{"id":21434687,"url":"https://github.com/ilmoi/solana-onboarding","last_synced_at":"2026-01-26T21:52:07.740Z","repository":{"id":41122909,"uuid":"411201624","full_name":"ilmoi/solana-onboarding","owner":"ilmoi","description":"Short and to the point action list for anyone interested in hacking on Solana","archived":false,"fork":false,"pushed_at":"2021-09-28T11:39:38.000Z","size":8,"stargazers_count":322,"open_issues_count":0,"forks_count":26,"subscribers_count":8,"default_branch":"master","last_synced_at":"2025-03-16T23:12:02.768Z","etag":null,"topics":[],"latest_commit_sha":null,"homepage":null,"language":null,"has_issues":true,"has_wiki":null,"has_pages":null,"mirror_url":null,"source_name":null,"license":null,"status":null,"scm":"git","pull_requests_enabled":true,"icon_url":"https://github.com/ilmoi.png","metadata":{"files":{"readme":"README.md","changelog":null,"contributing":null,"funding":null,"license":null,"code_of_conduct":null,"threat_model":null,"audit":null,"citation":null,"codeowners":null,"security":null,"support":null}},"created_at":"2021-09-28T08:39:37.000Z","updated_at":"2025-03-07T16:10:02.000Z","dependencies_parsed_at":"2022-07-12T18:17:43.911Z","dependency_job_id":null,"html_url":"https://github.com/ilmoi/solana-onboarding","commit_stats":null,"previous_names":[],"tags_count":0,"template":false,"template_full_name":null,"purl":"pkg:github/ilmoi/solana-onboarding","repository_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/ilmoi%2Fsolana-onboarding","tags_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/ilmoi%2Fsolana-onboarding/tags","releases_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/ilmoi%2Fsolana-onboarding/releases","manifests_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/ilmoi%2Fsolana-onboarding/manifests","owner_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/owners/ilmoi","download_url":"https://codeload.github.com/ilmoi/solana-onboarding/tar.gz/refs/heads/master","sbom_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories/ilmoi%2Fsolana-onboarding/sbom","scorecard":null,"host":{"name":"GitHub","url":"https://github.com","kind":"github","repositories_count":286080680,"owners_count":28789195,"icon_url":"https://github.com/github.png","version":null,"created_at":"2022-05-30T11:31:42.601Z","updated_at":"2026-01-26T21:49:50.245Z","status":"ssl_error","status_checked_at":"2026-01-26T21:48:29.455Z","response_time":59,"last_error":"SSL_read: unexpected eof while reading","robots_txt_status":"success","robots_txt_updated_at":"2025-07-24T06:49:26.215Z","robots_txt_url":"https://github.com/robots.txt","online":false,"can_crawl_api":true,"host_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub","repositories_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repositories","repository_names_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/repository_names","owners_url":"https://repos.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/hosts/GitHub/owners"}},"keywords":[],"created_at":"2024-11-22T23:40:03.945Z","updated_at":"2026-01-26T21:52:02.732Z","avatar_url":"https://github.com/ilmoi.png","language":null,"funding_links":[],"categories":[],"sub_categories":[],"readme":"I've been shilling Solana for too long and I often get asked the same questions about why/where/how to start. \n\nBelow is my best attempt at summarizing quality resources for new devs. In theory, this action-list has everything you need to go from wannabe who never coded Rust to proper Solana hacker. \n\nEnjoy 🦀⚓🚀\n\n# Why Solana\n\n*Not convinced you should bother? Start here.*\n\n### Read\n\n*I find these 3rd party theses to be most compelling.*\n\n1. [Long post by notboring](https://www.notboring.co/p/solana-summer)\n2. [Thesis by multicoin](https://multicoin.capital/2021/05/25/technical-scalability-creates-social-scalability/)\n3. [Thesis by sino](https://sinoglobalcap.medium.com/why-we-are-bullish-on-solana-c2be784cfdf6)\n\n### Listen\n\n*I tried to pick a mix of founders shilling their own chain / 3rd party opinions.*\n\n1. [Intro so solana on uncommon core](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVEXSF8uqr0)\n2. [Solana founders on upOnly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8wsw1htJFY)\n3. [Unchained - can Solana seize marketshare from Eth](https://unchainedpodcast.com/can-solana-seize-marketshare-from-ethereum-with-serum/)? [oct 2020]\n4. [Unchained - could sol displace eth](https://unchainedpodcast.com/sol-is-up-3800-ytd-could-it-eventually-displace-ethereum/)? [aug 2021 - almost a year later]\n\n# Learn rust\n\n*Aight you're excited and ready to jump in. Where do you start? You start with Rust (used for coding \"programs\" aka smart contracts on Solana.)*\n\n1. [Rust crash course](https://www.udemy.com/course/ultimate-rust-crash-course/) [4h] - excellent, short and to the point intro. \n2. [The official rust lang book](https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/) [1-2d of intense reading] - will teach you syntax and language quirks. \n    1. +++ don't be lazy and do the [exercises for each chapter](https://github.com/rust-lang/rustlings/tree/main/exercises) \n3. [Zero2Prod](https://www.zero2prod.com/) [1-2 wks of study] - will take you from \"I get the syntax\" to \"I get rust as a programming language and where it's strong/weak\".\n\n# Learn Solana\n\n*The juicy part.