A sensible way to learn Solana development
Solana development becomes much easier once you separate three layers: the network model, the onchain program, and the client application. Beginners often jump straight into framework code without first understanding accounts and transactions, which makes debugging much harder later.
Understand addresses, signers, owners, instructions and atomic execution.
Send transactions and deploy examples without touching production assets.
Create an onchain program and understand where its state lives.
Construct instructions and connect a user-facing application.
Cover authorization, account constraints, edge cases and failure paths.
Treat upgrades, keys, RPC, observability and incidents as production concerns.
Programs are code. Accounts hold state.
A Solana program is executable code compiled to sBPF and stored in an executable account. Programs themselves are stateless; mutable application state lives in separate data accounts that are passed into instructions.
The rules your application executes onchain.
Balances, configuration and application data live here.
Names the program, required accounts and instruction data.
Contains one or more instructions plus signatures and recent blockhash data.
This separation is central to Solana. When a transaction declares which accounts it needs, the runtime can reason about which state may be read or written during execution.
Browser first, local environment second
There are two good ways to start. If you are learning, Solana Playground removes most setup friction. If you are building a serious project, move to a local environment once you understand the basics.
Solana Playground
Browser-based development, testing and deployment with no local installation required.
Open Playground ↗CLI + Rust + Anchor
The current official installer sets up Rust, Solana CLI, Anchor CLI, Surfpool CLI, Node.js and Yarn. Windows users are directed to WSL.
Installation guide ↗Anchor or native Rust?
Solana programs are primarily written in Rust. The official documentation distinguishes between Anchor, a higher-level framework, and native Rust, which gives you more direct control but requires more manual setup and boilerplate.
Anchor
- Higher-level account validation
- IDL generation for client integration
- Less boilerplate for common patterns
- Good default learning path for first programs
Native Rust
- Direct control over program structure
- Useful for learning lower-level mechanics
- More manual validation and serialization work
- Useful when optimization or fine-grained control matters
The current official Rust-program documentation explicitly recommends beginners start with Anchor, while describing native Rust as a good fit for developers who want granular control or want to understand the underlying mechanics.
Build your first program with Anchor
The current first-program tutorial uses an Anchor starter project and covers build, test and program structure.
Design your account model before your instructions
On Solana, application architecture starts with accounts. Decide what state must persist, who is allowed to modify it and which program owns the data account.
Program Derived Addresses
A Program Derived Address (PDA) is a deterministic address derived from seeds and a program ID. PDAs are useful when a program needs predictable account addresses and program-controlled signing semantics without an ordinary private key.
Cross-Program Invocations
A Cross-Program Invocation (CPI) lets one Solana program invoke an instruction in another program. This is a fundamental mechanism for composing applications from existing onchain programs.
CPIs are powerful, but account privileges matter. Signer and writable privileges cannot simply be escalated by a called program. When a PDA controlled by the invoking program must sign, the runtime can authorize it from the PDA's seeds during the CPI.
Your frontend is not your program
The client layer constructs transactions, fetches state, connects to wallets and communicates through RPC. It should be treated as untrusted from the perspective of your onchain program: any important rule must be enforced onchain, not only in JavaScript.
For new TypeScript/JavaScript work, the current official Solana documentation recommends @solana/kit. Older examples using @solana/web3.js v1 are still widespread, so always check the date and library generation when following a tutorial.
Solana Tools
Our independent overview of wallets, RPC, Solana Kit, Rust clients, testing and infrastructure.
Test logic, authorization and integration separately
Good program tests do more than prove the happy path. They should also prove that unauthorized signers, wrong account owners, invalid PDAs and malformed inputs are rejected.
Exercise program logic quickly and repeatedly.
Test transactions and program behavior against a local Solana cluster.
Verify wallet, RPC and deployment flows in a shared non-production environment.
Only after controls, keys, monitoring and failure procedures are understood.
The official native Rust guide currently demonstrates testing with litesvm and also documents deployment against solana-test-validator. Solana's program examples repository includes examples in Anchor, native Rust and Pinocchio.
Deployment is a security decision
Deploying a program creates an onchain program account. Upgradeability depends on the loader and whether an upgrade authority remains configured. Current Solana documentation notes that programs deployed with the upgradeable loader can be upgraded while an upgrade authority exists; revoking that authority makes the program immutable.
Know whether your client, PDAs and integrations depend on a stable program address.
Protect it like production infrastructure. Decide who can authorize upgrades.
Keep source, releases and deployment artifacts reproducible and reviewable.
Watch transaction errors, logs, RPC dependencies and operational changes.
Before real users and real value
- Authorization: every privileged instruction validates the required signer and expected authority.
- Account validation: owners, addresses, PDAs, writable status and relationships are checked onchain.
- Arithmetic and edge cases: amounts, counters, conversions and boundaries are handled deliberately.
- Upgrade keys: deployment and upgrade authorities are protected, backed up and intentionally governed.
- RPC resilience: production behavior does not assume a public endpoint has guaranteed capacity.
- Observability: failed transactions, program logs and infrastructure errors can be detected and investigated.
- Dependency review: framework and SDK versions are pinned and monitored for migrations or security updates.
- Independent review: high-value applications should consider professional security review before launch.
Where to go next
Frequently asked developer questions
What language is used for Solana smart contracts?
Solana calls smart contracts “programs.” They are primarily developed in Rust and compiled to Solana's sBPF execution format.
Should a beginner start with Anchor?
The current official Solana Rust-program documentation recommends Anchor for beginners because it reduces boilerplate and provides higher-level development patterns. Native Rust remains useful for deeper control and learning lower-level mechanics.
Do Solana programs store their own state?
Programs are stateless. Mutable state lives in separate data accounts that are passed to the program through instructions.
What is a PDA?
A Program Derived Address is a deterministic address derived from seeds and a program ID. It has no ordinary private key and can be authorized by its owning program under the runtime's PDA signing rules.
What should I use for JavaScript clients?
For new TypeScript and JavaScript applications, current official Solana documentation recommends @solana/kit. Existing codebases may still use the legacy @solana/web3.js v1 library.
Can I learn without installing anything?
Yes. Solana Playground is a browser-based development environment used by the official Quick Start for learning core concepts, deploying programs and experimenting with Devnet.
Sources and official documentation
This guide was checked against current first-party Solana documentation. Framework versions and recommended tooling change over time, so implementation decisions should always be verified against the current official docs.
Editorial note: Solana Factory is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Solana Foundation or Solana Labs. External links are provided for reference. Nothing on this page is financial advice.