solana-development_skill

Overview

This skill helps you build Solana programs using either the Anchor framework or native Rust. It guides setup, core concepts (accounts, PDAs, CPIs, tokens), testing, deployment, and optimization so you can ship secure, efficient smart contracts.

How this skill works

The skill inspects common development flows and provides concrete commands, patterns, and decision guidance for Anchor and native Rust workflows. It maps core topics—account modeling, serialization, testing, compute profiling, and deployment—into actionable steps and references for insecure or expensive patterns to avoid.

When to use it

• Creating DeFi, NFT, or general Solana programs and clients
• Needing quick prototyping with TypeScript client generation (use Anchor)
• Optimizing compute units or minimizing binary size (use native Rust)
• Testing against mainnet state or local forks (mainnet forking with Surfpool)
• Deploying, upgrading, or verifying programs for production

Best practices

• Always validate accounts: check ownership, signer, writable flags, and rent exemptions
• Write exhaustive unit and integration tests; use Mollusk and Anchor test tooling
• Prefer checked arithmetic and descriptive custom errors to avoid silent failures
• Profile hot paths and minimize compute units; use zero-copy for large structs
• Use PDAs for program-owned accounts and cache bumps when needed
• Document account constraints and plan versioning/upgrades before deployment

Example use cases

• Rapidly build an NFT minting program and auto-generate a TypeScript client with Anchor
• Implement a high-throughput token swap core in native Rust to reduce compute overhead
• Write cross-program invocations safely; validate program accounts with Program<'info, T>
• Test interactions with Jupiter and Raydium by forking mainnet state locally via Surfpool
• Deploy and verify a program to devnet and follow verified build practices for production