Glossary OS

Plain meaning

Start with the shortest useful explanation before going deeper.

A chain-agnostic TypeScript interface specification (maintained at github.com/wallet-standard/wallet-standard) that defines how browser-based wallets register themselves, expose supported features, and implement signing operations via a globally discoverable window object. On Solana, wallets implement the Solana-specific feature set (solana:signTransaction, solana:signMessage, etc.), allowing any compliant dApp using Wallet Adapter to enumerate and use installed wallets without hard-coded wallet detection logic.

Mental model

Use the quick analogy first so the term is easier to reason about when you meet it in code, docs, or prompts.

Think of it as a building block that connects one definition to the larger Solana system around it.

Technical context

Place the term inside its Solana layer so the definition is easier to reason about.

RPCs, validators, snapshots, indexing, and network plumbing.

Why builders care

Turn the term from vocabulary into something operational for product and engineering work.

This term unlocks adjacent concepts quickly, so it works best when you treat it as a junction instead of an isolated definition.

AI handoff

Use this compact block when you want to give an agent or assistant grounded context without dumping the entire page.

Wallet Standard (wallet-standard)
Category: Infrastructure
Definition: A chain-agnostic TypeScript interface specification (maintained at github.com/wallet-standard/wallet-standard) that defines how browser-based wallets register themselves, expose supported features, and implement signing operations via a globally discoverable window object. On Solana, wallets implement the Solana-specific feature set (solana:signTransaction, solana:signMessage, etc.), allowing any compliant dApp using Wallet Adapter to enumerate and use installed wallets without hard-coded wallet detection logic.
Related: Wallet Adapter

Glossary Copilot

Ask grounded Solana questions without leaving the glossary.

Use glossary context, relationships, mental models, and builder paths to get structured answers instead of generic chat output.

Open full Copilot workspace

Question

Explain this code

Optional: paste Anchor, Solana, or Rust code so the Copilot can map primitives back to glossary terms.

Ask a glossary-grounded question

The Copilot will answer using the current term, related concepts, mental models, and the surrounding glossary graph.

Concept graph

See the term as part of a network, not a dead-end definition.

These branches show which concepts this term touches directly and what sits one layer beyond them.

Branch

Wallet Adapter

A TypeScript/JavaScript library maintained by Solana Labs (now under the Anza umbrella) that provides a unified interface and React context for connecting to and interacting with browser extension wallets (Phantom, Backpack, Solflare, etc.) using the Wallet Standard. It abstracts wallet-specific APIs behind a common connect/disconnect/signTransaction/sendTransaction interface, allowing dApps to support all compliant wallets without custom per-wallet integration code.

Mobile Wallet Adapter (MWA)

Open term

Next concepts to explore

Keep the learning chain moving instead of stopping at one definition.

These are the next concepts worth opening if you want this term to make more sense inside a real Solana workflow.

Infrastructure

Wallet Adapter

A TypeScript/JavaScript library maintained by Solana Labs (now under the Anza umbrella) that provides a unified interface and React context for connecting to and interacting with browser extension wallets (Phantom, Backpack, Solflare, etc.) using the Wallet Standard. It abstracts wallet-specific APIs behind a common connect/disconnect/signTransaction/sendTransaction interface, allowing dApps to support all compliant wallets without custom per-wallet integration code.

Open term

Infrastructure

Webhook

An HTTP callback mechanism used by Solana infrastructure providers like Helius to push real-time notifications to a developer-specified URL whenever a monitored address receives or sends a transaction, an account changes, or a specific program emits a log. Webhooks eliminate the need for client-side polling and are typically backed by Geyser-based indexers to ensure all on-chain events are delivered reliably with low latency.

Open term

Infrastructure

RPC (Remote Procedure Call)

The JSON-RPC 2.0 protocol interface through which clients communicate with Solana nodes to query chain state, submit transactions, and subscribe to events. Solana exposes a rich set of HTTP and WebSocket endpoints (e.g., getAccountInfo, sendTransaction) that abstract direct peer-to-peer network participation, making RPC the primary integration point for wallets, dApps, and indexers.

