Spin up a local Anvil testnet with Uniswap deployed and pre-seeded liquidity. One command gives you a full development environment with funded accounts, real Uniswap pools, and zero gas costs. Use when developing, testing, or demoing Uniswap agent workflows.
---
name: setup-local-testnet
description: >-
Spin up a local Anvil testnet with Uniswap deployed and pre-seeded liquidity.
One command gives you a full development environment with funded accounts,
real Uniswap pools, and zero gas costs. Use when developing, testing, or
demoing Uniswap agent workflows.
model: sonnet
allowed-tools:
- mcp__uniswap__setup_local_testnet
- mcp__uniswap__fund_test_account
- mcp__uniswap__get_supported_chains
---
# Setup Local Testnet
## Overview
Spins up a local Anvil testnet forking a live chain with all Uniswap contracts available, pre-funded test accounts, and real pool state. This is the foundation for all local testing -- every other testnet skill depends on it.
**Why this is 10x better than doing it manually:**
1. **One command**: Instead of writing 30+ lines of shell script to start Anvil, impersonate whales, fund accounts, and verify contracts, you say "set up a local testnet" and it's done.
2. **Pre-funded accounts**: Each test account gets 10,000 ETH plus 1M USDC, 1M USDT, 10K DAI, 100 WETH, and 10K UNI -- ready for any testing scenario.
3. **Real pool state**: Fork mode gives you every Uniswap pool with real liquidity, real prices, and real tick state. No mocking required.
4. **Contract discovery**: Returns all relevant Uniswap contract addresses (V3Factory, NonfungiblePositionManager, UniversalRouter, Permit2, QuoterV2) so you can immediately interact with them.
5. **Port management**: Automatically finds an available port, handles conflicts, and cleans up previous testnets.
6. **Follow-up integration**: Output is designed to feed directly into `create-test-pool` and `time-travel` skills.
## When to Use
Activate when the user says anything like:
- "Set up a local testnet"
- "Start a local Anvil fork"
- "I need a test environment for Uniswap"
- "Fork Ethereum locally"
- "Set up a dev environment"
- "I want to test without spending real gas"
- "Spin up Anvil with Uniswap"
- "Create a test environment for my agent"
**Do NOT use** when the user already has a testnet running and just wants to add pools (use `create-test-pool`) or advance time (use `time-travel`).
## Parameters
| Parameter | Required | Default | How to Extract |
| -------------- | -------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| mode | No | fork | "fork" or "mock" -- fork is the default and recommended |
| forkFrom | No | ethereum | "ethereum", "base", "arbitrum", "optimism", "polygon" |
| blockNumber | No | latest | Specific block number if the user mentions one |
| seedLiquidity | No | true | Set to false only if user says "empty testnet" or "no tokens" |
| fundedAccounts | No | 3 | Number of accounts (1-5) if user specifies |
| port | No | auto | Specific port if user mentions one |
## Workflow
### Step 1: Check Prerequisites
Before calling the MCP tool, verify the environment:
1. **Anvil availability**: The tool will return a clear error if Anvil is not installed. If you see `TESTNET_ANVIL_NOT_FOUND`, tell the user:
```
Anvil (Foundry) is required but not installed.
Install: curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz | bash && foundryup
```
2. **Network access**: Fork mode requires network access to the chain's RPC. If you see `TESTNET_STARTUP_TIMEOUT`, suggest checking network connectivity or trying a different chain.
### Step 2: Extract Parameters
Parse the user's request for any specific requirements:
- Chain preference: "fork Base" → `forkFrom: "base"`
- Block number: "at block 19000000" → `blockNumber: 19000000`
- Account count: "5 test accounts" → `fundedAccounts: 5`
- No funding: "empty testnet" → `seedLiquidity: false`
If the user doesn't specify, use all defaults (fork Ethereum, 3 funded accounts, seed liquidity).
### Step 3: Call setup_local_testnet
Call `mcp__uniswap__setup_local_testnet` with the extracted parameters.