*\n\n1. Read the [\"developing\" section](https://docs.solana.com/developing/programming-model/overview) of the docs [2-3h] - you will get a lot of questions, but that's ok. Just write them down and you'll be surprised how quickly they get answered as you progress. \n2. Go play with [hello world app](https://github.com/solana-labs/example-helloworld) [2-3h] - rebuilding/tweaking will help your understanding a lot. \n3. Do [paulx's excellent tutorial](https://paulx.dev/blog/2021/01/14/programming-on-solana-an-introduction/) [1-2d]\n4. If you feel you need more tutorials:\n    1. [Solana transactions in-depth](https://medium.com/@asmiller1989/solana-transactions-in-depth-1f7f7fe06ac2)\n    2. Code a smart contract with [David Choi via video tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA7hFdq2h9Q)\n5. Otherwise, if you're ready to progress, it's time to read some actual production program code.\n    1. [This library](https://github.com/solana-labs/solana-program-library/) contains code for on-chain programs written by Solana core devs \u0026 broader community. It's a gold mine for learning. Pick something you already know (eg token-swap == basically uniswap) → read through it → try adding some features / messing with code. You will learn a lot about architecture and design trade-offs.\n    2. [Helpful visual diagrams](https://github.com/ilmoi/solana-serum-program-viz) for some of the programs in there\n7. Now the twist. All of the above showcases \"traditional\" way of building programs on solana - but there's a simpler / faster way by using [the anchor framework](https://github.com/project-serum/anchor) ⚓\n    1. Read [this twitter thread](https://twitter.com/armaniferrante/status/1411589629384355840) to understand why it's so powerful\n    2. Follow [anchor's onboarding tutorial](https://project-serum.github.io/anchor/getting-started/introduction.html)\n    3. Learn to [debug custom errors with anchor](https://www.notion.so/Debugging-Custom-Anchor-Errors-b8540dd418c44a4e939ab17c56a3fd3b)\n    4. So should you build with anchor or the traditional way? It's up to you, but I would recommend going with anchor. You'll move faster, and have certain security stuff out of the box.\n8. Build stuff! Fun fun fun. Ideas:\n    1. Build a simple blockchain wallet. Personally the first thing I built on Solana was a [tui wallet](https://github.com/ilmoi/degen-wallet) that could do both eth and sol transactions. Taught me a ton about key management and how the two chains compare.\n    2. Take something you know on another chain and re-build it on Solana. I picked [fomo3d](https://github.com/ilmoi/solana_fomo3d), which those of you who were around for 2017 craze might remember.\n    3. Pick a project in the space that you like and contribute to their repo. [Mango](https://mango.markets/) and [Serum](https://projectserum.com/) are the two that immediately come to mind - both are very keen to fund developers building on top of their protocols.\n\n# Where to get help\n\n*It's ok to be overwhelmed. Here's where you get help.*\n\n- Rust questions\n    - Rust community is one of the best I've seen in the dev space. My go to is asking #rust tagged questions on StackOverflow or going to [dedicated rust forums](https://users.rust-lang.org/) if I want to have a bit more of a discussion.\n    - Get ready to be amazed! Questions are generally answered within 30min of being asked - that's a totally polar experience to your python/js questions on SO that get 1 reply in 3 days.\n    - There's also [Rust discord](https://discord.com/invite/rust-lang-community), if you prefer chats to forums.\n- Solana questions\n    - In general all the help is available in discord channels such as:\n        - [Solana discord](https://discord.com/invite/pquxPsq)\n        - [Anchor discord](https://discord.com/invite/xxkZbHzGn6)\n        - [Serum discord](https://discord.com/invite/zxPsXcB)\n        - [Mango discord](https://discord.com/invite/n8c2YhUYmY)\n        - etc\n    - First thing to do is always Ctrl-F the discord with any keywords you might have from your error. In general, I'd say 50% of the time someone already had that problem and you'll get an instant answer.\n    - If that fails, each protocol usually has some sort of `developer questions` channel. Be specific and to the point with your questions (no \"hey this is my first post\") and don't feel bad  for re-asking (\"still looking for answer to this [reply to own previous question]. Anyone might know?). Worst case CC one of the admins who you see frequenting in the chat.\n    \n# How to stay up to date\n\n*If crypto as a whole moves at light speed, Solana's ecosystem basically warps time.*\n\n- [Solana's official newsletter](https://solana.com/newsletter) drops about once/mo\n- Project serum does a [weekly medium newsletter](https://projectserum.medium.com/), which covers the entire space\n- [sol.wtf](https://sol.wtf/) is a little side project I built for fun. It tracks top twitter posts related to Solana\n- Podcasts: [Solana's official pod](https://podcast.solana.com/), [FTX's official pod](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ftx-podcast-builders-and-innovators-in/id1518314108), [Solana Cove](https://open.spotify.com/show/7MDXM7GXbsZr44iGP4rdgL), [The antidote](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-antidote-blockchain-decentralization-and-builders/id1548247837) (no new episodes, but good old ones)","project_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/projects/github.com%2Filmoi%2Fsolana-onboarding","html_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/projects/github.com%2Filmoi%2Fsolana-onboarding","lists_url":"https://awesome.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/projects/github.com%2Filmoi%2Fsolana-onboarding/lists"}