Onboarding Devs Checklist

A chronological ramp for new Solana engineers: toolchain, mental model, first program, client, and team practices. Complete in order over the first two weeks on Agave 4.1.1 / Anchor 0.32.1.

How to Use This Checklist

• Assign a buddy for questions on days 1-5.
• Check off items in repo-specific docs where paths differ.
• Do not skip security and testing items before touching mainnet keys.

Week 0 - Access & Orientation

1. Git, issue tracker, and CI access granted.
   • Can open PRs and read pipeline logs.
2. Read Solana Basics and account model primers.
   • Understand accounts, programs, transactions, lamports.
3. Join team RPC provider and secrets vault.
   • Devnet faucet and CI keys only at first.
4. Clone monorepo and run anchor --version / solana --version.
   • Expect Solana CLI 3.0.10 and Anchor 0.32.1.
5. Run existing test suite locally.
   • LiteSVM 0.6.x or anchor test green on laptop.

Week 1 - Environment & First Program

6. Complete Environment Setup Checklist.
   • Rust 1.91.1, Agave tools, Anchor, local validator path.
7. Deploy nothing to mainnet yet.
   • Devnet and local only until buddy sign-off.
8. Build and test the template program.
   • anchor build produces IDL and .so.
9. Walk The Solana Mental-Model Ramp.
   • PDAs, CPIs, signers, compute units in order.
10. Implement a tiny instruction change with tests.
    • Add one account field or log; prove with LiteSVM.
11. Open a first PR with program + test only.
    • Practice code review guidelines on a small diff.
12. Pair on reading transaction logs from a failure.
    • Use solana confirm -v and simulation logs.

Week 2 - Client & Team Workflow

13. Generate or consume IDL client (@solana/kit 7.0.0 or AnchorPy).
    • Call your devnet program from a script or UI stub.
14. Complete First Program & dApp guided path.
    • End-to-end devnet deploy + client read/write.
15. Run verifiable build command once.
    • Understand reproducible deploy artifacts.
16. Document your devnet program id in team registry.
    • Prevents duplicate deployments.
17. Shadow a code review on security-sensitive PR.
    • Signer checks, owner checks, arithmetic.
18. Read Team Best Practices and agree on branching model.
    • Trunk vs release branches, upgrade policy.
19. Set up local Surfpool 0.12.0 or test-validator habit.
    • Know when to use fork vs clean validator.
20. Demo to buddy: explain one PDA your program uses.
    • Seeds, bump, and why it is safe.

Applying the Checklist in Order

• Days 1-3 (1-5): orientation without write access to shared mainnet keys.
• Days 4-8 (6-12): hands-on program changes on devnet/local only.
• Days 9-14 (13-20): client integration and team process fluency.

FAQs

Related

• Environment Setup Checklist - toolchain install
• The Solana Mental-Model Ramp - concepts in order
• First Program & dApp - guided project
• Solana Basics - fundamentals intro

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.

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