# Developing Projects with Ape

Use `ape init` to create your project.
A common project structure looks like this:

```
project                             # The root project directory
├── contracts/                      # Project source files, such as '.sol' or '.vy' files
│   └── smart_contract_example.sol  # Sample of a smart contract
├── tests/                          # Project tests, ran using the 'ape test' command
│   └── test_sample.py              # Sample of a test to run against your sample contract
├── scripts/                        # Project scripts, such as deploy scripts, ran using the 'ape run   <`name>' command
│   └── deploy.py                   # Sample script to automate a deployment of an ape project
└── ape-config.yaml                 # The ape project configuration file
```

Notice that you can configure you ape project using the `ape-config.yaml` file.
See the [configuration guide](./config.html) for a more detailed explanation of settings you can adjust.

## Adding Plugins

Your project may require plugins.
To install plugins, use the `ape plugins install .` command.
Learn more about configuring your project's required plugins by following [this guide](./installing_plugins.html).

## Compiling Contracts

The project manager object is a representation of your current project.
Access it from the root `ape` namespace:

```python
from ape import project
```

Your `project` contains all the "relevant" files, such as source files in the `contracts/` directory.
Use the following command to compile all contracts in the `contracts/` directory:

```bash
ape compile
```

For more information on compiling your project, see [this guide](./compile.html).

## Deploying Contracts

After compiling, the contract containers are accessible from the `project` manager.
Deploy them in the `console` or in scripts; for example:

```python
from ape import accounts, project

account = accounts.load("my_account_alias")
account.deploy(project.MyContract)
```

**NOTE**: You can also deploy contracts from the container itself:

```python
from ape import accounts, project

account = accounts.load("my_account_alias")
project.MyContract.deploy(sender=account)
```

### Dependencies

To set up and use dependencies in your project, follow [this guide](./dependencies.html).

## Scripts

The scripts folder contains project automation scripts, such as deploy scripts, as well as other executable jobs, such as scripts for running simulations.
To learn more about scripting in Ape, see [the scripting guide](./scripts.html).

## Testing

Use tests to verify your project.
You can test your project using the `ape test` command.
The `ape test` command comes with the core-plugin `ape-test`.
The `ape-test` plugin extends the popular python testing framework [pytest](https://docs.pytest.org/en/6.2.x/contents.html).
Testing is a complex topic; learn more about testing using Ape framework [here](./testing.html).