Resources

A curated collection of resources for learning and building on Solana.

Official Documentation

Essential Reading

Development Tools

IDEs & Extensions

• VS Code with Rust Analyzer - Primary IDE for Solana development
• Solana Playground - Browser-based development environment
• Anchor CLI - Project scaffolding and deployment

Testing & Debugging

• solana-test-validator - Local validator for development
• Bankrun - Fast program testing framework
• Amman - Advanced local testing toolkit

Explorers & Analytics

• Solscan - Block explorer with analytics
• Solana FM - Detailed transaction analysis
• Helius - RPC and developer tools

Learning Paths

Beginner

1. Understand blockchain fundamentals
2. Learn basic Rust syntax
3. Complete Solana Bootcamp tutorials
4. Build a simple counter program

Intermediate

1. Master PDAs and CPIs
2. Build token and NFT programs
3. Learn Anchor framework
4. Study DeFi primitives

Advanced

1. Implement complex DeFi protocols
2. Optimize for compute units
3. Build indexing infrastructure
4. Contribute to ecosystem projects

Code Examples

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   Example Repositories                          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│  Official                                                       │
│  ├── solana-labs/solana-program-library                        │
│  ├── coral-xyz/anchor                                          │
│  └── metaplex-foundation/metaplex-program-library              │
│                                                                 │
│  DeFi                                                          │
│  ├── orca-so/whirlpools                                        │
│  ├── project-serum/serum-dex                                   │
│  └── solendprotocol/solend-program                             │
│                                                                 │
│  Learning                                                       │
│  ├── solana-developers/program-examples                        │
│  ├── ironforge-cloud/solana-course                             │
│  └── coral-xyz/anchor-examples                                 │
│                                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Community

Discord Servers

• Solana Tech - Official developer discord
• Anchor - Framework-specific help
• Metaplex - NFT development
• Superteam - Regional communities

Twitter/X Accounts

• @solaboratory - Solana Labs
• @solaboratory - Core development
• @heaboratory - Infrastructure

Podcasts & Media

• Solana Podcast
• Validated podcast
• YouTube: Solana Foundation

Books & Courses

Security Resources

Audit Firms

• OtterSec
• Halborn
• Neodyme
• sec3

Security Guidelines

• Solana Security Best Practices
• Anchor Security
• Common Vulnerabilities

RPC Providers

Infrastructure

Indexing

• The Graph - Subgraphs for Solana
• Helius - Webhooks and DAS
• Yellowstone - Geyser gRPC

Oracles

• Pyth - High-frequency price feeds
• Switchboard - Customizable oracles
• Chainlink - Cross-chain data

Storage

• Arweave - Permanent storage
• Shadow Drive - Decentralized storage
• IPFS - Content-addressed storage

Project Templates

# Anchor program template
anchor init my-program

# Next.js dApp template
npx create-solana-dapp my-app

# Full-stack with Anchor + Next.js
npx create-solana-dapp --template anchor-next

Useful Commands

# Start local validator
solana-test-validator

# Airdrop SOL (devnet/localnet)
solana airdrop 2

# Deploy program
anchor deploy

# Run tests
anchor test

# Generate IDL
anchor build

# Check cluster
solana config get

Network Information

Contributing

This handbook is open source. Contributions are welcome:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a pull request

Thank you for reading the Blockchain & Solana Handbook. Happy building! 🚀