In this part of the Solana Documentation, we explore how to interact with a Solana Cluster via the command line. For this you will need to install the Solana Command Line Tools on Linux, MacOS or Windows.
In this tutorial we will connect to a cluster, create a wallet and explore some of the Solana command line options SOL Wallet creation, airdropping SOL, transferring SOL, checking your wallet balance and confirming transactions.
Missed something? Check out the rest of the Inside the Solana Docs blog post series:
- INSIDE THE SOLANA DOCS – WHY SOLANA AND WHAT IS $SOL?
- INSIDE THE SOLANA DOCS – APP, PAPER AND HARDWARE SOL WALLETS
- INSIDE THE SOLANA DOCS – CREATING WALLETS, AIRDROPS AND SOL TRANSFERS
Installing Solana Command Line Tools
You need Linux, MacOS or Windows to setup the CLI tools.
curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solana-labs/solana/v1.1.10/install/solana-install-init.sh | sh -s - v1.1.10
You can also download the binaries manually if the above script doesn’t work.
Halfway through writing this article, Solana updated from v1.1.9, to v1.1.10, to v1.1.12 ! Stay tuned for the latest updates at Solana Releases. They also adding instructions for installing Solana on Windows to their Docs. It goes to show you how FAST the Solana Development teams are pushing out code.
Windows command-line binaries are now available:
solana, solana-keygen, solana-installMAC TIP: Your computer may complain that “Solana” is not trusted. To manually trust it, just open “Preferences > Security & Privacy” to “Allow” Solana. From there within Terminal you can see all the Solana command line tools!
My-air:Solana$ solana
solana-cli 1.1.10
Blockchain, Rebuilt for Scale
USAGE:
solana [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
--skip-seed-phrase-validation Skip validation of seed phrases. Use this if your phrase does not use the BIP39
official English word list
-V, --version Prints version information
-v, --verbose Show additional information
OPTIONS:
-C, --config <FILEPATH> Configuration file to use [default: /Users/solana/.config/solana/cli/config.yml]
-u, --url <URL> JSON RPC URL for the solana cluster
-k, --keypair <KEYPAIR> Filepath or URL to a keypair
--output <output_format> Return information in specified output format. Supports: json, json-compact
[possible values: json, json-compact]
--ws <URL> WebSocket URL for the solana cluster
SUBCOMMANDS:
account Show the contents of an account
address Get your public key
airdrop Request lamports
authorize-nonce-account Assign account authority to a new entity
balance Get your balance
block-production Show information about block production
block-time Get estimated production time of a block
cancel Cancel a transfer
catchup Wait for a validator to catch up to the cluster
claim-storage-reward Redeem storage reward credits
cluster-date Get current cluster date, computed from genesis creation time and network time
cluster-version Get the version of the cluster entrypoint
config Solana command-line tool configuration settings
confirm Confirm transaction by signature
create-address-with-seed Generate a derived account address with a seed
create-archiver-storage-account Create an archiver storage account
create-nonce-account Create a nonce account
create-stake-account Create a stake account
create-validator-storage-account Create a validator storage account
create-vote-account Create a vote account
deactivate-stake Deactivate the delegated stake from the stake account
decode-transaction Decode a base-85 binary transaction
delegate-stake Delegate stake to a vote account
deploy Deploy a program
epoch Get current epoch
epoch-info Get information about the current epoch
fees Display current cluster fees
genesis-hash Get the genesis hash
gossip Show the current gossip network nodes
help Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
leader-schedule Display leader schedule
live-slots Show information about the current slot progression
new-nonce Generate a new nonce, rendering the existing nonce useless
nonce Get the current nonce value
nonce-account Show the contents of a nonce account
pay Send a payment
ping Submit transactions sequentially
resolve-signer Checks that a signer is valid, and returns its specific path; useful for
signers that may be specified generally, eg. usb://ledger
send-signature Send a signature to authorize a transfer
