Getting Started

Solana test suites that spin up solana-test-validator take seconds per test - you are waiting on process startup, RPC connections, and network round-trips. LiteSVM runs the same tests in milliseconds. No external process, no network, everything in-memory inside your test runner.

litesvm-go is the official Go binding. Core types (PublicKey, Hash, Signature) come straight from gagliardetto/solana-go, so values flow naturally between litesvm-go and the rest of the Go Solana ecosystem.

Requirements: Go 1.24+. No Rust toolchain needed - prebuilt static archives are vendored in the module and selected automatically by GOOS / GOARCH. Supported platforms: macOS (amd64, arm64), Linux (amd64, arm64; glibc or musl), Windows (amd64).

A fresh LiteSVM handle exposes airdrops, transactions (legacy + v0), simulation, account read/write, sysvars, compute budget, feature gates, time travel, custom programs, and transaction history - all backed by the same Rust core that powers the Rust and TypeScript SDKs.

Quick Start

Install the module

go get resolves dependencies into a Go module, so initialize one first if you do not already have a go.mod:

go mod init mytest

Then add the module:

go get github.com/LiteSVM/litesvm-go

Also pull in solana-go for keypair, instruction, and transaction building:

go get github.com/gagliardetto/solana-go

Alpine / musl users: add -tags musl to your go build / go test invocation so the right vendored archive is linked.

Create your SVM

package mytest

import (
    "testing"

    litesvm "github.com/LiteSVM/litesvm-go"
    solana "github.com/gagliardetto/solana-go"
)

func TestSetup(t *testing.T) {
    svm, err := litesvm.New()
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer svm.Close()

    // Fund a payer
    priv, err := solana.NewRandomPrivateKey()
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    payer := priv.PublicKey()

    if err := svm.Airdrop(payer, 5_000_000_000); err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }

    // Check the balance
    lamports, ok, err := svm.Balance(payer)
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    if !ok {
        t.Fatal("payer account missing")
    }
    t.Logf("balance: %d lamports", lamports)
}

litesvm.New() returns a *LiteSVM and an error. Every entry point in litesvm-go follows the same (value, error) shape; panics on the Rust side are caught and converted to errors. Always defer svm.Close() so the underlying Rust handle is released - or rely on the finalizer, though explicit Close is preferred for predictable cleanup.

Understanding the Handle

After litesvm.New(), the returned *LiteSVM exposes these capability groups:

Group	Methods
Accounts	`Airdrop`, `Balance`, `GetAccount`, `SetAccount`, `MinimumBalanceForRentExemption`
Transactions	`SendLegacyTransaction`, `SendVersionedTransaction`, `SimulateLegacyTransaction`, `SimulateVersionedTransaction`, `GetTransaction`
Blockhash	`LatestBlockhash`, `ExpireBlockhash`
Programs	`AddProgram`, `AddProgramFromFile`, `AddProgramWithLoader`
Time and sysvars	`WarpToSlot`, `Clock`, `SetClock`, `Rent`, `SetRent`, `EpochSchedule`, `SetEpochSchedule`, `EpochRewards`, ...
Configuration	`SetSigverify`, `SetBlockhashCheck`, `SetTransactionHistory`, `SetLogBytesLimit`, `SetSysvars`, `SetBuiltins`, ...
Compute and features	`ComputeBudget`, `SetComputeBudget`, `SetFeatureSet`

A fresh LiteSVM ships with the core Solana programs (System Program, SPL Token, etc.) preloaded, so simple transfers work out of the box.

Sending Transactions

Build instructions with solana-go, marshal the transaction, and submit the bytes. litesvm-go accepts the bincode-encoded bytes produced by (*solana.Transaction).MarshalBinary:

package mytest

import (
    "testing"

    litesvm "github.com/LiteSVM/litesvm-go"
    solana "github.com/gagliardetto/solana-go"
    "github.com/gagliardetto/solana-go/programs/system"
)

func TestTransfer(t *testing.T) {
    svm, err := litesvm.New()
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer svm.Close()

    priv, err := solana.NewRandomPrivateKey()
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    payer := priv.PublicKey()
    recipient := solana.NewWallet().PublicKey()

