Account
A Solana account stores data at an address and has an owner program. The owner program controls changes to its data; accounts can also hold lamports.
Basic · SOURCE-LINKED DEFINITIONS
Solana glossary
Plain-language terms from this course. Reviewed 2026-09-30; check the linked docs for current protocol behavior.
Address
A 32-byte value used to identify an account. An address may come from a public key or be derived as a program-derived address.
Associated Token Account (ATA)
The deterministic token account conventionally derived for an owner and a token mint using the Associated Token Program. A wallet can own other token accounts too.
Create a Token Account ↗ Read: 4. Accounts, mints, and token balances →
Atomicity
A transaction's instructions execute as one unit: if an instruction fails, state changes from the transaction are rolled back, while a transaction fee may still be charged.
Blockhash
A recent blockhash in a transaction message helps establish its freshness and validity window. It is not a substitute for checking execution status.
Cluster
A Solana network environment, such as Mainnet Beta, Devnet, or Testnet. An address or transaction must be interpreted on the correct cluster.
Clusters and Public Endpoints ↗ Read: 3. Networks and transaction explorers →
Commitment
A request setting that tells an RPC client how much confirmation to require when reading state or tracking a transaction. The choice affects confidence and freshness.
Confirmation and Commitment ↗ Read: 3. Networks and transaction explorers → Read: 5. Instructions, fees, and finality →
Delegate
An authority explicitly permitted to perform limited actions. For a token account, a delegate's approved amount and authority differ from a mint-level PermanentDelegate extension.
SPL Token Basics ↗ Read: 4. Accounts, mints, and token balances →
Fee payer
The transaction account designated to pay the network fee. Fee payment is distinct from transferred value and account storage deposits.
Finality
The confirmation state reached when the cluster recognizes a block as finalized with maximum lockout. For finalized evidence, retain the cluster and commitment context from the RPC response.
Confirmation and Commitment ↗ Read: 3. Networks and transaction explorers →
Instruction
A program call encoded in a transaction, with a program ID, account references, and instruction data. A transaction can contain multiple instructions.
Lamport
The smallest unit of SOL: one SOL equals one billion lamports. Network fees and account balances are commonly reported in lamports.
Fees ↗ Read: 1. Solana, SOL, and a shared ledger → Read: 5. Instructions, fees, and finality →
Mint account
An account owned by a token program that stores a token's supply, decimals, mint authority, freeze authority, and any configured token extensions.
SPL Token Basics ↗ Read: 4. Accounts, mints, and token balances →
PermanentDelegate
An optional Token-2022 mint extension that assigns a mint-level delegate with transfer and burn authority across token accounts for that mint. Individual token-account owners cannot revoke it.
Permanent Delegate ↗ Read: 4. Accounts, mints, and token balances →
Signer
An account whose required cryptographic signature is verified for a transaction. A program can also provide signer privilege for its own PDA during a CPI using invoke-signed.
Slot
A time period assigned to a leader to process transactions and produce a block. A slot is not necessarily a produced block; read slot numbers with their cluster and commitment context.
Token-2022
The Token Extension Program, a token program compatible with familiar token operations and supporting optional mint and token-account extensions. Inspect the actual program and configured extensions before relying on token behavior.
Token Extensions ↗ Read: 4. Accounts, mints, and token balances →
Token account
An account owned by a token program that records a token mint, token authority, balance, and related state. A wallet address and its token accounts are different accounts.
SPL Token Basics ↗ Read: 4. Accounts, mints, and token balances →
Transaction
A signed message containing one or more instructions, a fee payer, and a recent blockhash or durable nonce. Validators execute it and return a status that should be checked on the intended cluster.