Is there a way to deploy UI canister without dfx(/dfx-core)?

megared · June 11, 2024, 2:17am

As discussed in previous posts, we are implementing a way to deploy customised canisters without dfx.

Although implementations are available to perform canister create, canister install, etc. using ic-agent and ic-utils, it is difficult to create an environment for the various implementations on local nodes.

One of these is dfx deploy, which can be used to automatically deploy UI canisters and test canister calls on the UI.
This functionality seems to be included in the dfx package, but is there any way to use it without dfx?

github.com

dfinity/sdk/blob/4a2960eda721f685b988de91b971386cde8cde7c/src/dfx/src/lib/operations/canister/install_canister.rs#L59


      
              pool: Option<&CanisterPool>,
              skip_consent: bool,
              env_file: Option<&Path>,
              no_asset_upgrade: bool,
              always_assist: bool,
          ) -> DfxResult {
              let log = env.get_logger();
              let agent = env.get_agent();
              let network = env.get_network_descriptor();
              if !network.is_ic && named_canister::get_ui_canister_id(canister_id_store).is_none() {
                  named_canister::install_ui_canister(env, canister_id_store, None).await?;
              }
              let installed_module_hash = read_state_tree_canister_module_hash(agent, canister_id).await?;
              debug!(
                  log,
                  "Previously installed module hash: {:?}",
                  installed_module_hash.as_ref().map(hex::encode)
              );
              let mode = mode.unwrap_or_else(|| {
                  if installed_module_hash.is_some() {
                      InstallMode::Upgrade {

github.com

dfinity/sdk/blob/4a2960eda721f685b988de91b971386cde8cde7c/src/dfx/src/lib/named_canister.rs#L22


      
          use ic_utils::interfaces::management_canister::builders::InstallMode;
          use ic_utils::interfaces::ManagementCanister;
          use slog::info;
          use std::io::Read;
          use url::{Host::Domain, Url};
          
          pub const UI_CANISTER: &str = "__Candid_UI";
          pub const MAINNET_UI_CANISTER_INTERFACE_PRINCIPAL: &str = "a4gq6-oaaaa-aaaab-qaa4q-cai";
          
          #[context("Failed to install candid UI canister.")]
          pub async fn install_ui_canister(
              env: &dyn Environment,
              id_store: &mut CanisterIdStore,
              some_canister_id: Option<Principal>,
          ) -> DfxResult<Principal> {
              let network = env.get_network_descriptor();
              if id_store.find(UI_CANISTER).is_some() {
                  return Err(anyhow!(
                      "UI canister already installed on {} network",
                      network.name,
                  ));

Severin · June 11, 2024, 9:05am

The UI is here in the candid repo. dfx deploy should be enough to get it installed

megared · June 11, 2024, 3:04pm

Thanks for the confirmation.
I just want to deploy without using dfx commands such as dfx deploy.
Our library is built without any dependency on dfx binary.

Is this ui canister not published as a wasm module? Do I need to build it myself?
Or can I deploy only ui canister with dfx deploy?

Severin · June 11, 2024, 3:38pm

I am not aware of a published wasm, but I’m also not very close to that code base. If you look at dfx.json, you can find the commands to build the wasm without having to use dfx

megared · June 12, 2024, 2:01am

Thanks, I understood that if dfx is available, you have to use dfx deploy automatically, if dfx is not available, you have to build the code in candid repo yourself.

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Is there a way to deploy UI canister without dfx(/dfx-core)?

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