    if err := svm.Airdrop(payer, 2_000_000_000); err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }

    blockhash, err := svm.LatestBlockhash()
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    ix := system.NewTransferInstruction(1_000_000_000, payer, recipient).Build()
    tx, err := solana.NewTransaction(
        []solana.Instruction{ix},
        blockhash,
        solana.TransactionPayer(payer),
    )
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    if _, err := tx.Sign(func(k solana.PublicKey) *solana.PrivateKey {
        if k.Equals(payer) {
            return &priv
        }
        return nil
    }); err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    txBytes, err := tx.MarshalBinary()
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }

    out, err := svm.SendLegacyTransaction(txBytes)
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer out.Close()

    if !out.IsOk() {
        t.Fatalf("tx failed: %s\nlogs: %v", out.Error(), out.Logs())
    }

    lamports, _, err := svm.Balance(recipient)
    if err != nil {
        t.Fatal(err)
    }
    if lamports != 1_000_000_000 {
        t.Fatalf("recipient balance = %d, want 1_000_000_000", lamports)
    }
}

SendLegacyTransaction and SendVersionedTransaction both return a *TxOutcome whether the transaction succeeded or failed. Call IsOk() before reading success-only fields, and always defer out.Close() to release the Rust handle.

Working with TxOutcome

Every send / simulate entry point returns a *TxOutcome. The same handle carries metadata for success and failure:

out, err := svm.SendLegacyTransaction(txBytes)
if err != nil {
    t.Fatal(err)
}
defer out.Close()

if !out.IsOk() {
    t.Fatalf("error: %s", out.Error())
}

_ = out.Signature()    // solana.Signature
_ = out.ComputeUnits() // uint64
_ = out.Fee()          // uint64
_ = out.Logs()         // []string
_ = out.InnerInstructions()

// Programs that call set_return_data expose it here.
if pid, data, ok := out.ReturnData(); ok {
    _ = pid
    _ = data
}

For SimulateLegacyTransaction / SimulateVersionedTransaction, the same *TxOutcome additionally exposes PostAccounts() - the would-be post-execution account state:

sim, err := svm.SimulateLegacyTransaction(txBytes)
if err != nil {
    t.Fatal(err)
}
defer sim.Close()

posts, err := sim.PostAccounts()
if err != nil {
    t.Fatal(err)
}
for _, p := range posts {
    _ = p.Address
    _ = p.Account.Lamports()
    p.Account.Close()
}

Configuration

litesvm-go exposes the same builder switches as the Rust crate, surfaced as Set* methods:

// Each setter returns an error. In tests where the values are known good,
// the calls are infallible and assigning to _ keeps the example readable;
// in production code, check the error or wrap with require.NoError(t, ...).
_ = svm.SetSigverify(false)        // accept unsigned / badly-signed txs
_ = svm.SetBlockhashCheck(false)   // skip recent-blockhash enforcement
_ = svm.SetTransactionHistory(0)   // 0 disables dedup; any N caps history
_ = svm.SetLogBytesLimit(-1)       // negative = unlimited
_ = svm.SetLamports(1 << 40)       // default lamports for new accounts
_ = svm.SetSysvars()               // reset sysvars to defaults
_ = svm.SetBuiltins()              // reload built-in programs
_ = svm.SetDefaultPrograms()       // reload SPL Token, Memo, etc.
_ = svm.SetPrecompiles()           // enable ed25519 / secp256k1 precompiles
_ = svm.WithNativeMints()          // seed wrapped-SOL mint

Notes

Thread safety. A *LiteSVM handle is not safe for concurrent use from multiple goroutines (the underlying Rust type is not Sync, and most methods mutate internal state). Confine a handle to a single goroutine, or guard it with a sync.Mutex.

Panic behavior. Vendored release archives are built with immediate-abort: any panic inside Rust aborts the host process directly, without unwinding. This is a deliberate trade for smaller archives. If you ever hit one in practice, please open an issue with a reproducer.

What's Next

This covers the core handle - creating accounts, sending instructions, and reading state. For a full method-by-method reference see the API docs. For runnable examples (SOL transfer, account setup, program testing, time-based logic) see Examples.

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