Override State

Set code, nonce, or a storage slot at any address on your Stagenet from the command line.

This CLI wraps the state SDK methods. Use them when you want the same actions driven from a script.

Usage

With a contract.dev.js at your project root (see Setup):


contract.dev state <subcommand>

`state set-code`

Replace the bytecode at an address. Pass "0x" to wipe.


contract.dev state set-code 0xContract... 0x6042...
contract.dev state set-code 0xContract... 0x          # empty

Argument	Description
`<address>`	A 0x-prefixed Ethereum address
`<bytecode>`	The bytecode as 0x-prefixed hex

Sample output:


Set code at 0xContract... (3 bytes)

`state set-nonce`

Set the nonce on an account.


contract.dev state set-nonce 0x1111... 42
contract.dev state set-nonce 0x1111... 0x10           # = 16

Argument	Description
`<address>`	A 0x-prefixed Ethereum address
`<nonce>`	Non-negative integer (decimal or 0x-hex)

Sample output:


Set nonce for 0x1111111111111111111111111111111111111111 = 42

`state set-storage`

Write a 32-byte value into a specific storage slot.


contract.dev state set-storage 0xContract... \
  --slot  0 \
  --value 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002a

Argument	Description
`<address>`	The contract address
`--slot <slot>`	Storage slot key — a decimal slot number (`5`) or 0x hex (≤32 bytes, left-padded). `10` is slot ten, not `0x10`.
`--value <0x..>`	Value to write — exactly 32 bytes (`0x` + 64 hex chars). Short hex like `0x2a` is rejected; pad explicitly.

Slot keys are uint256, so decimal and short hex are unambiguous. Values are not (uint-style vs bytes-style padding) — pad them with "0x" + n.toString(16).padStart(64, "0") (or viem’s pad(toHex(n))).

Sample output:


Set storage at 0xContract...
  slot:  0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  value: 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002a

Notes

These commands match the semantics of Hardhat’s hardhat_setStorageAt, Anvil’s anvil_setStorageAt, and Foundry’s vm.store.
For ERC20 balances specifically, prefer erc20-balance — it handles the standard balanceOf slot for you.