Programming Model

Return Data (set_return_data)

A mechanism for programs to return data to the caller after CPI, introduced in v1.10. Programs call `set_return_data(data)` (max 1,024 bytes), and the caller retrieves it with `get_return_data()`. This enables CPI callers to receive structured results without parsing logs or modifying shared accounts.

IDreturn-data

Plain meaning

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A mechanism for programs to return data to the caller after CPI, introduced in v1.10. Programs call `set_return_data(data)` (max 1,024 bytes), and the caller retrieves it with `get_return_data()`. This enables CPI callers to receive structured results without parsing logs or modifying shared accounts.

Mental model

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Technical context

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Accounts, instructions, PDAs, transactions, and execution flow.

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Return Data (set_return_data) (return-data)
Category: Programming Model
Definition: A mechanism for programs to return data to the caller after CPI, introduced in v1.10. Programs call `set_return_data(data)` (max 1,024 bytes), and the caller retrieves it with `get_return_data()`. This enables CPI callers to receive structured results without parsing logs or modifying shared accounts.
Related: Cross-Program Invocation (CPI), Program
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Branch

Cross-Program Invocation (CPI)

A mechanism for one program to call another program's instructions during execution. CPIs enable composability—e.g., a DeFi program can call the Token Program to transfer tokens. CPI depth is limited to 4 levels. The caller passes accounts and instruction data, and the callee runs with the same transaction context.

Branch

Program

Executable code deployed on-chain, equivalent to a smart contract on other blockchains. Programs are stateless—they store no data themselves but read/write data in separate accounts they own. Programs are compiled to SBF bytecode and loaded via the BPF Loader. Every program has a unique Program ID (its account's public key).

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Programming Model

Cross-Program Invocation (CPI)

A mechanism for one program to call another program's instructions during execution. CPIs enable composability—e.g., a DeFi program can call the Token Program to transfer tokens. CPI depth is limited to 4 levels. The caller passes accounts and instruction data, and the callee runs with the same transaction context.

Programming Model

Program

Executable code deployed on-chain, equivalent to a smart contract on other blockchains. Programs are stateless—they store no data themselves but read/write data in separate accounts they own. Programs are compiled to SBF bytecode and loaded via the BPF Loader. Every program has a unique Program ID (its account's public key).

Programming Model

Seeds

Byte arrays used as inputs to derive a Program Derived Address. Seeds can be any combination of static strings, user pubkeys, mint addresses, or other identifiers (each seed max 32 bytes, up to 16 seeds). For example, seeds=[b'vault', user.key()] derives a unique vault PDA for each user.

Programming Model

Rent Exemption

The state where an account holds enough lamports to cover two years of rent, making it effectively permanent. The minimum balance is approximately 0.00089088 SOL per byte of data. Since Solana requires all new accounts to be rent-exempt, this is the minimum funding required when creating accounts.

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Programming Modelaccount-data

Account Data

The byte array stored in an account that holds program-specific state. Data is typically serialized using Borsh and must be explicitly allocated at account creation. The maximum data size is 10MB. Programs are responsible for defining and managing their own data layout, including discriminators for type identification.

Programming Modelprogram-data

Program Data Account

The account that stores the actual SBF ELF bytecode for an upgradeable program. It is separate from the program's main account (which just points to the program data). This separation allows the bytecode to be swapped during upgrades while the program ID stays the same. The program data account also stores the upgrade authority pubkey.

Related terms

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Programming Modelcpi

Cross-Program Invocation (CPI)

A mechanism for one program to call another program's instructions during execution. CPIs enable composability—e.g., a DeFi program can call the Token Program to transfer tokens. CPI depth is limited to 4 levels. The caller passes accounts and instruction data, and the callee runs with the same transaction context.

Programming Modelprogram

Program

Executable code deployed on-chain, equivalent to a smart contract on other blockchains. Programs are stateless—they store no data themselves but read/write data in separate accounts they own. Programs are compiled to SBF bytecode and loaded via the BPF Loader. Every program has a unique Program ID (its account's public key).

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Programming Model

Account

The fundamental data storage unit on Solana. Every piece of state is stored in an account identified by a 32-byte public key. Accounts hold a lamport balance, an owner program, a data byte array (up to 10MB), and an executable flag. Only the owning program can modify an account's data, but anyone can credit lamports to it.

Programming Model

Program

Executable code deployed on-chain, equivalent to a smart contract on other blockchains. Programs are stateless—they store no data themselves but read/write data in separate accounts they own. Programs are compiled to SBF bytecode and loaded via the BPF Loader. Every program has a unique Program ID (its account's public key).

Programming Model

Instruction

A single operation within a transaction that invokes a program. An instruction specifies: (1) the program ID to call, (2) an array of account metas (pubkey, is_signer, is_writable), and (3) an opaque data byte array. Programs decode the instruction data to determine which operation to perform.

Programming Model

Transaction

An atomic unit of execution containing one or more instructions, a recent blockhash, and one or more signatures. All instructions in a transaction execute sequentially and atomically—if any instruction fails, the entire transaction reverts. Transactions have a 1,232-byte size limit (matching IPv6 MTU) and a default 200,000 CU budget.