Home / Part 2 / Environment Setup (Minimal)

Environment Setup (Minimal)

Get the minimal toolchain running so you can start coding quickly.

Minimal setup, maximum progress
Playground first, then a small local toolchain if needed.

Learning Objective

  • Choose between fast path (Playground) or local install
  • Install minimal local tools: Rust, Solana CLI, Anchor, Node.js
  • Verify installation with simple commands

What to Expect

  • Fast path with no installation
  • Minimal local setup steps
  • Checklist to track progress

Fast Path (No Install)

If you want to experiment without setup, use Solana Playground in your browser. It's the quickest way to get started.

Minimal Local Setup

Install Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env
rustc --version
Install Solana CLI
sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.anza.xyz/stable/install)"
export PATH="$HOME/.local/share/solana/install/active_release/bin:$PATH"
solana --version
Install Anchor
cargo install --git https://github.com/coral-xyz/anchor avm --locked
avm install latest
avm use latest
anchor --version
Install Node.js
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
nvm install 20
node --version
npm --version

Checklist

Checkpoint Quiz