send-timestamp Send a timestamp to unlock a transfer
slot Get current slot
split-stake Duplicate a stake account, splitting the tokens between the two
stake-account Show the contents of a stake account
stake-authorize Authorize a new signing keypair for the given stake account
stake-history Show the stake history
stake-set-lockup Set Lockup for the stake account
stakes Show stake account information
storage-account Show the contents of a storage account
total-supply Get total number of SOL
transaction-count Get current transaction count
transaction-history Show historical transactions affecting the given address, ordered based on
the slot in which they were confirmed in from lowest to highest slot
transfer Transfer funds between system accounts
validator-info Publish/get Validator info on Solana
validators Show summary information about the current validators
vote-account Show the contents of a vote account
vote-authorize-voter Authorize a new vote signing keypair for the given vote account
vote-authorize-withdrawer Authorize a new withdraw signing keypair for the given vote account
vote-update-validator Update the vote account's validator identity
withdraw-from-nonce-account Withdraw SOL from the nonce account
withdraw-from-vote-account Withdraw lamports from a vote account into a specified account
withdraw-stake Withdraw the unstaked SOL from the stake account Let’s target the Solana DevNet Cluster:
C:\Users\SOLdier>solana config set --url https://devnet.solana.com
Config File: C:\Users\SOLdier\.config\solana\cli\config.yml
RPC URL: https://devnet.solana.com
WebSocket URL: wss://devnet.solana.com/ (computed)
Keypair Path: C:\Users\SOLdier\.config\solana\id.json
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana config get
Config File: C:\Users\SOLdier\.config\solana\cli\config.yml
RPC URL: https://devnet.solana.com
WebSocket URL: wss://devnet.solana.com/ (computed)
Keypair Path: C:\Users\SOLdier\.config\solana\id.jsonNow we need to make sure the local Solana install matches the Solana network cluster version:
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana --version
solana-cli 1.1.12
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana cluster-version
1.1.12 b9a80152Link a Solana Wallet to Run CLI Commands
In order to send or receive tokens and stake in a cluster, you will need to link a wallet. If you would like more information on the different types of wallets, check out our Solana Wallet Guide. For this example, we will be creating one of the most insecure wallets, the File System Wallet.
To create a File System Wallet we will need to run the solana-keygen command.
my-air:Solana$ solana-keygen
Killed: 9
If you running this in MacOS, you will need to allow the command via System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Allow:
You can now test out you can run the command by executing “solana-keygen –help”
my-air:Solana$ solana-keygen --help
solana-keygen 1.1.10
Solana key generation utility
USAGE:
solana-keygen [OPTIONS] <SUBCOMMAND>
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
-V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
-C, --config <FILEPATH> Configuration file to use [default: /Users/johnny/.config/solana/cli/config.yml]
SUBCOMMANDS:
grind Grind for vanity keypairs
help Prints this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
new Generate new keypair file from a passphrase and random seed phrase
pubkey Display the pubkey from a keypair file
recover Recover keypair from seed phrase and passphrase
verify Verify a keypair can sign and verify a message.Let’s build File System Wallet and generate a key pair (Solana Docs):
mkdir ~/my-solana-wallet
solana-keygen new --outfile ~/my-solana-wallet-devnet/my-keypair.json
Generating a new keypair
For added security, enter a passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Wrote new keypair to ~/my-solana-wallet-devnet/my-keypair.json
=============================================================================
pubkey: 3Fj7USbqwiqVMGgL9v46kgV3eQsKYHtKPtHtJPHF6fxK
=============================================================================
Save this seed phrase to recover your new keypair:
this will be twelve random random words like weather and blast
=============================================================================You can then verify your Public Wallet Address against your Keypair file:
