Crates & Libs

Map of essential Solana crates and libraries - solana-program/sdk, anchor-lang/spl, borsh/bytemuck, pinocchio/steel, Metaplex, kit/Codama/gill, and LiteSVM/Mollusk/Bankrun - and when each layer is used.

Learn how solana-program provides the on-chain standard library for Rust programs and solana-sdk powers off-chain Rust binaries.

Learn about anchor-lang and anchor-spl, essential crates for Solana development, providing macros, CPI helpers, and IDL generation.

Learn about the spl-token and spl-associated-token-account Rust crates, which provide layouts and CPI helpers for Agave programs and clients.

Learn to use Borsh for flexible serialization of Solana account and instruction data, and bytemuck for zero-copy casting of plain-old-data.

Learn how Metaplex's mpl-core and mpl-token-metadata Rust crates model NFTs and digital assets on Solana, with code examples.

Learn about Pinocchio and Steel, Rust frameworks for Solana programs. Optimize CU and binary size with minimal overhead on Agave 4.1.1.

Learn about the modern Solana TypeScript client stack using @solana/kit for RPC, Codama for client generation, and gill for common patterns.

Learn how litesvm, mollusk, and solana-bankrun accelerate Solana program testing in Rust and TypeScript, ideal for CI and rapid development.

Follow best practices for selecting and managing Solana dependencies. Learn to align versions, audit on-chain dependencies, and maintain client libraries.

A single-page roundup of every highlight bullet from the 10 pages in the Crates & Libs section, grouped by source page so you can scan all 60 takeaways without opening each article individually.