CLI Installation

Steps to set up your local environment for ZK Compression development. CLI to interact with compressed accounts and compressed tokens on Solana.

Make sure you have a wallet set up at ~/.config/solana/id.json. Get one here, if you don’t have one.
The CLI will use this wallet as the default fee payer and mint authority.

Installation

Ask anything about the ZK Compression CLI via

1. Install the ZK Compression CLI

   Ensure you have Node >= v20.9.0 installed on your machine. Windows users do not require WSL.

   Run this single command to install the ZK Compression CLI.

   npm install -g @lightprotocol/zk-compression-cli
   

   Building from source

   If you prefer to build the CLI from source, follow the steps below to install the necessary prerequisites.

   1. Activate the Development Environment

   Ensure you are at the root of the monorepo.

   . ./scripts/devenv
   

   2. Install and build the monorepo from source. This also builds the CLI.

   ./scripts/install.sh
   

   ./scripts/build.sh
   

   3. Make your CLI available globally

   pnpm link --global
   

   # Verify the CLI was correctly installed
   which light
   

2. Set Up Your Environment

   By default, the CLI interacts with localnet. You can view the current config by running:

   light config --get
   

   1. Once globally installed, start the Light test validator

   light test-validator
   

   This starts a Solana test-validator with the Light System programs and accounts, a prover server, and the Photon indexer as background processes against a clean ledger.

   # Pass --skip-indexer to start without the indexer
   light test-validator --skip-indexer
   
   # Pass --skip-prover to start without the prover
   light test-validator --skip-prover
   
   

   Note:

   The CLI currently runs the photon indexer and light-prover as background processes at port: 8784 and 3001 respectively.

   2. Ensure you have sufficient localnet funds

   # Airdrop 1 SOL
   solana airdrop 1
   
   # Print your address
   solana address
   
   # Print your balance
   solana balance
   

   Now you’re all set up to run CLI commands!

   Alternative: Using Devnet

   To switch to Devnet, point the URLs to an RPC supporting ZK Compression. For example, run:

     light config --indexerUrl "https://devnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<api-key>" \
       --proverUrl "https://devnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<api-key>" \
       --solanaRpcUrl "https://devnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<api-key>"
   

   Also adjust your solana config:

   # Set config
   solana config set --url "https://devnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<api-key>"
   
   # Airdrop 1 SOL
   solana airdrop 1
   
   # Print your address
   solana address
   

Commands

Create a compressed token mint

light create-mint

USAGE
  $ light create-mint [--mint-keypair <value>] [--mint-authority <value>]
    [--mint-decimals <value>]

FLAGS
  --mint-authority=<value>  Path to the mint authority keypair file.
                            Defaults to default local Solana wallet file
                            path.
  --mint-decimals=<value>   Number of base 10 digits to the right
                            of the decimal place [default: 9].
  --mint-keypair=<value>    Path to a mint keypair file. Defaults to a
                            random keypair.

Mint compressed tokens to a Solana wallet

light mint-to --mint "YOUR_MINT_ADDRESS" --to "YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS" --amount 4200000000

USAGE
  $ light mint-to --mint <value> --to <value> --amount <value>
    [--mint-authority <value>]

FLAGS
  --amount=<value>          (required) Amount to mint.
  --mint=<value>            (required) Mint address.
  --mint-authority=<value>  File path of the mint authority keypair.
                            Defaults to local Solana wallet.
  --to=<value>              (required) Recipient address.

Transfer compressed tokens from one wallet to another

light transfer --mint "YOUR_MINT_ADDRESS" --to "RECIPIENT_WALLET_ADDRESS" --amount 4200000000

USAGE
  $ light transfer --mint <value> --to <value> --amount <value>
    [--fee-payer <value>]

FLAGS
  --amount=<value>     (required) Amount to send.
  --fee-payer=<value>  Fee payer account. Defaults to the client
                       keypair.
  --mint=<value>       (required) Mint to transfer
  --to=<value>         (required) Recipient address

Assign native SOL to a compressed account

light compress-sol --amount 1000 --to "YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS_BASE58"

USAGE
  $ light compress-sol --to <value> --amount <value>

FLAGS
  --amount=<value>  (required) Amount to compress in lamports.
  --to=<value>      (required) Specify the recipient address.

Decompress into native SOL

light decompress-sol --amount 42 --to "YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS_BASE58"

USAGE
  $ light decompress-sol --to <value> --amount <value>

FLAGS
  --amount=<value>  (required) Amount to decompress in lamports.
  --to=<value>      (required) Specify the recipient address.

Support

• Always feel free to join the Developer Discord for help!
• For more info about the canonical indexer implementation built and maintained by Helius Labs, refer to the Photon codebase.

Next Steps

Get started with our cookbook guides.