become the gold standard for smart contract development on Ethereum. It's lightweight, blazingly fast, and supports fuzzing, invariants, and scripting all out of the box!.
🛠 I use Foundry to:
- Write and test Solidity contracts
- Run test suites with
forge test - Deploy and automate post deployment logic with
forge script
I switched from Hardhat, and I haven’t looked back.
2. OpenZeppelin Contracts: Security-First Smart Contract Building
Blocks
When you need secure, battle tested contract logic, OpenZeppelin is the go to. Whether you're building ERC20 tokens, NFTs, access control, or upgradeable contracts, OZ gives you a solid foundation.
🛠 I use OpenZeppelin to:
- Build ERC721 certificates with role based minting
- Integrate access control for admins, students, and institutions
- Avoid reinventing the wheel on core contract logic
Tip: Combine it with Foundry and OZ’s defender tools for upgradeable contracts.
3. Ethers.js: The Reliable Backbone of Ethereum Interactions
Even with Viem and Wagmi rising in popularity, Ethers.js remains a key tool for low level interaction, scripting, and backend services. It’s modular, well documented, and perfect for fine grained control.
🛠 I use Ethers.js to:
- Manually encode/decode contract calls
- Build scripts for contract interactions outside frontend UIs
- Interact with JSON-RPC endpoints and wallet
Combine with Foundry’s ABI outputs or use it directly in
Node.jsbackends.
4. ChatGPT + GitHub Copilot: The AI Boost Every Solidity Dev Needs
Let’s be real. AI is part of the Ethereum dev stack now. From debugging complex reverts to suggesting cleaner contract logic, ChatGPT and Copilot are my constant companions.
🛠 I use AI tools to:
- Draft initial contract templates
- Troubleshoot tricky compiler errors
- Generate test cases and optimize gas usage
With AI support, I’m moving from concept to deployed contracts faster than ever.
The Ethereum ecosystem in 2025 is maturing fast but it's also growing in complexity. These tools help me focus on what matters most: building secure, scalable, and meaningful blockchain applications.
Whether you’re launching a DeFi protocol, issuing on-chain credentials, or working on dApp infrastructure, the right toolkit makes all the difference.
What tools are essential in your Ethereum dev stack?
Let’s chat in the comments or on X (Twitter)
Till next time
STAY TUNED!!!
Top comments (4)
And this is a real example of how AI tools can optimize the workflow. Thank you for the post!
Were there any tools that you've tried but didn't like or stopped using?
Thanks for the feedback.
I appreciate.
As for tools I stopped using well there was hardhat.
After I found out about Foundry I compared both and foundry was better for me so I quit using hardhat😂
Haha, got you. Thanks!
✌🏾