Open term

Infrastructure

RPC Node

A Solana full node that stores ledger state and serves JSON-RPC and WebSocket requests from clients without participating in consensus or voting. RPC nodes must replay every transaction to maintain an accurate account state database, and high-throughput deployments typically run dedicated RPC nodes with large SSDs, high RAM (256 GB+), and high-bandwidth network connections to handle concurrent client load without impacting validator performance.

Open term

Commonly confused with

Terms nearby in vocabulary, acronym, or conceptual neighborhood.

These entries are easy to mix up when you are reading quickly, prompting an LLM, or onboarding into a new layer of Solana.

Infrastructurewallet-adapter

Wallet Adapter

A TypeScript/JavaScript library maintained by Solana Labs (now under the Anza umbrella) that provides a unified interface and React context for connecting to and interacting with browser extension wallets (Phantom, Backpack, Solflare, etc.) using the Wallet Standard. It abstracts wallet-specific APIs behind a common connect/disconnect/signTransaction/sendTransaction interface, allowing dApps to support all compliant wallets without custom per-wallet integration code.

Open term

Infrastructurewebsocket

WebSocket Subscriptions

A persistent bidirectional connection to a Solana RPC node's WebSocket endpoint (typically on port 8900) that allows clients to receive real-time push notifications when on-chain state changes, rather than polling via HTTP. The subscription model supports account changes, program account changes, slot updates, root changes, signature confirmations, and log emission, each returning a subscription ID used to later unsubscribe.

Open term

Infrastructuremobile-wallet-adapter

Mobile Wallet Adapter (MWA)

An open protocol and SDK that defines a local communication channel (via Android intents and a localhost WebSocket) between mobile dApps and Solana wallet apps installed on the same device, allowing dApps to request transaction signing and message signing without exposing private keys. MWA v2 supports authorization scoping, chain-agnostic signing, and session caching, and is the standard integration layer used by Phantom, Solflare, and other mobile Solana wallets.

AliasMWA

Open term

Related terms

Follow the concepts that give this term its actual context.

Glossary entries become useful when they are connected. These links are the shortest path to adjacent ideas.

Infrastructurewallet-adapter

Wallet Adapter

A TypeScript/JavaScript library maintained by Solana Labs (now under the Anza umbrella) that provides a unified interface and React context for connecting to and interacting with browser extension wallets (Phantom, Backpack, Solflare, etc.) using the Wallet Standard. It abstracts wallet-specific APIs behind a common connect/disconnect/signTransaction/sendTransaction interface, allowing dApps to support all compliant wallets without custom per-wallet integration code.

Open term

Stay in the same layer and keep building context.

These entries live beside the current term and help the page feel like part of a larger knowledge graph instead of a dead end.

Infrastructure

RPC (Remote Procedure Call)

The JSON-RPC 2.0 protocol interface through which clients communicate with Solana nodes to query chain state, submit transactions, and subscribe to events. Solana exposes a rich set of HTTP and WebSocket endpoints (e.g., getAccountInfo, sendTransaction) that abstract direct peer-to-peer network participation, making RPC the primary integration point for wallets, dApps, and indexers.

Open term

Infrastructure

RPC Node

A Solana full node that stores ledger state and serves JSON-RPC and WebSocket requests from clients without participating in consensus or voting. RPC nodes must replay every transaction to maintain an accurate account state database, and high-throughput deployments typically run dedicated RPC nodes with large SSDs, high RAM (256 GB+), and high-bandwidth network connections to handle concurrent client load without impacting validator performance.

Open term

Infrastructure

RPC Methods

The enumerated JSON-RPC endpoints exposed by Solana nodes, covering account queries (getAccountInfo, getMultipleAccounts, getProgramAccounts), block and transaction retrieval (getBlock, getTransaction), cluster metadata (getEpochInfo, getSlot, getVersion), and transaction submission (sendTransaction, simulateTransaction). Methods accept a Commitment parameter (processed, confirmed, finalized) to control the recency-vs-safety tradeoff of returned data.

Open term

Infrastructure

getAccountInfo

An RPC method that returns the complete on-chain state of a single account identified by its base-58 public key, including its lamport balance, owner program, executable flag, rent epoch, and raw data payload encoded as base64 or base58. It is the most fundamental read primitive in Solana development and is called at the specified commitment level, with the data field being null if the account does not exist.

Open term