Surfpool - Solana Development Environment

The definitive guide for Surfpool - where developers start their Solana journey. A drop-in replacement for solana-test-validator that enables local program simulation using Mainnet accounts fetched just-in-time.

What is Surfpool?

Surfpool is a comprehensive development environment that combines local-first testing with real Mainnet data access:

Mainnet Forking - Clone accounts, programs, and token balances from Mainnet instantly

Cheatcodes - Special RPC methods for time travel, balance manipulation, and state control

Infrastructure as Code - Reproducible, auditable deployments using txtx DSL

Surfpool Studio - Embedded dashboard with transaction inspection and profiling

Universal Faucet - Get SOL, USDC, USDT, BONK from a single interface

Key Benefits

| Feature | Description |
|---------|-------------|
| Instant Boot | No 2TB snapshots, runs on Raspberry Pi |
| Lazy Forking | Copy-on-read strategy pulls mainnet data as needed |
| Full Compatibility | Works with solana-cli, Anchor, wallets, explorers |
| Zero Config | Auto-detects Anchor projects and deploys programs |

Statistics

460+ GitHub stars

100+ forks

Apache 2.0 license

Current version: v1.0.0

Installation

Automated Installer (Recommended)

curl -sL https://run.surfpool.run/ | bash

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install txtx/taps/surfpool

From Source

git clone https://github.com/txtx/surfpool.git
cd surfpool
cargo surfpool-install

Docker

docker pull surfpool/surfpool
docker run -p 8899:8899 -p 18488:18488 surfpool/surfpool

Quick Start

Start Local Network

# Start with default configuration
surfpool start
Start with custom RPC source

surfpool start -u https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com
Start without terminal UI

surfpool start --no-tui
Start with debug logging

surfpool start --debug

Access Points