Scale or Die at Accelerate 2025: solana-sdk is dead, long live the Solana SDK!

Jon Cinque, leading the dev tooling team at Anza, drops a bombshell at Accelerate 2025: the Solana SDK as we know it is dead. But fear not, developers! A new, improved SDK is rising from its ashes, promising faster builds, semantic versioning, and a focus on on-chain program development.

Summary

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The Solana ecosystem is about to experience a significant shift in its development tooling. Jon Cinque, heading the dev tooling team at Anza, announced major changes to the Solana SDK at Accelerate 2025. The current Solana-SDK, known for its slow builds and bloated codebase, is being phased out in favor of a more streamlined and efficient approach.

The new SDK, broken down into roughly 100 component crates, aims to address the pain points developers have faced for years. By minimizing dependencies and using crate features more effectively, the team at Anza has managed to dramatically reduce build times and simplify the development process for on-chain programs.

This overhaul isn't just about speed; it's about creating a better foundation for the Solana ecosystem. The new SDK respects semantic versioning, decouples releases from the Solana validator, and focuses on providing a great experience for on-chain program developers. These changes promise to make Solana development more accessible and efficient, potentially attracting more developers to the ecosystem.

As the Solana ecosystem continues to grow and evolve, these improvements to the core development tools are crucial. They demonstrate Solana's commitment to developer experience and lay the groundwork for more innovative and efficient dApps in the future.

Key Points:

The Death of Solana-SDK

The Solana-SDK, a large Rust crate that has been a staple for Solana developers, is being phased out. This crate, which includes the smaller Solana-Program crate, has been criticized for its slow build times and inclusion of unnecessary code. Jon Cinque acknowledged the frustrations developers have faced, including the notorious Borsch upgrade in 2022, and emphasized that the Anza dev tooling team has been working hard to address these issues.

The old SDK was designed with the Solana validator (agave) as the primary focus, leading to the inclusion of many features that were unnecessary for most developers. This resulted in developers compiling hundreds of crates, many of which were never used in their projects, leading to significantly slower build times and a more complicated development process.

The New Solana SDK

The new approach to the Solana SDK is based on several guiding principles. First and foremost, it's designed with on-chain program developers in mind, recognizing the unique programming environment of the Solana blockchain. The team is committed to respecting semantic versioning, minimizing dependencies, and using crate features more effectively.

The most significant change is the breaking up of the SDK into approximately 100 component crates. This allows developers to import only the specific components they need, dramatically reducing build times and simplifying the development process. The SDK has also been moved to a new repository under the Anza organization, signaling a fresh start for the project.

Improved Developer Experience

One of the most exciting aspects of the new SDK is the dramatic improvement in build times. Jon Cinque demonstrated this with a simple program that previously required building 147 crates and took about 24 seconds to compile. With the new component crates, the same program built only 21 crates and compiled in less than 3 seconds.

The team has also decoupled the SDK releases from the Solana validator releases. This means that improvements and bug fixes can be released more quickly, without waiting for a new validator version. Developers can now update individual crates as needed, providing more flexibility and faster access to improvements.

Future Plans and V3

Looking ahead, the Anza team has ambitious plans for version 3 of the SDK. They aim to make breaking changes that will allow for the reuse of base types across different frameworks like Anchor and Pinocchio. This standardization will make it easier for programs written in different frameworks to interact seamlessly.

The team is also considering developing a new serialization library that offers zero-copy, simpler enums, and variable-length types. These features are not well-supported by existing libraries and could provide significant benefits for Solana developers.

Facts + Figures

• The old Solana-SDK required building 300 different crates for off-chain use and 150 crates for on-chain use.
• The new SDK has been broken down into roughly 100 component crates.
• Build times for a simple program were reduced from 24 seconds to less than 3 seconds.
• The number of crates built for the simple program decreased from 147 to 21.
• The latest stable version of the new SDK is 2.2.1.
• The new SDK is hosted in a separate repository under the Anza organization.
• The Borsch upgrade in 2022 was cited as a particularly problematic breaking change.
• The team is considering developing a new serialization library for zero-copy, simpler enums, and variable-length types.
• SDK releases are now decoupled from Solana validator releases.
• The team aims to standardize base types across different Solana development frameworks in version 3.

