Interactive CLI Example

A full-featured interactive CLI for exploring Solana development with Chain Forge.

Overview

The Interactive CLI provides a menu-driven interface for:

• Deploy Node: Start a local Solana test validator with customizable settings
• Deploy Program: Build and deploy Solana programs interactively
• Send Funds: Transfer SOL between accounts
• Real-time Updates: See account balances update after transactions

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Yarn 4 (via Corepack: corepack enable)
• Solana CLI tools
• Rust and cargo-build-sbf for building programs

Installation

# From the repository root, build Chain Forge first
cargo build --workspace --release

# Install dependencies
cd examples/interactive-cli
yarn install

# Build TypeScript
yarn build

# Run the CLI
yarn start

Development Mode

yarn dev

Features

Deploy Node

Configure and start a local Solana validator:

1. Port: Choose the RPC port (default: 8899)
2. Mnemonic: Use default test mnemonic, generate random, or enter custom
3. Accounts: Number of pre-funded accounts (1-100)
4. Balance: Initial SOL balance per account

Deploy Program

Build and deploy Solana programs from the programs/ directory:

1. Select a program from discovered programs
2. Choose a payer account
3. Build automatically with cargo build-sbf if needed
4. Deploy and see the Program ID

Send Funds

Transfer SOL between accounts:

1. Select source account
2. Select destination (another account or custom address)
3. Enter amount
4. Confirm and send

Sample Program

The programs/hello_chain_forge/ directory contains a ready-to-use sample program.

Building Manually

yarn build:program

Program Instructions

Instruction	Byte	Description
Initialize	0	Sets counter to 0
Increment	1	Adds 1 to counter
Hello	2+	Logs greeting message

Adding Your Own Programs

Create a new program in the programs/ directory:

mkdir -p programs/my_program/src

Create programs/my_program/Cargo.toml:

[package]
name = "my_program"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"

[workspace]

[lib]
crate-type = ["cdylib", "lib"]

[dependencies]
solana-program = "2.0"

Create programs/my_program/src/lib.rs with your program code.

The CLI will automatically discover programs in the programs/ directory.

Architecture

src/
├── index.ts          # Main loop and SIGINT handling
├── types.ts          # TypeScript interfaces
├── state.ts          # Application state management
├── ui/
│   ├── header.ts     # Status header display
│   ├── menus.ts      # Menu definitions
│   └── formatters.ts # Output formatting utilities
├── actions/
│   ├── deploy-node.ts    # Node deployment flow
│   ├── deploy-program.ts # Program build and deployment
│   └── send-funds.ts     # SOL transfer flow
└── utils/
    └── programs.ts       # Program discovery utilities

UI Design

The CLI displays a header with current state:

╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║  Chain Forge Interactive CLI                                  ║
║  Nodes: 1 | Port: 8899 | Accounts: 5                         ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║  #  │ Address                                    │ Balance   ║
║   0 │ 7xKX...3mPq                                │    100.00 ║
║   1 │ 9aBC...7nRs                                │    100.00 ║
║  ...                                                          ║
╠═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║  Programs: hello_chain_forge (4xYZ...8kLm)                    ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

See Also

• TypeScript Examples
• Program Deployment
• API Reference