Deployment Basics

7 examples to get you started with program deployment - 4 basic and 3 intermediate. Covers BPF loader, program/buffer accounts, deploy commands, and upgrade authority on Agave 4.1.1.

Prerequisites

• Solana CLI 3.0.10 installed and funded wallet on devnet.
• Built program artifact: anchor build produces target/deploy/*.so.

solana config set --url devnet
solana airdrop 2
anchor build

Basic Examples

1. Inspect a Program Account

Deployed programs are executable accounts owned by the BPF loader.

solana program show <PROGRAM_ID>

• Shows program data address, authority, and last deploy slot.
• ProgramData account holds ELF bytes and upgrade authority pubkey.
• Executable flag is true on program account.

Related: Deploying Programs

2. Deploy with Solana CLI

Standard deploy uploads .so to buffer then copies to program account.

solana program deploy target/deploy/my_program.so \
  --program-id target/deploy/my_program-keypair.json

• Costs rent for program data account proportional to .so size.
• Keypair JSON defines program address (or generate new).
• Default uses upgradeable loader on modern CLI.

Related: Program Upgrades

3. Deploy with Anchor

Anchor wraps build + deploy in workspace workflow.

anchor deploy --provider.cluster devnet

• Uses Anchor.toml wallet as payer and upgrade authority by default.
• Program IDs must match declare_id! in Rust source.
• anchor keys sync updates keypair paths in Anchor.toml.

4. Read Upgrade Authority

Whoever holds upgrade authority can replace program bytecode.

solana program show <PROGRAM_ID> | grep Authority

• None means immutable program (authority revoked).
• Authority should migrate to multisig before mainnet TVL.
• Losing authority private key bricks upgrade path forever.

Related: Making Programs Immutable

Intermediate Examples

5. Buffer Account Workflow

Large programs deploy via intermediate buffer to allow resume on failure.

solana program write-buffer target/deploy/my_program.so
solana program deploy --buffer <BUFFER_ADDRESS> --program-id <PROGRAM_ID>

• Buffer holds partial uploads during deploy.
• Useful on flaky networks or large artifacts.
• Close buffer to reclaim rent after successful deploy.

6. Verify Executable Hash

Compare local build to on-chain program with solana-verify.

solana-verify get-executable-hash target/deploy/my_program.so
solana-verify get-program-hash <PROGRAM_ID> --url devnet

• Hashes must match after reproducible build pipeline.
• Publish hash with release tag for auditors.

Related: Verifiable Builds

7. Governance-Gated Authority

Production upgrade authority on Squads multisig.

solana program set-upgrade-authority <PROGRAM_ID> --new-upgrade-authority <SQUADS_MULTISIG>

• Upgrades become multisig proposals, not single-key CLI.
• Document proposal template and testing requirements.

Related: Governance-Gated Upgrades

Stack versions: This page was written for Agave 4.1.1, Solana CLI 3.0.10, Anchor 0.32.1, anchor-lang 0.32.1, Rust 1.91.1, @solana/kit 7.0.0, Surfpool 0.12.0, and LiteSVM 0.6.x.