Setting up a Solana CLI Wallet
Setting up a CLI wallet is quick! To start, download the Solana Tool Suite. This guide will assume that you are using the Solana CLI commands:
solana --version
output: solana-cli 1.10.29
Setting up a devnet wallet (for testing)
The steps described here will create a wallet to be used in the Solana devnet environment. In normal circumstances you would redact your mnemonic, store it somewhere safe and take advantage of the --outfile flag.
To create a new wallet, we will use the solana-keygen command:
solana-keygen new --outfile ~/.config/solana/devnet.json
Output
Generating a new keypair
For added security, enter a BIP39 passphrase
NOTE! This passphrase improves security of the recovery seed phrase NOT the
keypair file itself, which is stored as insecure plain text
BIP39 Passphrase (empty for none):
Wrote new keypair to /Users/febo/.config/solana/devnet.json
=======================================================================
pubkey: 6j4nNrozTJkk1zatiXHezSLZArnRUq3WkGKHACThXGpZ
=======================================================================
Save this seed phrase and your BIP39 passphrase to recover your new keypair:
## REDACTED ##
=======================================================================
The next step is to make this our default keypair:
solana config set --keypair ~/.config/solana/devnet.json
and make sure we are on the devnet:
solana config set --url https://metaplex.devnet.rpcpool.com/
If all the above steps are successful, your configuration be similar to:
solana config get
Output
Config File: ~/.config/solana/cli/config.yml
RPC URL: https://metaplex.devnet.rpcpool.com/
WebSocket URL: wss://metaplex.devnet.rpcpool.com/ (computed)
Keypair Path: ~/.config/solana/devnet.json
Commitment: confirmed
Funding your devnet wallet
In order to add SOL to your devnet wallet, you can request funds from a faucet:
solana airdrop 2
Output
Requesting airdrop of 2 SOL
Signature: 41ZEZqpyNMLUy3kQahWSy349PeDz3Q82dNDHKiA7QcsrAzHs3f7YiDEZWjnFi434DoiiDiDkazkBRycRnctx1m6e
2 SOL
If the command is successful, you will see the updated balance at the end. Make sure you are entering the airdrop amount that is within the airdrop limit. Currently, the maximum airdrop request limit is 2 SOL and there is a daily total limit of 24 SOL.
The solana airdrop command is sometimes unreliable. If the command doesn't work, you can use the airdrop tool at https://solfaucet.com.
Switching to Mainnet Beta for Production
To switch to the Mainnet Beta cluster, you can either make a new wallet or continue to use the same keypair. This guide will be using the same keypair.
The only step would be to set the cluster to a Mainnet Beta RPC:
solana config set --url https://api.metaplex.solana.com/
And that's it!
You will have to send real SOL to your address now. You can buy SOL from a centralized exchange such as Binance, Coinbase, Crypto.com, and others.
Make sure you send your SOL to the correct address! There is no undo button with cryptocurrency.
You can check your wallet address:
solana address
output: 6j4nNrozTJkk1zatiXHezSLZArnRUq3WkGKHACThXGpZ
and your balance:
solana balance
output: 2 SOL