CPIs without PDA Signers

Summary

Use invoke for CPIs where all required signers have already signed the original transaction. No PDA signing is needed. Signer and writable privileges extend from the caller to the callee.

CPIs without PDA signers

When a CPI doesn't require PDA signers, the invoke function is used. The invoke function calls the invoke_signed function with an empty signers_seeds array. The empty signers array indicates that no PDAs are required for signing.

Invoke function

pub fn invoke(instruction: &Instruction, account_infos: &[AccountInfo]) -> ProgramResult {
    invoke_signed(instruction, account_infos, &[])
}

The examples below make a CPI using Anchor and Native Rust. It includes a single instruction that transfers SOL from one account to another.

Anchor

The following examples show two approaches to implementing CPIs in an Anchor program. The examples are functionally equivalent, but demonstrate different levels of abstraction.

Example 1: Uses Anchor's CpiContext and helper function.
Example 2: Uses the system_instruction::transfer function from the solana_program crate.
Example 3: Constructs the CPI instruction manually. This approach is useful when no crate exists to help build the instruction you want to invoke.

use anchor_lang::prelude::*;
use anchor_lang::system_program::{transfer, Transfer};

declare_id!("9AvUNHjxscdkiKQ8tUn12QCMXtcnbR9BVGq3ULNzFMRi");

#[program]
pub mod cpi {
    use super::*;

    pub fn sol_transfer(ctx: Context<SolTransfer>, amount: u64) -> Result<()> {
        let from_pubkey = ctx.accounts.sender.to_account_info();
        let to_pubkey = ctx.accounts.recipient.to_account_info();
        let program_id = ctx.accounts.system_program.to_account_info();

        let cpi_context = CpiContext::new(
            program_id,
            Transfer {
                from: from_pubkey,
                to: to_pubkey,
            },
        );

        transfer(cpi_context, amount)?;
        Ok(())
    }
}

#[derive(Accounts)]
pub struct SolTransfer<'info> {
    #[account(mut)]
    sender: Signer<'info>,
    #[account(mut)]
    recipient: SystemAccount<'info>,
    system_program: Program<'info, System>,
}

Rust

The following example shows how to make a CPI from a program written in Native Rust. It includes a single instruction that transfers SOL from one account to another. (The test file uses LiteSVM to test the program.)

use borsh::BorshDeserialize;
use solana_program::{
    account_info::AccountInfo,
    entrypoint,
    entrypoint::ProgramResult,
    program::invoke,
    program_error::ProgramError,
    pubkey::Pubkey,
    system_instruction,
};

// Declare program entrypoint
entrypoint!(process_instruction);

// Define program instructions
#[derive(BorshDeserialize)]
enum ProgramInstruction {
    SolTransfer { amount: u64 },
}

impl ProgramInstruction {
    fn unpack(input: &[u8]) -> Result<Self, ProgramError> {
        Self::try_from_slice(input).map_err(|_| ProgramError::InvalidInstructionData)
    }
}

pub fn process_instruction(
    _program_id: &Pubkey,
    accounts: &[AccountInfo],
    instruction_data: &[u8],
) -> ProgramResult {
    // Deserialize instruction data
    let instruction = ProgramInstruction::unpack(instruction_data)?;

    // Process instruction
    match instruction {
        ProgramInstruction::SolTransfer { amount } => {
            // Parse accounts
            let [sender_info, recipient_info, system_program_info] = accounts else {
                return Err(ProgramError::NotEnoughAccountKeys);
            };

            // Verify the sender is a signer
            if !sender_info.is_signer {
                return Err(ProgramError::MissingRequiredSignature);
            }

            // Create and invoke the transfer instruction
            let transfer_ix = system_instruction::transfer(
                sender_info.key,
                recipient_info.key,
                amount,
            );

            invoke(
                &transfer_ix,
                &[
                    sender_info.clone(),
                    recipient_info.clone(),
                    system_program_info.clone(),
                ],
            )?;

            Ok(())
        }
    }
}

CPIs without PDA Signers