<div align="center">
  <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/txpipe/aiken/main/assets/logo-light.png?sanitize=true#gh-dark-mode-only" alt="Aiken" max-height="240" />
  <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/txpipe/aiken/main/assets/logo-dark.png?sanitize=true#gh-light-mode-only" alt="Aiken" max-height="240" />
  <hr />
    <h2 align="center" style="border-bottom: none">Cardano smart contract language and toolchain</h2>

[![Licence](https://img.shields.io/github/license/txpipe/aiken)](https://github.com/txpipe/aiken/blob/main/LICENSE)
[![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/aiken)](https://crates.io/crates/aiken)
[![Rust Build](https://github.com/txpipe/aiken/actions/workflows/rust.yml/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/txpipe/aiken/actions/workflows/rust.yml)
[![mdBook Build](https://github.com/txpipe/aiken/actions/workflows/mdBook.yml/badge.svg?branch=main)](https://github.com/txpipe/aiken/actions/workflows/mdBook.yml)

  <hr/>
</div>

## QuickStart

### Prerequisites

For now you'll need rust installed, see [rustup](https://rustup.rs).

### Getting started

In case you have fresh installation of `rustup` you might need to do:

```console

rustup install stable

```

```console
$ cargo install aiken

$ aiken --help
```

### How to use

For more information please see the [user manual](https://aiken-lang.github.io/aiken/).

## Roadmap

Aiken defines its roadmap [using _Github Milestones_](https://txpipe.github.io/aiken/introduction.html#roadmap).
The roadmap isn't set in stone, but gives a high-level overview of where the project is headed for.

## Contributing

Want to contribute? See [CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md) to know how.

## Acknowledgment

We'd like to give a special thanks to [@nkz](https://twitter.com/nkzthecreator)
for creating the logo and giving us the idea to name the project Aiken.

---

> **Note**
>
> The name comes from [Howard Aiken](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_H._Aiken), an American physicist and a pioneer in computing.
