Hardhat is gaining popularity as a preferred development environment for Ethereum developers due to its automation capabilities, built-in local Ethereum network, and focus on recurring tasks. This article explores how to use Hardhat for building, deploying, and interacting with smart contracts that utilize the Chainlink Network, including API Consumer, Price Feeds Consumer, and VRF Consumer contracts. Hardhat's functionality is enhanced through plugins like web3 and ethers.js, which allow for seamless interaction with Ethereum networks. The Chainlink Hardhat Box serves as a template, containing all necessary tasks and smart contracts for integrating Chainlink's features into Solidity projects. Developers can deploy these contracts to the Kovan testnet using the hardhat-deploy plugin and interact with them through specific Hardhat tasks, such as reading price feeds, requesting external data, and generating random numbers. The article also encourages developers to connect their smart contracts to off-chain data by referencing developer documentation and engaging with the community on platforms like Discord.