Global Options

Global Options are options that Hardhat can receive and are available across all of its functionality.

They are different from Hardhat Task options and arguments in that they are meant to control the functionality of Hardhat itself, and not that of a single task.

For example, --network is a global option that controls the default value that network.connect() uses when no network config name is provided.

Plugins can define their own Global Options, so the complete list depends on your setup. To see all available options, run:

npm

npx hardhat --help

pnpm

pnpm hardhat --help

Yarn

yarn hardhat --help

Core Global Options

Verbosity

The --verbosity (or -v) option controls the amount of output shown during test execution, script runs, and deployments when using Hardhat Network. Use -v flags to increase the verbosity level. For example, -vvv sets level 3, and -vvvvv sets level 5. The default level is 2.

For tests (hardhat test):

Flag	Level	Effect
(none)	0-2	No call traces (level 2 is the default: shows logs)
-vvv	3	Execution traces for failing tests only
-vvvv	4	Execution traces for all tests + setUp traces for failing tests
-vvvvv	5	All traces (execution + setUp) for all tests

For non-test tasks (hardhat run, hardhat ignition deploy, etc.):

Flag	Level	Effect
(none)	0-2	No call traces
-vvv	3	Call traces for failing transactions only
-vvvv / -vvvvv	4-5	All call traces

npm

npx hardhat test -vvv

pnpm

pnpm hardhat test -vvv

Yarn

yarn hardhat test -vvv

npm

npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.ts -vvvvv

pnpm

pnpm hardhat run scripts/deploy.ts -vvvvv

Yarn

yarn hardhat run scripts/deploy.ts -vvvvv

The verbosity option is available on any Hardhat command. You can also use the long form:

npm

npx hardhat test --verbosity 3

pnpm

pnpm hardhat test --verbosity 3

Yarn

yarn hardhat test --verbosity 3

Tip

Call traces show the sequence of contract function calls made during a transaction, which is invaluable for debugging why a transaction reverted or understanding complex contract interactions.

Note

The --verbosity flag only produces output when using Hardhat Network (the built-in EDR-based local network). It does not apply to external networks like mainnet forks via URL, testnets, or tasks that don’t involve network connections (e.g., hardhat build, hardhat clean).

Global Options and environment variables

Global Options can also be provided using environment variables formatted like HARDHAT_<SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE>. For example, you can run:

npm

HARDHAT_NETWORK=localhost npx hardhat run script/my-script.ts

pnpm

HARDHAT_NETWORK=localhost pnpm hardhat run script/my-script.ts

Yarn

HARDHAT_NETWORK=localhost yarn hardhat run script/my-script.ts

If both the environment variable and the command line argument are provided, the latter takes precedence.