Solana tooling

Get started with a reliable Solana RPC endpoint, then plug it into the tools below.

Solana CLI (Agave)

The Solana Foundation one-liner installs the full toolkit — Agave CLI, Anchor, and Surfpool — in a single step.

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSfL https://solana-install.solana.workers.dev | bash

Alternatively, install just the Agave CLI:

sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.anza.xyz/stable/install)"

The client is called Agave (forked from Solana Labs by Anza), but the binary is still named solana for ecosystem compatibility. solana --version prints solana-cli 3.x.x (... client:Agave). Upgrades now go through agave-install update (the old solana-install binary was renamed).

Point the CLI at your Chainstack node:

solana config set --url YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT

This is only needed on Trader Nodes, whose WebSocket endpoint is on a different host than the HTTPS one — the WSS host carries a ws- prefix (nd-….p2pify.com for HTTPS, ws-nd-….p2pify.com for WSS). Because solana config set derives the WebSocket URL by swapping only the protocol, set it explicitly on a Trader Node:

solana config set --ws YOUR_CHAINSTACK_WSS_ENDPOINT

On Global Nodes, HTTPS and WebSocket share the same host (for example, solana-mainnet.core.chainstack.com), so the derived WebSocket URL is correct and no --ws flag is needed.

Example:

$ solana block-height
413787151

Full command reference: Solana CLI docs.

QUIC support

sendTransaction on a Chainstack Solana node forwards over QUIC to the current and next leaders. No client configuration required. For high landing rate under contention, use Solana Trader Nodes — sendTransaction is routed through bloXroute’s staked Trader API, all other RPC calls stay on the standard endpoint. See also the Stake-Weighted QoS guide.

JSON-RPC API

Any HTTP client works. Use curl or Postman for ad-hoc calls; see the full JSON-RPC reference for all methods.

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"getBalance","params":["23dQfKhhsZ9RA5AAn12KGk21MB784PmTB3gfKRwdBNHr"],"id":1}' \
  YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT

where YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT is your node HTTPS endpoint. See node access details.

gRPC: Yellowstone Geyser

Real-time streaming runs over gRPC through the Yellowstone gRPC Geyser plugin, a paid add-on you install on the node. Its endpoint appears under Yellowstone gRPC in the node’s Access and credentials view, separate from the HTTPS and WSS endpoints. The endpoint listens on port 443 with TLS and authenticates with the token in the x-token metadata header rather than in the URL. The console shows it as https://yellowstone-solana-mainnet.core.chainstack.com:443 on Global Nodes and as a bare hostname with no scheme or port on Dedicated Nodes. The endpoint form depends on the client: @triton-one/yellowstone-grpc (TypeScript) and yellowstone-grpc-client (Rust) need the scheme and port, as in https://HOST:443, while the Python grpc package, Go, and grpcurl take HOST:443 with no scheme. HOST is the hostname alone — yellowstone-solana-mainnet.core.chainstack.com on Global Nodes. See Connect to your endpoint for per-client examples, and gRPC access via x-token for the authentication details.

JavaScript and TypeScript: @solana/kit

@solana/kit is the modern Solana JavaScript SDK — a tree-shakeable, functional API that replaces the class-based @solana/web3.js v1. It is the direct successor to what briefly shipped as @solana/web3.js@2.x.

npm install @solana/kit

Fetch an account balance against your Chainstack endpoint:

import { address, createSolanaRpc, lamports } from "@solana/kit";

const rpc = createSolanaRpc("YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT");
const balance = await rpc
  .getBalance(address("23dQfKhhsZ9RA5AAn12KGk21MB784PmTB3gfKRwdBNHr"))
  .send();

console.log(balance.value); // lamports as bigint

Per-program instruction builders

Kit exposes only the RPC layer. Typed instruction builders for each Solana program live in per-program packages under the solana-program org — install them alongside Kit as you need them:

npm install @solana/kit @solana-program/system @solana-program/token

Migrating from @solana/web3.js v1

@solana/web3.js v1 is on a maintenance branch, which still ships protocol compatibility updates such as transaction v1 read support in 1.99.0. For existing v1 apps, the @solana/web3-compat bridge lets you keep your existing imports while progressively adopting Kit primitives:

npm install @solana/web3-compat @solana/kit

React dApps: create-solana-dapp

The official scaffolding CLI bootstraps a full dApp (Next.js + Tailwind + wallet connection + Anchor example) in one command:

npm create solana-dapp@latest
# or: pnpm create solana-dapp@latest
# or: bun create solana-dapp@latest

Templates are maintained at solana-foundation/templates. The default scaffold uses @solana/kit + @solana/react-hooks (framework-kit) for wallet and RPC wiring.

Programs: Anchor 1.0

Anchor v1.0.0 shipped on 2026-04-02. Install via the Anchor Version Manager:

cargo install --git https://github.com/solana-foundation/anchor avm --force
avm install latest
avm use latest

Breaking rename in v1.0: The TypeScript package was renamed from @coral-xyz/anchor to @anchor-lang/core. The Rust crate remains anchor-lang. Existing @coral-xyz/anchor imports continue to resolve to the 0.32.x line but will not receive v1.0 features.

