Allow overriding the type of the default network

[fvictorio]

This fixes #7795, but I'm not fully convinced about the change.

The problem is that we are always setting the type of default network to be a simulated network, and we also set some other default values. This makes sense, but it does seem to assume that the network is not of type http. My concern is that a user's settings could interact in the wrong way with those default values.

On the other hand, without this change there's no way to have an http network as the default network, something that was possible in HH2.

One alternative here is to re-introduce the defaultNetwork config, and default it to "default" (yes).

Another alternative is to only use those default values if the user doesn't change the type, but that starts feeling a bit too complex.

[changeset-bot]

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: da3b1ae

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 1 package

Name	Type
hardhat	Patch

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[kanej]

We should double check running tests against a npx hardhat node instance, and add a changeset.
But in principle we are happy with this approach to let users set default to an http network.

[michalbrabec]

Overriding the default network creates the need to setup a new network for npx hardhat node and then used it with the --network parameter.
#7795 (comment)

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This pull request fixes issue #7795 by allowing users to override the type of the default and localhost network configurations. Previously, these networks had their types forced to specific values (default was always edr-simulated and localhost was always http), preventing users from configuring the default network as an HTTP network pointing to an external node.

Changes:

• Modified network configuration extension logic to respect user-specified network types
• Updated tests to verify that network types can now be overridden
• Added comprehensive test cases for overriding both default and localhost network types

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
v-next/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/hook-handlers/config.ts	Refactored extendUserConfig to conditionally apply defaults based on network type, allowing users to override the type of default and localhost networks
v-next/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/network-manager/hook-handlers/config.ts	Updated test descriptions and added new test cases to verify that network type overrides work correctly for both localhost and default networks
.changeset/four-lies-flash.md	Added changeset documenting the patch-level change

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[alcuadrado]

I went for an option where we only set the defaults if the network is undefined, it has no type, or the type matches the expected one. Otherwise I just forward whatever the user provided.

I also implemented the same logic for localhost, so that no network in this PR has any unexpected behavior.

[schaable]

LGTM

[kanej]

This has been released as part of hardhat@3.1.10: https://github.com/NomicFoundation/hardhat/releases/tag/hardhat%403.1.10