Top quotes

1. "Solana-SDK is this big rust crate that has way too much code in it."
2. "We decided to start from the beginning with some new sort of base guiding principles of how we can make a great SDK for everyone, but really especially for on-chain program developers."
3. "We're going to respect semantic versioning for once."
4. "We moved the SDK into a whole new repo. So you can see it under the ANZA Organization, Solana dash SDK. So the name is there, but the concept of it is dying."
5. "We decoupled the releases from agave. So for a long time, every single time there was a new agave or a Solana validator release, you also got a new SDK."
6. "I can't believe how fast we can build these things."
7. "We want these to be the core types upon which other frameworks are built."
8. "Let's just make them look the same everywhere."

Questions Answered

What changes are being made to the Solana SDK?

The Solana SDK is undergoing a major overhaul. The old monolithic SDK is being broken down into approximately 100 component crates, allowing developers to import only the specific components they need. This change dramatically reduces build times and simplifies the development process. Additionally, the SDK releases are now decoupled from Solana validator releases, allowing for more frequent updates and improvements.

How will these changes affect build times for Solana projects?

The new component-based approach to the Solana SDK significantly reduces build times. In a demonstration, a simple program that previously required building 147 crates and took about 24 seconds to compile now only builds 21 crates and compiles in less than 3 seconds. This dramatic improvement in build times will greatly enhance the developer experience and productivity when working on Solana projects.

What are the main benefits of the new Solana SDK for developers?

The new Solana SDK offers several key benefits for developers. Firstly, it provides faster build times due to reduced dependencies. Secondly, it respects semantic versioning, making it easier to manage version updates. Thirdly, it's designed with a focus on on-chain program developers, providing a better fit for the unique Solana programming environment. Lastly, the decoupled releases allow for quicker access to improvements and bug fixes.

How can developers start using the new Solana SDK?

To start using the new Solana SDK, developers should first update their SDK dependencies to version 2.2.1 or later. Then, they should begin using the component crates instead of the monolithic Solana-Program or Solana-SDK crates. In most cases, this involves replacing "Solana_program::" with the specific component crate. Finally, developers can remove the Solana-Program or Solana-SDK dependencies from their projects.

What future improvements are planned for the Solana SDK?

For version 3 of the SDK, the team plans to make breaking changes that will allow for the reuse of base types across different Solana development frameworks. This will enable better interoperability between programs written in different frameworks. They're also considering developing a new serialization library that offers features like zero-copy, simpler enums, and variable-length types, which are not well-supported by existing libraries.

How does the new SDK approach address the issues with the old Solana-SDK?

The new SDK addresses several key issues with the old Solana-SDK. It minimizes dependencies, reducing the number of unnecessary crates that developers need to compile. It's designed with on-chain program developers as the primary focus, rather than being validator-first. The component-based approach allows for more flexibility and faster builds. Additionally, the new SDK respects semantic versioning and has decoupled releases from the Solana validator, addressing two major pain points for developers.

Will these changes affect existing Solana projects?

While the changes to the Solana SDK are significant, they shouldn't immediately affect existing projects. Developers can continue using the old SDK if they choose. However, to take advantage of the improvements, developers will need to update their dependencies and refactor their code to use the new component crates. The team has provided migration guides to help with this process.

How do these changes impact the broader Solana ecosystem?

These changes to the Solana SDK have the potential to significantly impact the broader Solana ecosystem. By improving the developer experience and reducing build times, these changes could attract more developers to the platform. The focus on creating standardized base types across frameworks could lead to better interoperability between different projects in the ecosystem. Overall, these improvements lay the groundwork for more efficient and innovative development on Solana.