Solana Kit Development Guide

A comprehensive guide for building Solana applications with @solana/kit - the modern, tree-shakeable, zero-dependency JavaScript SDK from Anza.

Overview

Solana Kit (formerly web3.js 2.0) is a complete rewrite of the Solana JavaScript SDK with:

• Tree-shakeable: Only ship code you use (-78% bundle size)
• Zero dependencies: No third-party packages
• Functional design: Composable, no classes
• 10x faster crypto: Native Ed25519 support
• TypeScript-first: Full type safety

Quick Start

Installation

npm install @solana/kit

For specific program interactions:

npm install @solana-program/system @solana-program/token

Minimal Example

import {
  createSolanaRpc,
  createSolanaRpcSubscriptions,
  generateKeyPairSigner,
  lamports,
  pipe,
  createTransactionMessage,
  setTransactionMessageFeePayer,
  setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash,
  appendTransactionMessageInstruction,
  signTransactionMessageWithSigners,
  sendAndConfirmTransactionFactory,
  getSignatureFromTransaction,
} from "@solana/kit";
import { getTransferSolInstruction } from "@solana-program/system";

const LAMPORTS_PER_SOL = BigInt(1_000_000_000);

async function transferSol() {
  // 1. Connect to RPC
  const rpc = createSolanaRpc("https://api.devnet.solana.com");
  const rpcSubscriptions = createSolanaRpcSubscriptions("wss://api.devnet.solana.com");

  // 2. Create signers
  const sender = await generateKeyPairSigner();
  const recipient = await generateKeyPairSigner();

  // 3. Get blockhash
  const { value: latestBlockhash } = await rpc.getLatestBlockhash().send();

  // 4. Build transaction with pipe
  const transactionMessage = pipe(
    createTransactionMessage({ version: 0 }),
    (tx) => setTransactionMessageFeePayer(sender.address, tx),
    (tx) => setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash(latestBlockhash, tx),
    (tx) => appendTransactionMessageInstruction(
      getTransferSolInstruction({
        amount: lamports(LAMPORTS_PER_SOL / BigInt(10)), // 0.1 SOL
        destination: recipient.address,
        source: sender,
      }),
      tx
    )
  );

  // 5. Sign
  const signedTx = await signTransactionMessageWithSigners(transactionMessage);

  // 6. Send and confirm
  const sendAndConfirm = sendAndConfirmTransactionFactory({ rpc, rpcSubscriptions });
  await sendAndConfirm(signedTx, { commitment: "confirmed" });

  console.log("Signature:", getSignatureFromTransaction(signedTx));
}

Core Concepts

1. RPC Connections

Kit separates HTTP and WebSocket connections:

import { createSolanaRpc, createSolanaRpcSubscriptions } from "@solana/kit";

// HTTP for requests
const rpc = createSolanaRpc("https://api.devnet.solana.com");

// WebSocket for subscriptions
const rpcSubscriptions = createSolanaRpcSubscriptions("wss://api.devnet.solana.com");

// Make RPC calls
const slot = await rpc.getSlot().send();
const balance = await rpc.getBalance(address).send();
const { value: blockhash } = await rpc.getLatestBlockhash().send();

2. Signers

Kit uses signer interfaces instead of keypairs directly:

import {
  generateKeyPairSigner,
  createKeyPairSignerFromBytes,
  address,
} from "@solana/kit";

// Generate new signer
const signer = await generateKeyPairSigner();
console.log("Address:", signer.address);

// From existing secret key (Uint8Array)
const existing = await createKeyPairSignerFromBytes(secretKeyBytes);

// Create address from string
const addr = address("11111111111111111111111111111111");

3. Transaction Building with Pipe

Kit uses functional composition via pipe:

import {
  pipe,
  createTransactionMessage,
  setTransactionMessageFeePayer,
  setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash,
  appendTransactionMessageInstruction,
  appendTransactionMessageInstructions,
  prependTransactionMessageInstructions,
} from "@solana/kit";

const tx = pipe(
  createTransactionMessage({ version: 0 }),             // Create v0 message
  (tx) => setTransactionMessageFeePayer(payer.address, tx),  // Set fee payer
  (tx) => setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash(blockhash, tx), // Set lifetime
  (tx) => appendTransactionMessageInstruction(instruction1, tx),      // Add instruction
  (tx) => appendTransactionMessageInstructions([instruction2, instruction3], tx), // Add multiple
);

4. Signing Transactions

import {
  signTransactionMessageWithSigners,
  partiallySignTransactionMessageWithSigners,
  getSignatureFromTransaction,
} from "@solana/kit";

// Sign with all signers in the transaction
const signedTx = await signTransactionMessageWithSigners(transactionMessage);

// Partial signing (for multisig)
const partiallySignedTx = await partiallySignTransactionMessageWithSigners(
  transactionMessage
);

