SVM — Understand Solana's Architecture

/helius

Prerequisites

searchSolanaDocs

fetchHeliusBlog

getSIMD

readSolanaSourceFile

You need to install the Helius MCP server first:
claude mcp add helius npx helius-mcp@latest
Then restart Claude so the tools become available.

How to Answer a Question

1. Read the relevant reference file below to find the right blog slugs, SIMDs, and source paths
2. Call the MCP tools listed in that file to fetch depth
3. Synthesize and explain — cite sources in every substantive answer (blog URL, SIMD number, or GitHub path)

Routing

Quick Disambiguation

• "compile" / "build a program" — language → bytecode:

  compilation.md

  ; uploading the binary to chain:

  programs.md

• "fees" — transaction fee mechanics, priority fees, local markets:

  transactions.md

  ; validator rewards, inflation:

  validators.md

• "accounts" — account model, PDAs, ownership:

  accounts.md

  ; vote accounts, validator stake:

  validators.md

• "program" — writing/compiling:

  compilation.md

  ; deploying/upgrading:

  programs.md

  ; how it runs:

  execution.md

• "transaction confirmation" — slot processing, commitment levels:

  accounts.md

  ; consensus finalization:

  consensus.md

• "end-to-end execution" / "how does X get executed" / "full pipeline" — read

  compilation.md

  +

  programs.md

  +

  execution.md

  ; all three point to

  solana-virtual-machine

  — fetch it once, not three times
• "how do I implement X" — redirect to the

  /helius

  skill for API building questions

Compilation Pipeline

references/compilation.md

fetchHeliusBlog

readSolanaSourceFile

searchSolanaDocs

• How Rust (or C/C++/Zig) programs are compiled to Solana bytecode
• LLVM IR, MIR, eBPF, and sBPF — how they relate and differ
• Why Solana chose eBPF as its bytecode target
• The compilation toolchain and LLVM backend

Program Deployment

references/programs.md

fetchHeliusBlog

readSolanaSourceFile

searchSolanaDocs

• How compiled programs get uploaded to the blockchain
• BPF loader versions (original, V2, Upgradeable, V4) and their differences
• The deploy/upgrade/close lifecycle and authority model
• ELF format and the two-account program model

Execution Engine

references/execution.md

fetchHeliusBlog

readSolanaSourceFile

searchSolanaDocs

• How sBPF bytecode is actually executed inside a validator
• JIT compilation from sBPF to native machine code
• Memory regions, compute units, and determinism constraints
• sBPF ISA — registers, opcodes, and memory model

Account Model & Programming Model

references/accounts.md

fetchHeliusBlog

searchSolanaDocs

readSolanaSourceFile

• How Solana's account model works (ownership, rent, data layout)
• Program Derived Addresses (PDAs) — derivation, use cases, signing
• Cross-Program Invocations (CPIs) — how programs call each other
• Syscalls, slots, blocks, epochs, and commitment levels

Transactions & Local Fee Markets

references/transactions.md

fetchHeliusBlog

getSIMD

searchSolanaDocs

• Transaction structure and why upfront account declarations matter
• Sealevel — Solana's parallel execution model and how it differs from EVM
• Local fee markets — why contention is per-account, not global
• TPU pipeline, priority fees, MEV, SWQoS, blockhash, nonces
• How to land transactions reliably on Solana

Consensus

references/consensus.md

fetchHeliusBlog

getSIMD

readSolanaSourceFile

• Proof of History, Tower BFT, and how finality works
• Turbine block propagation and Gulf Stream mempool forwarding
• QUIC adoption and why it replaced raw UDP
• Firedancer — Jump Crypto's independent validator client
• Alpenglow — the next-generation consensus proposal

Validator Economics

references/validators.md

fetchHeliusBlog

getSIMD

searchSolanaDocs

• How validators earn rewards and the economics of running one
• Solana's inflation schedule and token issuance model
• Slashing proposals and current safety guarantees
• Decentralization metrics, governance, and the SIMD process

Data Layer

references/data.md

fetchHeliusBlog

searchSolanaDocs

readSolanaSourceFile

• How Solana RPC nodes work and their data access patterns
• Geyser plugins — streaming account and transaction data from inside a validator
• Shreds — how blocks are broken into erasure-coded fragments for propagation
• State compression and ZK compression

Program Development

references/development.md

fetchHeliusBlog

searchSolanaDocs

readSolanaSourceFile

• Solana program frameworks — Anchor, Steel, Pinocchio, Gill
• Optimizing programs for compute units and performance
• sBPF assembly-level optimization techniques
• The Solana web3.js 2.0 SDK architecture

Token Extensions & DeFi Primitives

references/tokens.md

fetchHeliusBlog

searchSolanaDocs

readSolanaSourceFile

• Token-2022 — the new token standard and its extensions
• Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) and how they work on Solana
• Stablecoins on Solana — the landscape and mechanisms
• Real World Assets (RWAs) — tokenization approaches on Solana

Rules

• Always read the reference file first — it lists the best slugs, SIMDs, and source paths for that topic
• Call at most 1–2 MCP tools per question — pick the single most relevant slug from the reference file based on the specific question; don't call every slug listed
• Prefer

  fetchHeliusBlog

  over

  searchSolanaDocs

  — blog posts are focused and authoritative; use

  searchSolanaDocs

  only for protocol-level concepts not covered in the blog
• Never write files — synthesize and respond in-conversation only; do not create local markdown or text files with fetched content
• Cite sources in every substantive answer: blog URL (

  https://helius.dev/blog/<slug>

  ), SIMD number, or GitHub path
• Label proposals clearly — Alpenglow, BAM, and slashing are still in-progress; don't describe them as shipped features
• Redirect implementation questions — "how do I build X using Helius?" belongs in the

  /helius

  skill
• No API key needed —

  fetchHeliusBlog

  ,

  searchSolanaDocs

  ,

  getSIMD

  , and

  readSolanaSourceFile

  all work without authentication