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Light Protocol

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What is Light Protocol?

Light Protocol brings ZK Compression to Solana, enabling developers to create rent-free tokens and Program Derived Accounts (PDAs) without sacrificing performance, security, or composability. By storing account state in Merkle trees and keeping only small fingerprints on-chain, Light Protocol reduces storage costs by orders of magnitude while maintaining the full security and performance of Solana L1.

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Key Features

Rent-Free State

Compress account state to reduce costs by 1000x while maintaining Solana’s security

Compressed Tokens

SPL Token compatible compressed tokens with full Token-2022 extension support

Compressed PDAs

Build custom programs with program-derived compressed accounts

Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Groth16 SNARKs provide succinct validity proofs for state transitions

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How It Works

When a Solana account gets compressed with Light Protocol:
  1. Hash & Store: Account data is hashed and stored as a leaf in a sparse Merkle tree
  2. On-Chain Root: Only the tree’s state root (a small fingerprint) is stored on-chain
  3. Off-Chain Data: The actual compressed data is stored off-chain in the cheaper Solana ledger space
  4. ZK Proofs: Transactions provide zero-knowledge proofs to verify data integrity
This approach combines the best of both worlds: Solana’s performance with orders of magnitude lower costs.
Light Protocol is a set of smart contracts on Solana - it’s not an L2 or separate chain. Your compressed accounts maintain full Solana L1 security guarantees.

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Cost Comparison

Regular Solana Account

~0.0035 SOL per account (~0.70at0.70 at 200/SOL)

Compressed Account

~0.000005 SOL calldata cost (~$0.001)

Savings

~99.8% reduction in storage costs

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Get Started

1

Install Dependencies

Set up your development environment with the Light Protocol CLI and SDKs
npm install -g @lightprotocol/zk-compression-cli
2

Run Test Validator

Start a local Solana test validator with Light Protocol programs
light test-validator
3

Build Your First App

Create compressed tokens or PDAs using our TypeScript or Rust SDKs
import { Rpc, compress } from '@lightprotocol/stateless.js';

const rpc = await Rpc.createTestnetRpc();
// Start building with compressed accounts

Quick Start Guide

Follow our quickstart to build your first compressed token application in 5 minutes →

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Architecture

Light Protocol consists of several key components:
  • Account Compression Program: Manages Merkle tree accounts and proof verification
  • Light System Program: Validates compressed account state transitions
  • Compressed Token Program: SPL Token compatible compressed tokens
  • Registry Program: Protocol configuration and forester coordination
  • Photon Indexer: Indexes and stores compressed account state
  • ZK Prover: Generates Groth16 proofs for state transitions
  • Forester Nodes: Asynchronously process queues and update trees
  • TypeScript SDK: @lightprotocol/stateless.js and @lightprotocol/compressed-token
  • Rust SDK: light-sdk, light-client, and light-token
  • CLI Tool: Local development and testing with light command

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Use Cases

Light Protocol is ideal for applications that need to scale to millions of users:
  • Social Networks: Store user profiles and posts without rent burden
  • Gaming: Manage in-game assets and inventory at scale
  • DeFi: Create liquidity pools and trading accounts efficiently
  • NFT Platforms: Mint and manage large NFT collections
  • Payments: Build payment systems with minimal transaction costs

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Community & Support

Discord

Join our community

GitHub

Contribute to the protocol

Twitter

Follow for updates

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Next Steps

Quickstart

Build your first compressed token app

Core Concepts

Learn how ZK Compression works

JavaScript SDK

Explore the TypeScript/JavaScript SDK

Rust SDK

Integrate Light into Solana programs

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

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