Network

Skipped Slot

A slot in which the assigned leader validator fails to produce a block, resulting in no entries being added to the ledger for that slot. Slots are skipped when the leader is offline, too slow to produce a block within the time window, or unable to reach other validators. Skipped slots do not increment block height and contribute to a validator's skip rate metric.

IDskipped-slot

Plain meaning

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A slot in which the assigned leader validator fails to produce a block, resulting in no entries being added to the ledger for that slot. Slots are skipped when the leader is offline, too slow to produce a block within the time window, or unable to reach other validators. Skipped slots do not increment block height and contribute to a validator's skip rate metric.

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Skipped Slot (skipped-slot)
Category: Network
Definition: A slot in which the assigned leader validator fails to produce a block, resulting in no entries being added to the ledger for that slot. Slots are skipped when the leader is offline, too slow to produce a block within the time window, or unable to reach other validators. Skipped slots do not increment block height and contribute to a validator's skip rate metric.
Related: Slot, Skip Rate, Leader Schedule
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Concept graph

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Branch

Slot

A time window during which a designated leader validator can produce a block. Each slot lasts approximately 400 milliseconds. Slots are numbered sequentially from genesis and grouped into epochs of 432,000 slots (~2-3 days). Not every slot produces a block—a skipped slot means the leader was offline or too slow.

Branch

Skip Rate

The percentage of assigned leader slots in which a validator fails to produce a block, either due to being offline, misconfigured, behind on the fork, or unable to process transactions fast enough. A high skip rate indicates validator unreliability; it reduces staking rewards for both the validator and its delegators because skipped slots produce no block rewards. Solana publishes per-validator skip rates via the `getVoteAccounts` RPC method, and delegators use skip rate as a key signal when selecting validators.

Branch

Leader Schedule

A deterministic mapping of slots to validators for an entire epoch, computed from stake weights. Validators with more stake are assigned proportionally more leader slots. The schedule is derived using a seed from the previous epoch's randomness, so all validators independently compute the same schedule without coordination.

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Core Protocol

Slot

A time window during which a designated leader validator can produce a block. Each slot lasts approximately 400 milliseconds. Slots are numbered sequentially from genesis and grouped into epochs of 432,000 slots (~2-3 days). Not every slot produces a block—a skipped slot means the leader was offline or too slow.

Network

Skip Rate

The percentage of assigned leader slots in which a validator fails to produce a block, either due to being offline, misconfigured, behind on the fork, or unable to process transactions fast enough. A high skip rate indicates validator unreliability; it reduces staking rewards for both the validator and its delegators because skipped slots produce no block rewards. Solana publishes per-validator skip rates via the `getVoteAccounts` RPC method, and delegators use skip rate as a key signal when selecting validators.

Core Protocol

Leader Schedule

A deterministic mapping of slots to validators for an entire epoch, computed from stake weights. Validators with more stake are assigned proportionally more leader slots. The schedule is derived using a seed from the previous epoch's randomness, so all validators independently compute the same schedule without coordination.

Network

Slashing

The punitive reduction of a validator's stake as a penalty for provable misbehavior such as double-signing or equivocation — confirming two conflicting blocks at the same slot. As of 2025, Solana does not yet enforce automatic on-chain slashing (unlike Ethereum), though it is a planned addition to the protocol; the primary deterrents currently are social consensus, stake withdrawal by delegators, and future slashing implementation. The lack of slashing means Solana validators face lower direct financial risk from bugs but also reduced cryptographic accountability compared to slashing-enabled networks.

Related terms

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Core Protocolslot

Slot

A time window during which a designated leader validator can produce a block. Each slot lasts approximately 400 milliseconds. Slots are numbered sequentially from genesis and grouped into epochs of 432,000 slots (~2-3 days). Not every slot produces a block—a skipped slot means the leader was offline or too slow.

Networkskip-rate

Skip Rate

The percentage of assigned leader slots in which a validator fails to produce a block, either due to being offline, misconfigured, behind on the fork, or unable to process transactions fast enough. A high skip rate indicates validator unreliability; it reduces staking rewards for both the validator and its delegators because skipped slots produce no block rewards. Solana publishes per-validator skip rates via the `getVoteAccounts` RPC method, and delegators use skip rate as a key signal when selecting validators.

Core Protocolleader-schedule

Leader Schedule

A deterministic mapping of slots to validators for an entire epoch, computed from stake weights. Validators with more stake are assigned proportionally more leader slots. The schedule is derived using a seed from the previous epoch's randomness, so all validators independently compute the same schedule without coordination.

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Network

Mainnet Beta

Solana's primary production cluster where real SOL and real economic activity occur; the "beta" designation reflects the network's ongoing protocol development despite being fully live since March 2020. It uses the same architecture as other clusters but with real validator stakes, live staking rewards, and permanent on-chain state. All production dApps, tokens, and NFTs exist on Mainnet Beta.

Network

Devnet

A persistent public Solana cluster intended for application development and testing, running the same software version as Mainnet Beta but with no real economic value. Devnet SOL can be freely airdropped via the CLI or faucet APIs, and the ledger may be reset periodically by Solana Labs. Developers use Devnet to test programs and integrations before deploying to Mainnet Beta.

Network

Testnet

A public Solana cluster used primarily by the Solana core team and validators to test new software releases, performance benchmarks, and network upgrades under real network conditions before they reach Mainnet Beta. Testnet SOL has no monetary value, and the ledger is reset more frequently than Devnet; it is less suitable for application development and more suited for validator operators validating their infrastructure.

Network

TPS (Transactions Per Second)

The rate at which a Solana cluster processes and commits transactions; Solana's theoretical maximum exceeds 65,000 TPS due to its parallel execution model, though real-world sustained throughput on Mainnet Beta typically ranges from 2,000–5,000 non-vote TPS under normal load. Vote transactions (used for consensus) make up a significant portion of all on-chain activity and are counted separately. High TPS is enabled by Proof of History timestamps, Sealevel parallel execution, and Gulf Stream mempool-less forwarding.