### Step 4: Present Results
Format the response as a rich summary:
```text
Local Testnet Ready
RPC URL: http://127.0.0.1:8545
Chain ID: 31337
Mode: Fork of Ethereum at block 19,234,567
Funded Accounts:
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ # Address ETH USDC │
│ 1 0xf39Fd6e51aad88F6F4ce6aB8827279cffFb92266 10,000 1,000,000 │
│ 2 0x70997970C51812dc3A010C7d01b50e0d17dc79C8 10,000 1,000,000 │
│ 3 0x3C44CdDdB6a900fa2b585dd299e03d12FA4293BC 10,000 1,000,000 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Key Contracts:
V3Factory: 0x1F98431c8aD98523631AE4a59f267346ea31F984
NonfungiblePositionManager: 0xC36442b4a4522E871399CD717aBDD847Ab11FE88
UniversalRouter: 0x3fC91A3afd70395Cd496C647d5a6CC9D4B2b7FAD
Permit2: 0x000000000022D473030F116dDEE9F6B43aC78BA3
QuoterV2: 0x61fFE014bA17989E743c5F6cB21bF9697530B21e
Available Pools (from fork):
USDC/WETH 0.05% (V3) — 0x88e6A0c2dDD26FEEb64F039a2c41296FcB3f5640
USDC/WETH 0.30% (V3) — 0x8ad599c3A0ff1De082011EFDDc58f1908eb6e6D8
USDT/WETH 0.30% (V3) — 0x4e68Ccd3E89f51C3074ca5072bbAC773960dFa36
WBTC/WETH 0.30% (V3) — 0xCBCdF9626bC03E24f779434178A73a0B4bad62eD
Private Keys (for wallet config):
Account #1: 0xac0974bec39a17e36ba4a6b4d238ff944bacb478cbed5efcae784d7bf4f2ff80
Account #2: 0x59c6995e998f97a5a0044966f0945389dc9e86dae88c7a8412f4603b6b78690d
Account #3: 0x5de4111afa1a4b94908f83103eb1f1706367c2e68ca870fc3fb9a804cdab365a
```
### Step 5: Suggest Next Steps
Always end with actionable follow-ups:
```text
Next Steps:
- Create a custom pool: "Create a WETH/DAI pool with thin liquidity"
- Test time-dependent logic: "Advance time by 7 days"
- Test a swap: "Get a quote for 1 WETH → USDC on the local testnet"
- Fund more tokens: "Fund account #1 with 10,000 WBTC"
- Configure your MCP server: Set RPC_URL_1=http://127.0.0.1:8545 in .env
```
## Important Notes
- **Anvil must be installed.** This skill requires Foundry's Anvil. If not installed, provide the installation command.
- **Fork mode requires network access.** The initial fork downloads state from the live chain's RPC. Subsequent operations are local.
- **Port conflicts are handled automatically.** If port 8545 is in use, the tool finds the next available port.
- **Previous testnets are cleaned up.** Starting a new testnet kills any existing one.
- **Private keys are Anvil defaults.** These are well-known test keys -- never use them on mainnet.
- **The testnet persists until the MCP server process exits** or a new testnet is started.
## Error Handling
| Error | User-Facing Message | Suggested Action |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `TESTNET_ANVIL_NOT_FOUND` | "Anvil (Foundry) is not installed." | Install: `curl -L https://foundry.paradigm.xyz \| bash && foundryup` |
| `TESTNET_STARTUP_TIMEOUT` | "Anvil did not start within 30s. Fork RPC may be unreachable." | Check network, try a different chain, or retry |
| `TESTNET_INVALID_FORK_CHAIN` | "Chain X is not supported for forking." | Use ethereum, base, arbitrum, optimism, or polygon |
| `TESTNET_MOCK_NOT_IMPLEMENTED` | "Mock mode is not yet implemented." | Use fork mode instead |
| `TESTNET_SETUP_FAILED` | "Failed to set up testnet: {reason}" | Check Anvil installation and network access |
don't have the plugin yet? install it then click "run inline in claude" again.