Solana RPC Skill

Reference files:

• references/core-methods.md — standard Solana JSON-RPC methods, parameters, response shapes
• references/helius-extensions.md — DAS API, Enhanced Transactions, Priority Fee, Sender, LaserStream
• references/quicknode-extensions.md — qn_estimatePriorityFees, Metaplex DAS addon, Jito
• references/patterns.md — batching, rate limits, resume, cost optimization
• references/examples/ — working Python scripts

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🚨 Rule #1: use the provider's parsed/enhanced APIs when available

The biggest credit waste on Solana RPC is fetching raw data and parsing it yourself when the provider offers a parsed endpoint. Matrix:

Task	Cheap option	Expensive / broken option
Wallet NFTs + tokens	Helius DAS getAssetsByOwner	getTokenAccountsByOwner + metadata lookups
Complete tx history	Helius getTransactionsForAddress	getSignaturesForAddress + N × getTransaction
Parsed DEX swap details	Helius Enhanced Tx or Solscan	getTransaction + manual program parsing
NFTs by collection	DAS getAssetsByGroup / searchAssets	getProgramAccounts (expensive + slow)
Priority fee estimate	getPriorityFeeEstimate (Helius) or qn_estimatePriorityFees (QuickNode)	getRecentPrioritizationFees (raw, needs math)
Compressed NFT history	DAS getSignaturesForAsset	getSignaturesForAddress (doesn't work for cNFTs)

When in doubt: check references/helius-extensions.md first — if Helius has a purpose-built endpoint, use it.

🚨 Rule #2: batch JSON-RPC requests

Single HTTP request can carry an array of JSON-RPC calls:

[
  {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"getTransaction","params":["sig1",{"encoding":"jsonParsed","maxSupportedTransactionVersion":0}]},
  {"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"getTransaction","params":["sig2",{"encoding":"jsonParsed","maxSupportedTransactionVersion":0}]},
  ...up to ~100 items
]

Response is an array. Most providers count each call individually but save massive HTTP overhead. Always batch when fetching N items of same shape.

See references/patterns.md for semaphore tuning and provider-specific batch limits.

🚨 Rule #3: never getProgramAccounts without tight filters

getProgramAccounts scans ALL accounts under a program. On popular programs (SPL Token, Token 2022, NFT programs) it's catastrophically slow and expensive, often times out.

Always apply:

• dataSize filter (exact byte length)
• memcmp filter (matches at specific offset) — typically for mint address, owner, or discriminator

If you're querying NFTs or tokens by collection/owner: use DAS instead (getAssetsByGroup, getAssetsByOwner).

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Setup: provider URL

All Solana RPC calls need a URL. Configure via env var:

# Helius
export SOLANA_RPC_URL="https://mainnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=YOUR_KEY"

# QuickNode
export SOLANA_RPC_URL="https://YOUR-ENDPOINT.solana-mainnet.quiknode.pro/YOUR-TOKEN/"

# Ankr
export SOLANA_RPC_URL="https://rpc.ankr.com/solana/YOUR_KEY"

# Public (DON'T use for production)
export SOLANA_RPC_URL="https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com"

Scripts read from SOLANA_RPC_URL. Never hardcode. If user has separate endpoints for archive vs. frontend (common on QuickNode), support SOLANA_RPC_URL_ARCHIVE additionally.

Multi-provider fallback (optional)

If user has both Helius and QuickNode, you can configure fallback:

• SOLANA_RPC_URL_PRIMARY — first choice
• SOLANA_RPC_URL_FALLBACK — used when PRIMARY hits 429 or errors 5×× persistently

Script pattern in references/examples/.

Step-by-step workflow

1. Classify the task

• Read account data → getAccountInfo, getMultipleAccounts
• Read tx → getTransaction (raw) or Helius Enhanced (parsed)
• Read history → getSignaturesForAddress + batch getTransaction, OR Helius getTransactionsForAddress
• Read token balances/NFTs → DAS getAssetsByOwner (preferred) or getTokenAccountsByOwner
• Submit tx → sendTransaction or Helius Sender (better landing rate)
• Estimate fee → getPriorityFeeEstimate (Helius) or qn_estimatePriorityFees (QuickNode)
• Stream real-time → WebSocket / LaserStream (not polling)

2. Check for batch opportunities If > 3 items of same method → batch them in one HTTP request. Don't loop.

3. Pick commitment level

• Default confirmed for reads
• finalized for financial audit / history
• Never processed for production (may revert)

4. Execute (MCP or script)

• Single call: curl or httpx inline
• Batch: Python script with aiohttp + JSON-RPC array, output JSONL

5. Present results

• Lamports → divide by 1e9 for SOL
• Token amounts → divide by 10^decimals
• Timestamps: block_time is unix seconds (no sub-second precision on getBlockTime)

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Common mistakes & error codes

Error	Cause	Fix
-32009 "Slot ... skipped"	Asked for a slot that wasn't produced	Use getBlock with commitment: "confirmed" and skip error silently
-32602 Invalid params	Wrong encoding / missing maxSupportedTransactionVersion: 0	Add "maxSupportedTransactionVersion": 0 to all tx reads
429 Too Many Requests	Rate limit	Respect provider's Retry-After, lower semaphore
Response timeout on getBlock	Large response (~MBs)	Set HTTP timeout ≥ 30s; consider transactionDetails: "signatures" or accounts if full tx not needed
Empty result on getSignaturesForAddress	No sigs in the range OR wrong before/until cursors	Verify cursor with getSignatureStatuses
DAS methods missing	Not Helius/QuickNode with DAS addon	Fall back to raw RPC or enable addon

Memory updates

Old memory says:

• "QuickNode getTransaction: ~10k/min, ~15KB response, 3x faster than Solscan for single-tx" — ✅ still valid
• "getBlock: ~30s timeout needed, large response" — ✅ still valid
• "getBlockTime: seconds precision only" — ✅ still valid

Add:

• maxSupportedTransactionVersion: 0 is required for modern tx reads — otherwise you get "Transaction version (0) is not supported" errors on v0 tx
• Helius DAS now supports fungible tokens too (showFungible: true on getAssetsByOwner)
• Priority fee: prefer getPriorityFeeEstimate (Helius) over raw getRecentPrioritizationFees

Reference files

• references/core-methods.md — standard Solana JSON-RPC: accounts, blocks, transactions, fees
• references/helius-extensions.md — DAS, Enhanced Tx, Priority Fee, Sender, Webhooks, LaserStream
• references/quicknode-extensions.md — qn_estimatePriorityFees, DAS addon, Jito
• references/patterns.md — batching details, rate limits, fallback, cost
• references/examples/fetch_tx_batch.py — batched getTransaction for N signatures
• references/examples/wallet_full_history.py — Helius getTransactionsForAddress with pagination
• references/examples/wallet_holdings_das.py — DAS getAssetsByOwner with full token metadata