Solana guide library
Solana RPC, validator and network-data guides
Choose the evidence you need before choosing a metric. A current RPC response, a closed-epoch record and an application timestamp answer different questions. These guides explain how to collect and interpret each one.
Build a reliable data path
- RPC basics for builders
Make a first read-only Solana RPC request. Learn how clusters, commitment, response context and transaction submission affect what your application knows.
- Choose an RPC provider
Estimate request volume, compare method and history coverage, test freshness and plan fallback. Read pricing units without treating RPS as a complete service.
- RPC rate limits
Estimate a Solana application’s RPC workload, distinguish quotas from request-rate limits and design bounded retries without multiplying traffic.
- Simulate transactions
Run a read-only devnet simulation, inspect logs and compute use, and understand what a simulation can and cannot establish before signing or submission.
- Transaction retries
Handle delivery timeouts, status checks and expiry while preserving transaction identity. Learn when rebroadcasting differs from rebuilding an economic action.
- WebSocket recovery
Build a reliable live Solana view with subscriptions, snapshots and recoverable history. Understand reconnects, duplicate events and durable progress.
- Historical RPC data
Build a historical Solana query without confusing missing data with missing activity. Understand address scope, cursors, archive retention and transaction decoding.
- Read token balances
Discover token holding accounts, validate mint and authority, sum raw amounts safely and distinguish token quantity from spendability and price.
Operate and inspect validators
- Validator accounts explained
Read a validator’s public account relationships and permissions. Use SolanaBull’s published identity and vote addresses as a practical starting example.
- Plan validator infrastructure
Understand consensus and RPC workloads, storage and network bottlenecks, signing roles and recovery planning before choosing a validator host.
- Validator funding checks
Separate admission funding from account reserves, identity funds and infrastructure costs. Calculate a transparent VAT buffer without assuming rewards arrive in time.
- Validator participation
Distinguish node visibility, admission, consensus participation and block production. Interpret source-relative status and investigate missing data.
- Validator incident timeline
Record detection, impact, interventions and recovery with source timestamps. Separate local observations, provider lag and supported causes.
- Validator client updates
Distinguish a client release from network activation, verify compatibility and prepare a controlled update with recovery and post-update evidence.
Interpret network measurements
- Reading network data
Assess TPS, addresses, stake and TVL using a clear metric definition. Separate protocol changes, source coverage and price effects from real changes in activity.
- Solana TPS explained
Calculate transaction rates with the right denominator, distinguish instructions and successful activity, and understand the post-Alpenglow counting break.
- Finality and RPC latency
Measure wallet-to-application timing without confusing an RPC response, execution and consensus finality. Design a benchmark with clear boundaries and failure coverage.
- Active addresses
Define address activity, distinguish signers from token and program accounts, and understand bots, shared custody and time-window overlap.