Setup, build, and deploy a Solana program locally in Rust

Rust is the most common programming language to write Solana programs with. This quickstart guide will demonstrate how to quickly setup, build, and deploy your first Rust based Solana program to the blockchain.

What you will learn #

• how to install the Rust language locally
• how to initialize a new Solana Rust program
• how to code a basic Solana program in Rust
• how to build and deploy your Rust program

Install Rust and Cargo #

To be able to compile Rust based Solana programs, install the Rust language and Cargo (the Rust package manager) using Rustup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Run your localhost validator #

The Solana CLI comes with the test validator built in. This command line tool will allow you to run a full blockchain cluster on your machine.

solana-test-validator

Configure your Solana CLI to use your localhost validator for all your future terminal commands and Solana program deployment:

solana config set --url localhost

Create a new Rust library with Cargo #

Solana programs written in Rust are libraries which are compiled to BPF bytecode and saved in the .so format.

Initialize a new Rust library named hello_world via the Cargo command line:

cargo init hello_world --lib
cd hello_world

Add the solana-program crate to your new Rust library:

cargo add solana-program

cargo add solana-program@"=1.17.17"

Open your Cargo.toml file and add these required Rust library configuration settings, updating your project name as appropriate:

[lib]
name = "hello_world"
crate-type = ["cdylib", "lib"]

Create your first Solana program #

The code for your Rust based Solana program will live in your src/lib.rs file. Inside src/lib.rs you will be able to import your Rust crates and define your logic. Open your src/lib.rs file in your favorite editor.

At the top of lib.rs, import the solana-program crate and bring our needed items into the local namespace:

use solana_program::{
    account_info::AccountInfo,
    entrypoint,
    entrypoint::ProgramResult,
    pubkey::Pubkey,
    msg,
};

Every Solana program must define an entrypoint that tells the Solana runtime where to start executing your onchain code. Your program's entrypoint should provide a public function named process_instruction:

// declare and export the program's entrypoint
entrypoint!(process_instruction);
 
// program entrypoint's implementation
pub fn process_instruction(
    program_id: &Pubkey,
    accounts: &[AccountInfo],
    instruction_data: &[u8]
) -> ProgramResult {
    // log a message to the blockchain
    msg!("Hello, world!");
 
    // gracefully exit the program
    Ok(())
}

Every onchain program should return the Ok result enum with a value of (). This tells the Solana runtime that your program executed successfully without errors.

This program above will simply log a message of "Hello, world!" to the blockchain cluster, then gracefully exit with Ok(()).

Build your Rust program #

Inside a terminal window, you can build your Solana Rust program by running in the root of your project (i.e. the directory with your Cargo.toml file):

cargo build-bpf

Deploy your Solana program #

Using the Solana CLI, you can deploy your program to your currently selected cluster:

solana program deploy ./target/deploy/hello_world.so

Once your Solana program has been deployed (and the transaction finalized), the above command will output your program's public address (aka its "program id").

# example output
Program Id: EFH95fWg49vkFNbAdw9vy75tM7sWZ2hQbTTUmuACGip3

Congratulations! #

You have successfully setup, built, and deployed a Solana program using the Rust language.

Next steps #

See the links below to learn more about writing Rust based Solana programs:

• Overview of writing Solana programs
• Learn more about developing Solana programs with Rust
• Debugging onchain programs