Develop on Solana easily with Docker

Do not install Rust, Solana and Anchor on the developer machine. You only need to install Docker.

dockerhub

Installation

npm install -g solana-test-validator-docker

Usage

Initialize .solrc configuration file

In order to mount a docker volume, a .solrc configuration file needs to be created in the folder you want to be mounted.

{
  "imageName": "tchambard/solana-test-validator:latest",
  "containerName": "solana-test-validator"
}

The following command will create it.

solana-docker-shell init

Start container

Start the container. The directory where this command is executed must be somewhere in the project directory containing .solrc file

solana-docker-shell start

Stop container

solana-docker-shell stop

Volumes

When starting the container, three volumes are mounted:

• solana-docker:/opt Every tools needed are installed in /opt and mounted to named volume solana-docker. This volume makes rust/cargo installations and builds caches persistent.

• solana-docker-cache:/home/node/.cache Some solana caches are stored in user home directory /home/node/.cache and mounted to named volume solana-docker-cache. This volume makes solana caches persistent.

• ${.solrc_directory}:/working_dir When running solana-docker-shell init, a configuration file .solrc is created. The directory containing this file is mounted to /working_dir.

How to execute a command inside solana-test-validator container

solana-docker-shell exec "solana-test-validator --ledger /opt/.config/solana/.ledger -r --bind-address 0.0.0.0 --rpc-port 8899"
solana-docker-shell exec "anchor --version"
solana-docker-shell exec "anchor build"
solana-docker-shell exec "cargo --version"
solana-docker-shell exec "yarn --version"
solana-docker-shell exec "solana --version"
solana-docker-shell exec "solana balance"
solana-docker-shell exec "solana airdrop 2"
...

But simplier, you can also use directly these commands:

# Launch solana-test-validator. Any options of classic command solana-test-validator are supported...
solana-test-validator-docker --ledger /opt/.config/solana/.ledger -r --bind-address 0.0.0.0 --rpc-port 8899

# Use anchor
anchor-docker --version
anchor-docker build
...

# or cargo
cargo-docker --version
cargo-docker build
...

# or yarn
yarn-docker --version
yarn-docker install
...

# or solana
solana-docker --version
solana-docker balance
solana-docker airdrop 2
...