Create and Register a Mint Account for Compression

Complete guide to create and register an SPL token mint account for compression with createMint(), troubleshooting and advanced configurations.

The mint account itself requires rent (like regular SPL mints), but individual compressed token accounts are rent-free.

Compressed tokens use an SPL mint that is registered with the compressed token program. Connect an existing SPL mint with createTokenPool() or use createMint() to create a new one from scratch.

createMint()

// Create SPL mint with token pool for compression
const { mint, transactionSignature } = await createMint(
    rpc,
    payer,
    mintAuthority.publicKey,
    decimals,
);

Best Practice: Each mint supports a maximum of 4 token pools total. During compression/decompression operations, token pools get write-locked. Use addTokenPools() to create additional pools that increase per-block write-lock capacity.

Full Code Example

Prerequisites

Make sure you have dependencies and developer environment set up!

Prerequisites & Setup

Dependencies

npm install --save-dev typescript tsx @types/node &&
npm install \
    @lightprotocol/stateless.js \
    @lightprotocol/compressed-token \
    @solana/web3.js \
    @solana/spl-token

Alternatives:

yarn add --dd typescript tsx @types/node &&
yarn add \
    @lightprotocol/stateless.js \
    @lightprotocol/compressed-token \
    @solana/web3.js \
    @solana/spl-token

pnpm add --save-dev typescript tsx @types/node &&
pnpm add \
    @lightprotocol/stateless.js \
    @lightprotocol/compressed-token \
    @solana/web3.js \
    @solana/spl-token

Developer Environment

By default, this guide uses Localnet.

# Install the development CLI
npm install @lightprotocol/zk-compression-cli

# Start a local test validator
light test-validator

## ensure you have the Solana CLI accessible in your system PATH

// createRpc() defaults to local test validator endpoints
import {
  Rpc,
  createRpc,
} from "@lightprotocol/stateless.js";

const connection: Rpc = createRpc();

async function main() {
  let slot = await connection.getSlot();
  console.log(slot);

  let health = await connection.getIndexerHealth(slot);
  console.log(health);
  // "Ok"
}

main();

Alternative: Using Devnet

Follow these steps to create an RPC Connection. Replace <your_api_key> with your API key before running.

Get your API Key here, if you don’t have one yet.

import { createRpc } from "@lightprotocol/stateless.js";

// Helius exposes Solana and Photon RPC endpoints through a single URL
const RPC_ENDPOINT = "https://devnet.helius-rpc.com?api-key=<your_api_key>";
const connection = createRpc(RPC_ENDPOINT, RPC_ENDPOINT, RPC_ENDPOINT);

console.log("Connection created!");
console.log("RPC Endpoint:", RPC_ENDPOINT);

Create SPL Mint with Token Pool for Compression

Run this script to create a mint account with token pool for compression.

create-mint.ts

// 1. Setup funded payer and connect to local validator
// 2. Create SPL mint with token pool for compression via createMint()

import { Keypair } from '@solana/web3.js';
import { createRpc } from '@lightprotocol/stateless.js';
import { createMint } from '@lightprotocol/compressed-token';

async function createCompressedMint() {
    // Step 1: Setup funded payer and connect to local validator
    const rpc = createRpc(); // defaults to localhost:8899
    const payer = Keypair.generate();
        const airdropSignature = await rpc.requestAirdrop(payer.publicKey, 1000000000); // 1 SOL
    await rpc.confirmTransaction(airdropSignature);

    // Step 2: Call createMint() to create mint account and token pool for compression
    const { mint, transactionSignature } = await createMint(
        rpc,
        payer,
        payer.publicKey, // mint authority
        9
    );
    console.log("SPL mint with token pool for compression created");
    console.log("Mint address:", mint.toBase58());
    console.log("Transaction:", transactionSignature);


    return { mint, transactionSignature };
}

createCompressedMint().catch(console.error);

Advanced Configurations

Customize Mint Authority

Customize who can mint new compressed tokens.

const mintAuthority = Keypair.generate();

const { mint, transactionSignature } = await createMint(
    rpc,
    payer,
    mintAuthority.publicKey,
    9,
);

Add Freeze Authority

Customize who can freeze/thaw compressed token accounts.

const freezeAuthority = Keypair.generate();

const { mint, transactionSignature } = await createMint(
    rpc,
    payer,
    payer.publicKey, // mint authority
    9, // decimals
    Keypair.generate(), // mint keypair
    undefined, // confirm options
    undefined, // token program ID
    freezeAuthority.publicKey, // freeze authority
);

Next Steps

Learn how to create additional compressed token pools for your SPL mint to increase write-lock limits.