Quickstart

The Quick Start guide helps you install and run Poseidon in minutes. It walks you through cloning the repo, initializing a circuit, and generating your first zk-proof.

We’ll start by cloning the Poseidon repository to get the project files onto your local machine. After that, we'll initialize the circuit environment to prepare for writing and compiling zk-SNARK circuits.

Kindly follow the below steps in order to quickstart your zk-SNARK circuit development

Setup Poseidon Tool

Clone the Poseidon repository to get the project files onto your local machine. After that, we'll initialize the circuit environment to prepare for writing and compiling zk-SNARK circuits.

git clone https://github.com/dave1725/poseidon.git

After that, we'll setup the python script with all required libraries

python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Check if the script has been setup successfully by executing the below command. If setup successfully then you should see the banner of the tool.

py poseidon.py

Setup the Circuit Environment

This is the first and foremost step to be done. This command is to set up the base structure for your zk-SNARK development environment. It prepares all necessary folders and files so you can start writing your circuit code without manual setup. And all in one just one click!

python poseidon.py --circuit-setup

Ensures the following tools are installed:

• git – for pulling circuit libraries like circomlib

• cargo – required for building native components (via Rust)

• node & npm – required for running snarkjs and related JS tooling

• circom – circuit compiler (installed if missing)

• snarkjs – SNARK tooling for proving/verifying (installed if missing)

This is your first step before compiling or generating proofs.