Anchor Framework

Smart Contract Standard

The dominant development framework for Solana smart contracts ('programs'), providing a Rust eDSL with macros, IDL generation, type-safe client generation, and built-in security checks (account validation, ownership verification, signer constraints). Plays the role on Solana that Hardhat/Truffle play on Ethereum, with the additional responsibility of defining the standard patterns by which Solana programs are structured, serialized, and called.

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Details

License https://github.com/coral-xyz/anchor
Dev Status 🟢 Active
Dev Status Detail Active
Owner Originally: coral-xyz (Armani Ferrante / Anchor community); Stewardship transferred to Solana Foundation (solana-foundation/anchor)
Governing Body Solana Foundation (stewardship transferred from coral-xyz / Armani Ferrante)
Country Global / Decentralized
Start Year 2021
Stack Rust (Anchor eDSL via procedural macros); generates Borsh-serialized instruction handlers; emits IDL (Interface Definition Language, JSON) from which TypeScript/JavaScript clients are auto-generated; anchor-cli for project management
Funding Originally volunteer/coral-xyz; Solana Foundation grants and ecosystem support
Last Investigated Mar 9, 2026

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This tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.

Topology view: Anchor FrameworkThis tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.AnchorFrameworkSolana (Based on, Built on)SolanaSPL Token Program (Based on)SPL TokenProgramEthereum (Built on, Inspired by)Ethereum

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Smart Contract Standard Attributes

Origins Created by Armani Ferrante as a developer productivity framework addressing the complexity of raw Solana program development in Rust. Rapidly became the de facto standard framework for Solana smart contract development. Originally hosted at coral-xyz; stewardship transferred to the Solana Foundation. Inspired by the high-level contract development experience of Ethereum's Solidity and Truffle ecosystem.
Data Formats Anchor IDL (JSON): specifies instructions, accounts, types, and error codes; Borsh binary serialization for all on-chain instruction data and account data; 8-byte discriminator prefix per account type and instruction
Terms Apache 2.0
Funds Unknown
Based On Solana SPL Token Program and native Solana programming model; Borsh serialization; conceptually analogous to Hardhat + OpenZeppelin for Ethereum
Permissions Open-source framework; permissionless program deployment to Solana mainnet; programs may be marked as upgradeable or immutable at deployment
Development Tools anchor-cli; Anchor Version Manager (AVM); @coral-xyz/anchor (TypeScript client library); Anchor Playground; VSCode Rust plugins; Solana Test Validator
Protocol Maturity / Standardization De facto standard for Solana development; the large majority of new Solana programs use Anchor; IDL format is widely supported by wallets, explorers, and tooling; active development with regular releases
Trust Framework Security enforced via compile-time macro constraints (account ownership, signer checks, account discriminators); Anchor reduces common Solana security pitfalls; deployed program trust model is Solana consensus
Target Application Domain All Solana smart contract development: DeFi, NFT platforms, DAOs, gaming, token programs, civic applications; serves as the programming interface layer for most Solana protocols
Deployment Model Framework for program development; programs deployed as upgradeable or immutable BPF bytecode accounts on Solana; each program has a unique program ID
Standard Type Interface Standard
Ecosystem Solana

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