Skip to main content

Flow Blockchain 101

Introduction​

What is Flow?​

Flow is a Layer 1 blockchain built from the ground up to support large-scale applications, especially in the world of consumer crypto. Originally developed by the team behind CryptoKitties, Flow was designed to address the limitations they experienced with other blockchains — particularly around scalability and user experience.

At the heart of Flow's design is a modular architecture that separates the responsibilities of consensus, execution, verification, and collection across different node types. This allows the network to process many transactions in parallel without compromising decentralization or safety.

Other defining features of Flow include:

  • Modular architecture that enables scalability without sharding.
  • Fast finality, making applications responsive and user-friendly.
  • Resistance to Miner Extractable Value (MEV), protecting users from front-running.
  • EVM equivalence, allowing developers to deploy Solidity contracts on Flow EVM.
  • Low gas fees, which make applications affordable and accessible to users.

Flow has already powered some of the most successful Web3 products to date, including:

Flow EVM vs Cadence​

Flow supports two smart contract environments, giving builders the flexibility to use whichever tool fits best:

  • Flow EVM is fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, allowing you to use Solidity, Hardhat, MetaMask, and other familiar tools with no changes.
  • Cadence is Flow's native smart contract language, purpose-built to handle digital assets safely and intuitively using a resource-oriented programming model.

Developers can build entirely in one or mix both environments for hybrid applications.

Flow features​

On-Chain randomness​

Flow natively supports verifiable randomness through its built-in Verifiable Random Function (VRF), which developers can use directly in smart contracts. This removes the need for third-party randomness oracles in many cases.

Batch transactions​

Batching allows you to group multiple transactions together for atomic execution across both Flow EVM and Cadence-based contracts. This enables powerful cross-VM apps and composability.

Account linking​

Account linking is a unique feature that lets users connect different accounts — such as linking their Dapper Wallet to another address — without compromising control or security. This is particularly useful in onboarding flows and games.

What Cadence enables​

Cadence is a smart contract language built specifically for digital assets. It uses a resource-oriented programming model, which ensures that assets like NFTs and tokens are treated as first-class citizens that can't be duplicated or accidentally lost.

Key advantages of Cadence include:

  • A powerful account model that supports multiple keys and roles.
  • Capability-based access control, which lets users share or restrict access to resources with fine granularity.
  • A resource-oriented system that prevents bugs common in other ecosystems, like token duplication or loss due to programming mistakes.

Cadence helps developers write safer code, faster — and is a great choice for apps where assets, ownership, and identity matter.

Building on Flow​

Connecting to the network​

Flow provides robust support for both Cadence and EVM development. Here's how to get started:

For Flow EVM:

For Cadence:

Documentation​

The Flow Developer Portal includes tutorials, API references, SDKs, and walkthroughs to support developers at every level:

Developer tools​

Cadence development:

  • Flow CLI: Command-line tool for managing accounts, deploying contracts, and running scripts/transactions.
  • @onflow/kit: A development toolkit to scaffold, simulate, and deploy Cadence apps quickly.

Flow EVM development:

  • Fully compatible with Ethereum development tools like Hardhat, Foundry, MetaMask, and Ethers.js. If you know how to build for Ethereum, you'll feel right at home.

Ecosystem partners and tools​

The Flow ecosystem includes infrastructure providers, wallet integrations, analytics tools, dev tooling, and much more. Browse the full list of partners and recommended resources:

Join the community​

Whether you're looking for support, feedback, or collaboration, Flow's community is active and welcoming:

  • Discord: Connect with other developers and get real-time help.
  • Twitter/𝕏: Follow @flow_blockchain for updates, announcements, and highlights.

Flow Cadence Quickstart​

  • Contract Interaction: Interact with your first Cadence smart contract on the Flow testnet.
  • Local Development: Set up your dev environment, run tests, add already deployed contracts to your environment with Dependency Manager, and deploy and use your first contract with the emulator.
  • Simple Frontend: Read and write from a smart contract using the hooks from @onflow/kit.
Rate this page