// Get signature before sending
const signature = getSignatureFromTransaction(signedTx);

5. Sending Transactions

import {
  sendAndConfirmTransactionFactory,
  sendTransactionWithoutConfirmingFactory,
  getBase64EncodedWireTransaction,
} from "@solana/kit";

// Send with confirmation (recommended)
const sendAndConfirm = sendAndConfirmTransactionFactory({ rpc, rpcSubscriptions });
await sendAndConfirm(signedTx, { commitment: "confirmed" });

// Send without waiting for confirmation
const send = sendTransactionWithoutConfirmingFactory({ rpc });
await send(signedTx, { commitment: "confirmed" });

// Manual encoding (low-level)
const encoded = getBase64EncodedWireTransaction(signedTx);
await rpc.sendTransaction(encoded, { encoding: "base64" }).send();

6. Fetching Accounts

import {
  fetchEncodedAccount,
  fetchEncodedAccounts,
  assertAccountExists,
} from "@solana/kit";

// Fetch single account
const account = await fetchEncodedAccount(rpc, address);
if (account.exists) {
  console.log("Lamports:", account.lamports);
  console.log("Owner:", account.programAddress);
  console.log("Data:", account.data);
}

// Fetch multiple accounts
const accounts = await fetchEncodedAccounts(rpc, [addr1, addr2, addr3]);

// Assert account exists (throws if not)
assertAccountExists(account);

Package Reference

Core Package

Import	Description
@solana/kit	Main package - includes everything below

Individual Packages

Package	Purpose
@solana/rpc	RPC client creation
@solana/rpc-subscriptions	WebSocket subscriptions
@solana/signers	Signing interfaces
@solana/addresses	Address utilities
@solana/keys	Key generation
@solana/transactions	Transaction compilation
@solana/transaction-messages	Message building
@solana/accounts	Account fetching
@solana/codecs	Data encoding/decoding
@solana/errors	Error handling

Program Packages

Package	Program
@solana-program/system	System Program
@solana-program/token	SPL Token
@solana-program/token-2022	Token Extensions
@solana-program/memo	Memo Program
@solana-program/compute-budget	Compute Budget
@solana-program/address-lookup-table	Lookup Tables

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Helper Function for Send & Confirm

import {
  signTransactionMessageWithSigners,
  sendAndConfirmTransactionFactory,
  getSignatureFromTransaction,
  CompilableTransactionMessage,
  TransactionMessageWithBlockhashLifetime,
  Commitment,
} from "@solana/kit";

function createTransactionSender(rpc: Rpc, rpcSubscriptions: RpcSubscriptions) {
  const sendAndConfirm = sendAndConfirmTransactionFactory({ rpc, rpcSubscriptions });

  return async (
    txMessage: CompilableTransactionMessage & TransactionMessageWithBlockhashLifetime,
    commitment: Commitment = "confirmed"
  ) => {
    const signedTx = await signTransactionMessageWithSigners(txMessage);
    await sendAndConfirm(signedTx, { commitment, skipPreflight: false });
    return getSignatureFromTransaction(signedTx);
  };
}

// Usage
const sendTx = createTransactionSender(rpc, rpcSubscriptions);
const signature = await sendTx(transactionMessage);

Pattern 2: Reusable Transaction Builder

import {
  pipe,
  createTransactionMessage,
  setTransactionMessageFeePayer,
  setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash,
  appendTransactionMessageInstructions,
  IInstruction,
} from "@solana/kit";

async function buildTransaction(
  rpc: Rpc,
  feePayer: Address,
  instructions: IInstruction[]
) {
  const { value: latestBlockhash } = await rpc.getLatestBlockhash().send();

  return pipe(
    createTransactionMessage({ version: 0 }),
    (tx) => setTransactionMessageFeePayer(feePayer, tx),
    (tx) => setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash(latestBlockhash, tx),
    (tx) => appendTransactionMessageInstructions(instructions, tx)
  );
}

Pattern 3: Add Compute Budget

import {
  getSetComputeUnitLimitInstruction,
  getSetComputeUnitPriceInstruction,
} from "@solana-program/compute-budget";

const computeInstructions = [
  getSetComputeUnitLimitInstruction({ units: 200_000 }),
  getSetComputeUnitPriceInstruction({ microLamports: 1000n }),
];

const tx = pipe(
  createTransactionMessage({ version: 0 }),
  (tx) => setTransactionMessageFeePayer(payer.address, tx),
  (tx) => setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash(blockhash, tx),
  (tx) => prependTransactionMessageInstructions(computeInstructions, tx), // Prepend!
  (tx) => appendTransactionMessageInstruction(mainInstruction, tx),
);

Pattern 4: Versioned Transactions with Lookup Tables

import {
  setTransactionMessageAddressLookupTable,
} from "@solana/kit";

