dfinity · marc0olo · Apr 16, 2026 · Apr 16, 2026 · Apr 16, 2026
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+Developer tools are used to create, manage, and interact with canisters. ICP provides tooling across several categories: command-line tools, canister development kits (CDKs), browser-based IDEs, Wasm optimization utilities, and Candid tooling.
 
-<!-- Content Brief -->
-Overview of the ICP developer toolchain. Cover icp-cli (project management, deployment, identity), CDKs (Rust CDK via ic-cdk, Motoko compiler), icp.ninja playground for browser-based development, VS Code extensions, ic-wasm for Wasm optimization, and didc for Candid tools. Each tool gets a brief description and link to its documentation. Do not duplicate tool docs -- link out.
+## Command-line tools
 
-<!-- Source Material -->
-- Portal: building-apps/developer-tools/dev-tools-overview.mdx, cdks/index.mdx, icp-ninja.mdx
-- icskills: icp-cli
-- icp-cli docs: https://cli.internetcomputer.org/
-- Rust CDK: https://docs.rs/ic-cdk/latest/ic_cdk/
+### icp-cli
 
-<!-- Writing Note -->
-Also mention: Quill (cold wallet signing, NNS governance), icp-cli telemetry opt-out, and link to icp-cli's creating-recipes.md and creating-templates.md for advanced users.
+`icp-cli` is the primary tool for building and deploying applications on the Internet Computer. It manages the full development lifecycle: creating projects, building canisters, deploying to local or mainnet environments, managing identities, and handling cycles and ICP tokens.
 