solana-keygen verify 3Fj7USbqwiqVMGgL9v46kgV3eQsKYHtKPtHtJPHF6fxK ~/my-solana-wallet-devnet/my-keypair.json
Verification for public key: 3Fj7USbqwiqVMGgL9v46kgV3eQsKYHtKPtHtJPHF6fxK: SuccessLet’s AirDrop 1000 SOL on DevNet (TestNet)
Now you can do some cool stuff and see how quick Solana is. We will run a command to check our new account has zero balance. As we are on the test network, we can airdrop ourselves some SOL! The commands we will use are as follows:
- solana balance <ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> –url https://devnet.solana.com
- solana airdrop 1000 <RECIPIENT_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> –url https://devnet.solana.com
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana balance 3Fj7USbqwiqVMGgL9v46kgV3eQsKYHtKPtHtJPHF6fxK --url https://devnet.solana.com
0 SOL
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana airdrop 1000 3Fj7USbqwiqVMGgL9v46kgV3eQsKYHtKPtHtJPHF6fxK --url https://devnet.solana.com
Requesting airdrop of 1000 SOL from 34.82.57.86:9900
1000 SOL
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana balance 3Fj7USbqwiqVMGgL9v46kgV3eQsKYHtKPtHtJPHF6fxK --url https://devnet.solana.com
1000 SOLNow I’m going to make another wallet so I can do a SOL transfer:
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana-keygen new --outfile ~/my-solana-wallet-devnet2/my-keypair.json
Generating a new keypair
For added security, enter a passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Wrote new keypair to ~/my-solana-wallet-devnet2/my-keypair.json
================================================================================
pubkey: 45Mfukyu1XFc56Fk5yUDcbkrZY49prsgVR4eCJpd3DtW
================================================================================Then we will transfer some sweet SOL from the first account to the second account. The first account (3Fj7USbqwiqVMGgL9v46kgV3eQsKYHtKPtHtJPHF6fxK) has a balance of 1000 SOL that we airdropped before. The second account (45Mfukyu1XFc56Fk5yUDcbkrZY49prsgVR4eCJpd3DtW) has a balance of 0 SOL.
The commands wee will use are the following, where KEYPAIR is the file path for your first wallet, RECIPIENT is the public key of your second wallet and AMOUNT is how many SOL:
- solana transfer –from <KEYPAIR> <RECIPIENT_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> <AMOUNT> –url https://devnet.solana.com –fee-payer <KEYPAIR>
- solana balance <ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> –url https://devnet.solana.com
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana transfer --from ~/my-solana-wallet-devnet/my-keypair.json 45Mfukyu1XFc56Fk5yUDcbkrZY49prsgVR4eCJpd3DtW 10 --url https://devnet.solana.com --fee-payer ~/my-solana-wallet-devnet/my-keypair.json
Signature: 3gAhpt1qk9bXE7t1vusf4cX13LEiGcwrM6amgoWtMATPf95NwGXm3kYrmj4EFPQUtQL1AvePfXfN5GHdZSSspLW
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana balance 3Fj7USbqwiqVMGgL9v46kgV3eQsKYHtKPtHtJPHF6fxK --url https://devnet.solana.com
989.999995 SOL
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana balance 45Mfukyu1XFc56Fk5yUDcbkrZY49prsgVR4eCJpd3DtW --url https://devnet.solana.com
10 SOLAbove we have confirmed that the SOL transferred from one wallet to another. However, you may have noticed the blockchain confirmations counting up to 32 confirmations after you ran the command. We can also confirm the transactions was verified by the blockchain:
C:\Users\SOLdier\Solana>solana confirm 3gAhpt1qk9bXE7t1vusf4cX13LEiGcwrM6amgoWtMATPf95NwGXm3kYrmj4EFPQUtQL1AvePfXfN5GHdZSSspLW
ConfirmedThere you have it! Today we successfully installed Solana Command Line Tools across Linux, MacOS and Windows! We also chose the DevNet Solana Network, created a Wallet, Airdropped some SOL, then transferred it to another Wallet !
You are Now a Solana Command Line Guru!
In the next topic, we will get into how to Stake your SOL to a Validator node and get some SOL rewards.
Stay Tuned and please share us on Twitter!
Hello
I have this message:
$ solana balance
Error: RPC request error: cluster version query failed: error sending request for url (https://devnet.solana.com/): error trying to connect: The certificate was not trusted.
How can I fix it? (I’m on MacOS)
thanks!
Would recommend you move this question over to the community based Solhack.com Discord where fellow Solhackers can help you out! 🙂