// Fetch lookup table
const lookupTableAccount = await fetchAddressLookupTable(rpc, lookupTableAddress);

const tx = pipe(
  createTransactionMessage({ version: 0 }),
  (tx) => setTransactionMessageFeePayer(payer.address, tx),
  (tx) => setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash(blockhash, tx),
  (tx) => setTransactionMessageAddressLookupTable(tx, lookupTableAccount),
  (tx) => appendTransactionMessageInstructions(instructions, tx),
);

Type Safety

Kit provides comprehensive TypeScript types:

import type {
  Address,
  Signature,
  Lamports,
  TransactionMessage,
  Rpc,
  RpcSubscriptions,
  KeyPairSigner,
} from "@solana/kit";

// Addresses are branded strings
const addr: Address = address("11111111111111111111111111111111");

// Lamports are branded bigints
const amount: Lamports = lamports(1_000_000_000n);

// Type-safe RPC responses
const response = await rpc.getBalance(addr).send();
// response.value is typed as Lamports

Performance Tips

1. Import only what you need - Kit is tree-shakeable

   // Good - only imports what's used
   import { createSolanaRpc, generateKeyPairSigner } from "@solana/kit";
   
   // Also good - use subpackages for smaller bundles
   import { createSolanaRpc } from "@solana/rpc";
   import { generateKeyPairSigner } from "@solana/signers";
   

2. Reuse RPC connections - Don't create per request

   // Create once
   const rpc = createSolanaRpc(endpoint);
   
   // Reuse everywhere
   await rpc.getBalance(addr1).send();
   await rpc.getBalance(addr2).send();
   

3. Batch requests when possible

   // Fetch multiple accounts in one request
   const accounts = await fetchEncodedAccounts(rpc, [addr1, addr2, addr3]);
   

4. Use skipPreflight carefully - Faster but no simulation

   await sendAndConfirm(tx, { commitment: "confirmed", skipPreflight: true });
   

Error Handling

import { isSolanaError, SOLANA_ERROR__TRANSACTION_ERROR__INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS } from "@solana/errors";

try {
  await sendAndConfirm(signedTx, { commitment: "confirmed" });
} catch (error) {
  if (isSolanaError(error, SOLANA_ERROR__TRANSACTION_ERROR__INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS)) {
    console.error("Not enough SOL for transaction");
  } else if (isSolanaError(error)) {
    console.error("Solana error:", error.context);
  } else {
    throw error;
  }
}

Migration from web3.js 1.x

See the separate migration skill or use @solana/compat for interoperability:

import {
  fromLegacyPublicKey,
  fromLegacyKeypair,
  fromVersionedTransaction,
  fromLegacyTransactionInstruction,
} from "@solana/compat";

// Convert legacy PublicKey to Kit Address
const address = fromLegacyPublicKey(legacyPublicKey);

// Convert legacy Keypair to Kit CryptoKeyPair (async)
const keyPair = await fromLegacyKeypair(legacyKeypair);

// Convert legacy VersionedTransaction to Kit Transaction
const kitTransaction = fromVersionedTransaction(legacyVersionedTx);

// Convert legacy TransactionInstruction to Kit Instruction
const kitInstruction = fromLegacyTransactionInstruction(legacyInstruction);

Note: The compat package converts FROM legacy TO Kit types. For reverse conversion, you may need to manually construct legacy objects.

Performance Benchmarks

Kit delivers significant performance improvements over web3.js 1.x:

Metric	web3.js 1.x	@solana/kit	Improvement
Keypair Generation	~50ms	~5ms	10x faster
Transaction Signing	~20ms	~2ms	10x faster
Bundle Size	311KB	226KB	26% smaller
Confirmation Latency	~400ms	~200ms	~200ms faster

Benchmarks from Triton One's Ping Thing service and Solana Explorer testing

Why It's Faster

1. Native Ed25519: Uses browser/runtime native crypto APIs
2. Zero Dependencies: No third-party library overhead
3. Tree-Shakeable: Only imports code you use
4. No Classes: Functional design enables better optimization

Resources

• Official Documentation
• GitHub Repository
• Examples
• Triton Blog - Kit Introduction

Skill Structure

solana-kit/
├── SKILL.md                    # This file
├── resources/
│   ├── packages-reference.md   # Complete package documentation
│   └── api-quick-reference.md  # Quick lookup table
├── examples/
│   ├── transfer-sol/           # Basic SOL transfer
│   ├── create-token/           # SPL token creation
│   ├── fetch-accounts/         # Account fetching & decoding
│   └── subscriptions/          # Real-time subscriptions
├── templates/
│   └── project-template.ts     # Copy-paste starter
└── docs/
    ├── advanced-patterns.md    # Complex patterns
    └── troubleshooting.md      # Common issues