Anchor v1.0 also makes Surfpool the default validator for anchor test and anchor localnet. See Solana: Anchor development for an end-to-end walkthrough.

Client codegen: Codama

Codama (the successor to Kinobi) generates typed JavaScript and Rust clients from a program IDL. The standard workflow is:

Anchor / Shank macros → IDL → Codama → TypeScript / Rust clients

pnpm install codama
codama init

This is how the @solana-program/* packages are produced. Any program you ship should emit an IDL and pipe it through Codama to generate first-class client types.

Local testing

Three tools cover the modern Solana testing pyramid:

Tier	Tool	Guide
Unit (in-process, multi-instruction)	LiteSVM	Solana: Fast unit testing with LiteSVM
Unit (single-instruction, CU benchmarks)	Mollusk	—
Integration (full RPC, mainnet fork)	Surfpool	Solana: Surfpool quick-start

LiteSVM boots an in-process SVM for fast unit tests. Surfpool wraps LiteSVM with a full JSON-RPC server and a copy-on-read mainnet fork — Anchor 1.0 invokes it as the default validator. Mollusk, from Anza, focuses on single-instruction CU profiling.

Python: Solana.py and solders

Solana.py is the main RPC client:

pip install solana

from solana.rpc.api import Client
from solders.pubkey import Pubkey

client = Client("YOUR_CHAINSTACK_ENDPOINT")
print(client.get_balance(Pubkey.from_string("23dQfKhhsZ9RA5AAn12KGk21MB784PmTB3gfKRwdBNHr")))

Solana.py now uses solders under the hood for its core types (Keypair, Transaction, Pubkey, etc.) — pip install solana installs solders transitively. Solders also ships the Python bindings for LiteSVM (from solders.litesvm import LiteSVM).

AI-assisted development

The Solana Foundation publishes an official solana-dev-skill — a Claude Code skill that teaches agents the current Solana stack (Kit, Anchor 1.0, Codama, LiteSVM/Surfpool, security patterns, version compatibility). Install it into Claude Code:

npx skills add https://github.com/solana-foundation/solana-dev-skill

Once installed, the skill activates automatically on Solana-related prompts. It covers program development (Anchor and Pinocchio), client work with Kit and framework-kit, testing with LiteSVM and Surfpool, IDL codegen with Codama, and common error troubleshooting. For the broader AI tooling ecosystem — Cursor rules, MCP servers, agent kits — see the Solana Foundation’s awesome-solana-ai catalog.

Wallets

Backpack

Backpack is one of the few Solana wallets that lets you set a custom RPC endpoint — essential if you want your wallet to inherit the reliability of your own node rather than share a public endpoint during congestion. To point Backpack at your Chainstack Solana node:

Open Backpack.
Click the account icon > Settings.
Click Solana > RPC connection > Custom.
Enter your Chainstack Solana HTTPS endpoint and click Update.

Reference repos

These are the source repositories we worked against while writing this guide. They stay closer to reality than docs — check them first when something here looks off.

anza-xyz/kit — @solana/kit v6 source; canonical for RPC types and transaction-builder semantics
solana-foundation/anchor — Anchor 1.0 source; framework behavior cross-checked against master
solana-foundation/solana-dev-skill — Solana Foundation’s Claude Code skill; opinionated stack defaults cross-checked against
solana-foundation/templates — create-solana-dapp scaffolder templates
codama-idl/codama — IDL → typed-client codegen referenced in the “generate clients from IDL” section

Platform

Pricing

Core

Add-ons

Security

Migrate to Chainstack

Web3 [de]coded

MCP servers

Marketplace

Chainstack Compare

Chainstack ChatGPT plugin

Chainstack DLP browser extension

Protocols

Advanced APIs

Tooling

Solana CLI (Agave)

QUIC support

JSON-RPC API

gRPC: Yellowstone Geyser

JavaScript and TypeScript: @solana/kit

Per-program instruction builders

Migrating from @solana/web3.js v1

React dApps: create-solana-dapp

Programs: Anchor 1.0

Client codegen: Codama

Local testing

Python: Solana.py and solders

AI-assisted development

Wallets

Backpack

Reference repos

​Solana CLI (Agave)

​QUIC support

​JSON-RPC API

​gRPC: Yellowstone Geyser

​JavaScript and TypeScript: @solana/kit

​Per-program instruction builders

​Migrating from @solana/web3.js v1

​React dApps: create-solana-dapp

​Programs: Anchor 1.0

​Client codegen: Codama

​Local testing

​Python: Solana.py and solders

​AI-assisted development

​Wallets

​Backpack

​Reference repos

Solana CLI (Agave)

QUIC support

JSON-RPC API

gRPC: Yellowstone Geyser

JavaScript and TypeScript: @solana/kit

Per-program instruction builders

Migrating from @solana/web3.js v1

React dApps: create-solana-dapp

Programs: Anchor 1.0

Client codegen: Codama

Local testing

Python: Solana.py and solders

AI-assisted development

Wallets

Backpack

Reference repos