Skip to main content

​
Introduction

The Solana Command Line Interface (CLI) is a comprehensive suite of tools for interacting with the Solana blockchain. It provides validators, developers, and users with powerful commands to manage accounts, deploy programs, stake tokens, and configure validator operations. Before running any Solana CLI commands, the tools must be installed on your system. See the Installation guide for detailed instructions.

​
Main CLI Tools

The Solana CLI suite consists of several command-line tools, each serving specific purposes:

​
solana

The main command-line tool for interacting with Solana clusters. It provides commands for:
  • Account management and balance checking
  • Token transfers
  • Stake account operations
  • Vote account management
  • Cluster queries and network information
  • Program deployment and interaction

​
solana-keygen

A key generation and management tool for creating and managing Solana keypairs:
  • Generate new keypairs with various security options
  • Derive public keys from seed phrases
  • Verify keypair ownership
  • Support for BIP39/BIP44 hierarchical derivation
  • Grind vanity addresses

​
solana-validator

The validator node software for running a Solana validator.

​
Command Structure

All Solana CLI commands follow a consistent structure: 
solana <COMMAND> [OPTIONS] [ARGS]

​
Getting Help

View all available commands: 
solana --help
Get detailed help for a specific command: 
solana <COMMAND> --help
For example: 
solana balance --help
solana create-stake-account --help

​
Common Command Patterns

​
Placeholder Conventions

Command documentation uses placeholders to indicate where you should provide specific values:
  • <AMOUNT> - A numeric value (e.g., 42 or 100.42)
  • <ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> - A base58-encoded public key (e.g., 9grmKMwTiZwUHSExjtbFzHLPTdWoXgcg1bZkhvwTrTww)
  • <KEYPAIR> - A keypair file path, hardware wallet URL, or prompt URI
  • <PUBKEY> - A public key address

​
Global Options

Several options are available across all commands: 
-C, --config <FILEPATH>        # Configuration file to use
-u, --url <URL_OR_MONIKER>     # RPC URL or moniker (mainnet-beta, testnet, devnet, localhost)
-k, --keypair <KEYPAIR>        # Filepath or URL to a keypair
--commitment <LEVEL>           # Commitment level (processed, confirmed, finalized)
-v, --verbose                  # Show additional information
--output <FORMAT>              # Output format (json, json-compact)

​
Essential Commands

​
Configuration Management

View current configuration: 
solana config get
Set RPC URL: 
solana config set --url https://api.devnet.solana.com

​
Account Information

Check balance: 
solana balance <ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>
View account details: 
solana account <ACCOUNT_ADDRESS>

​
Cluster Information

Check CLI version: 
solana --version
Check cluster version: 
solana cluster-version
View cluster nodes: 
solana cluster-nodes

​
Keypair Conventions

Many commands require a <KEYPAIR> argument. The value depends on your wallet type:

​
File System Wallet

Provide the path to the keypair JSON file: 
solana-keygen pubkey /home/solana/my_wallet.json

​
Paper Wallet

Use the prompt:// URI scheme to enter your seed phrase: 
solana-keygen pubkey prompt://

​
Hardware Wallet

Use a keypair URL specifying the device: 
solana-keygen pubkey usb://ledger?key=0

​
Installation Verification

1

Check Solana version

Verify the CLI is installed correctly:
solana --version
Expected output:
solana-cli 2.0.0 (src:00000000; feat:123456789, client:Agave)
2

Check keygen tool

Verify solana-keygen is available:
solana-keygen --version
3

Set initial configuration

Configure the CLI to connect to a cluster:
solana config set --url https://api.devnet.solana.com
4

Verify connectivity

Test cluster connection:
solana cluster-version
This should return the cluster’s current version number.

​
Configuration File

The Solana CLI stores configuration in ~/.config/solana/cli/config.yml by default. This file contains:
  • json_rpc_url - The cluster RPC endpoint
  • websocket_url - WebSocket endpoint for subscriptions
  • keypair_path - Default keypair file location
  • commitment - Default commitment level
You can specify an alternate configuration file using: 
solana -C /path/to/config.yml <COMMAND>

​
Output Formats

By default, commands output human-readable text. For programmatic use, request JSON output: 
solana balance <ADDRESS> --output json
Compact JSON format: 
solana balance <ADDRESS> --output json-compact

​
Next Steps

Installation

Install the Solana CLI tools on your system

Wallet Management

Create and manage wallets with solana-keygen

Cluster Selection

Connect to different Solana clusters

Stake Accounts

Manage stake accounts and delegate tokens