-<!-- Cross-Links -->
-- getting-started/quickstart -- icp-cli in action
-- guides/tools/migrating-from-dfx -- migration guide
-- languages/rust/index -- Rust CDK details
-- languages/motoko/index -- Motoko tooling
+Key features:
+- **Recipes** — reusable, versioned build templates for Rust, Motoko, and asset canisters
+- **Environments** — named deployment targets that combine a network, canister set, and settings (e.g., local, staging, production)
+- **Project scaffolding** — `icp new` bootstraps new projects from official templates
+
+Install via npm (requires Node.js LTS):
+
+```bash
+npm install -g @icp-sdk/icp-cli @icp-sdk/ic-wasm
+```
+
+Or via Homebrew:
+
+```bash
+brew install icp-cli
+brew install ic-wasm
+```
+
+Verify:
+
+```bash
+icp --version
+```
+
+Full documentation: [cli.internetcomputer.org](https://cli.internetcomputer.org/)
+
+For advanced users, icp-cli supports authoring custom recipes and project templates:
+- [Creating recipes](https://cli.internetcomputer.org/guides/creating-recipes) — encode build conventions as reusable Handlebars templates
+- [Creating templates](https://cli.internetcomputer.org/guides/creating-templates) — scaffold new projects with `icp new`
+
+#### Telemetry opt-out
+
+`icp` collects anonymous usage data (command names, platform, version, success/failure) to help prioritize features. No personally identifiable information, project names, file paths, or canister IDs are collected.
+
+To opt out:
+
+```bash
+icp settings telemetry false
+```
+
+Or set `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` in your environment. Telemetry is automatically disabled in CI when the `CI` environment variable is set.
+
+### ic-wasm
+
+`ic-wasm` is a utility for optimizing and annotating WebAssembly modules for the Internet Computer. It shrinks Wasm binary size, embeds Candid metadata, and strips unused sections. The official Rust and Motoko recipes use `ic-wasm` automatically — you only need to call it directly when using custom build steps.
+
+Install:
+
+```bash
+npm install -g @icp-sdk/ic-wasm
+# or
+brew install ic-wasm
+```
+
+### Quill
+
+Quill is a minimalistic, offline-first CLI for signing and sending governance messages — NNS and SNS proposals, neuron management — from air-gapped machines. Unlike `icp-cli`, Quill is designed for cold wallet workflows: you generate signed messages on an offline device, then submit them from a networked machine.
+
+Quill is suited for:
+- Submitting NNS governance proposals
+- Managing SNS neurons from a hardware wallet or cold key
+
+Resources:
+- [Quill GitHub repo](https://github.com/dfinity/quill)
+
+## Canister development kits (CDKs)
+
+A canister development kit (CDK) provides a programming language with the libraries and toolchain support needed to compile code to WebAssembly and interact with the ICP system API.
+
+### Motoko
+
+Motoko is ICP's native programming language, designed around the actor model, orthogonal persistence, and asynchronous message passing. It compiles directly to WebAssembly and includes a standard library (`mo:core`) with modules for common data structures, cryptography, and system interaction.
+
+For language documentation, see [languages/motoko](../../languages/motoko/index.md).
+
+### Rust CDK (`ic-cdk`)
+
+The Rust CDK (`ic-cdk`) is the official DFINITY-maintained library for building canisters in Rust. It exposes the ICP system API as safe Rust abstractions, including:
+- `ic_cdk::api` — system calls (time, caller, stable memory, management canister)
+- `ic_cdk_timers` — periodic timers and one-shot timers
+- `ic_cdk_macros` — `#[update]`, `#[query]`, `#[init]`, and other attribute macros
+
+API reference: [docs.rs/ic-cdk](https://docs.rs/ic-cdk/latest/ic_cdk/)
+
+For Rust-specific guides, see [languages/rust](../../languages/rust/index.md).
+
+### Community CDKs
+
+Several community-maintained CDKs extend ICP to other languages:
+
+| Language | CDK | Resources |
+|----------|-----|-----------|
+| TypeScript / JavaScript | [Azle](https://github.com/demergent-labs/azle) | [Documentation](https://demergent-labs.github.io/azle/azle.html) |
+| Python | [Kybra](https://github.com/demergent-labs/kybra) | [Documentation](https://demergent-labs.github.io/kybra) |
+| C++ | [icpp-pro](https://github.com/icppWorld/icpp-pro) | [Documentation](https://docs.icpp.world) |
+| MoonBit | [moonbit-ic-cdk](https://github.com/eliezhao/moonbit-ic-cdk) | GitHub repo |
+
+Community CDKs are maintained independently of DFINITY. Check each project's documentation for current support status.
+
+## Browser-based IDE
+
+### ICP Ninja
+
+[ICP Ninja](https://icp.ninja) is a web-based IDE for writing and deploying ICP canisters directly from a browser — no local toolchain required. It provides a gallery of example projects (Motoko and Rust backends, React frontends) that you can browse, edit, and deploy to the mainnet in one click.
+
+Deployed canisters remain live for 20 minutes. You can redeploy to reset the timer, or download the project files to continue development locally with icp-cli.
+
+Limitations:
+- Projects are limited to 5 MB and 2 canisters
+- ICP Ninja is not a replacement for icp-cli for production workflows
+
+## Editor tooling
+
+### Motoko VS Code extension
+
+The [Motoko extension for VS Code](https://github.com/dfinity/vscode-motoko) (`dfinity/vscode-motoko`) adds Motoko language support to VS Code: syntax highlighting, type checking, auto-completion, and inline diagnostics.
+
+Install by searching for "Motoko" in the VS Code extensions panel, or visit the [vscode-motoko repository](https://github.com/dfinity/vscode-motoko) for details.
+
+## Candid tools
+
+### didc
+
+`didc` is the Candid command-line tool for working with Candid interfaces: encoding and decoding values, checking `.did` files, generating bindings, and testing Candid compatibility.
+
+Install: download a prebuilt binary from the [releases page](https://github.com/dfinity/candid/releases).
+
+Resources:
+- [Candid GitHub repo](https://github.com/dfinity/candid)
+- Candid specification: [reference/candid-spec.md](../../reference/candid-spec.md)
+
+## Next steps
+
+- **Start building:** [Quickstart](../../getting-started/quickstart.md) — deploy your first canister with icp-cli
+- **Migrating from the legacy CLI?** [Migration guide](migrating-from-dfx.md) — command mapping and configuration changes
+- **Rust development:** [Rust language guide](../../languages/rust/index.md)
+- **Motoko development:** [Motoko language guide](../../languages/motoko/index.md)
+
+<!-- Upstream: informed by dfinity/portal — docs/building-apps/developer-tools/dev-tools-overview.mdx, docs/building-apps/developer-tools/icp-ninja.mdx, docs/building-apps/developer-tools/cdks/index.mdx, docs/tutorials/developer-liftoff/level-1/1.2-dev-env.mdx; dfinity/icp-cli — docs/telemetry.md, docs/guides/installation.md, docs/guides/creating-recipes.md, docs/guides/creating-templates.md; dfinity/candid — README.md -->