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A Beginner’s Guide to Solana CLI: Install, Connect, and Create Your First Token If you're starting your journey in the Solana ecosystem, one of the best tools to learn first is the Solana CLI.

The command line interface lets you interact directly with the Solana blockchain. You can create wallets, request test tokens, deploy programs, and even mint yo...

mscode074 min read
A Beginner’s Guide to Solana CLI: Install, Connect, and Create Your First Token If you're starting your journey in the Solana ecosystem, one of the best tools to learn first is the Solana CLI.

The command line interface lets you interact directly with the Solana blockchain. You can create wallets, request test tokens, deploy programs, and even mint your own tokens — all from your terminal.

In this beginner-friendly guide, you'll learn how to:

Install the Solana CLI

Understand Solana clusters

Connect to the network using RPC

Create your first token using CLI

Let’s get started.

  1. Installing the Solana CLI

To work with Solana from your terminal, you first need to install the Solana CLI tools.

Run the following command:

sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.anza.xyz/stable/install)"

This script downloads and installs the latest stable version of the Solana CLI.

After installation, verify it with:

solana --version

If the command returns a version number, the installation was successful.

Windows Users

Installing Solana directly on Windows can sometimes be difficult.

You can download the binaries here:

https://github.com/solana-labs/solana/releases

However, the recommended approach is to use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). Solana development tools generally work more smoothly in a Linux environment.

  1. Understanding Solana Clusters

Solana provides different environments called clusters. These clusters allow developers to test applications safely before deploying them to the real network.

The three main clusters are:

Cluster Purpose
Devnet Development and testing
Testnet Validator testing and network experiments
Mainnet The live production blockchain

Most developers start with Devnet, which provides free test tokens.

Reference: https://solana.com/docs/references/clusters

  1. What Are Solana RPC Servers?

RPC servers act as the communication layer between your application and the blockchain.

Validators are responsible for producing blocks and maintaining the network. RPC servers allow users and applications to interact with those validators.

Through RPC endpoints you can:

Send transactions

Query balances

Fetch account data

Retrieve block information

RPC servers expose APIs such as:

JSON-RPC

WebSocket

Many developers use hosted RPC providers instead of running their own infrastructure. Popular providers include:

Helius

QuickNode

Triton

These services provide fast and reliable access to the Solana network.

  1. Create a Wallet Using the CLI

Before interacting with Solana, you need a wallet.

Generate a new keypair using:

solana-keygen new

This creates a wallet with:

a public key (your wallet address)

a private key stored locally

Your public key will be used to receive tokens and interact with the blockchain.

  1. Connect to the Devnet Cluster

Next, configure your CLI to use the Devnet cluster.

solana config set --url https://api.devnet.solana.com

You can confirm the configuration with:

solana config get

This ensures all commands interact with the Devnet environment.

  1. Request Free SOL for Testing

Transactions on Solana require SOL for fees. On Devnet, you can request free test tokens using an airdrop.

Run:

solana airdrop 1

This gives your wallet 1 SOL for testing.

Sometimes this command may fail due to rate limits. If that happens, you can request tokens using the faucet:

https://faucet.solana.com

To verify your balance:

solana balance
7. Create Your First Token

Now let's create a token using the Solana CLI.

Solana uses the SPL Token Program to manage tokens.

To create a new token mint, run:

spl-token create-token

This command creates a mint account.

The mint account stores important information about your token, such as:

total supply

decimal precision

mint authority

freeze authority

Your regular wallet account cannot store these token-specific properties, which is why a separate mint account is required.

  1. View Your Token on the Solana Explorer

After creating the token, you can view it using the Solana explorer.

Visit:

https://explorer.solana.com

Make sure to switch the network to Devnet, then paste your mint address.

The explorer will display information about your token account.

  1. Mint Tokens to Your Wallet

At this point, your token exists but has zero supply.

You can mint tokens using:

spl-token mint <TOKEN_ADDRESS> 100

This command creates 100 tokens and sends them to your wallet.

  1. Check Your Token Balance

Finally, check the balance of your token:

spl-token balance <TOKEN_ADDRESS>

You can also verify the token supply in the Solana explorer.

If everything worked correctly, you should now see a supply of 100 tokens.

Conclusion

In this guide, you learned how to get started with Solana using the CLI.

We covered:

Installing the Solana CLI

Understanding clusters

Connecting to Devnet

Creating a wallet

Minting your first token

Learning these basic CLI commands helps you understand how Solana works under the hood. From here, you can move on to more advanced topics like Solana programs, Anchor framework, and decentralized applications.

If you're learning Solana development, experimenting with the CLI is one of the best ways to build a strong foundation.

Feel free to share feedback — it helps improve future tutorials.