This guide will help you quickly set up and run Harmonic Salsa validator on your local machine.
Prerequisites Before you begin, ensure you have:
Operating System : Linux or macOSRust : Latest stable version (installed via rustup)Git : For cloning the repositorySystem Dependencies : Build tools and libraries (see below)
Windows is not officially supported. We recommend using WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) for Windows users.
Installation Steps
Install Rust toolchain
Install Rust, cargo, and rustfmt using the official installer: curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh source $HOME /.cargo/env rustup component add rustfmt
The rust-toolchain.toml file in the repository pins a specific Rust version and ensures cargo commands run with that version. Cargo will automatically install the correct version if it is not already installed.
Install system dependencies
Install required system libraries: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install libssl-dev libudev-dev pkg-config zlib1g-dev llvm clang cmake make libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libclang-dev
sudo dnf install openssl-devel systemd-devel pkg-config zlib-devel llvm clang cmake make protobuf-devel protobuf-compiler perl-core libclang-dev
Most dependencies come with Xcode Command Line Tools: You may need to install additional tools via Homebrew:
Clone the repository
Clone Harmonic Salsa from GitHub: git clone https://github.com/harmonic/salsa.git cd salsa
Build the project
Build the validator and CLI tools: This builds a debug version that is not suitable for running a testnet or mainnet validator. For production use, see the Installation guide for instructions on building a release version. The build process may take 10-30 minutes depending on your system.
Run the test validator
Start a local test validator for development: ./target/debug/solana-test-validator
The test validator will start a single-node cluster on your local machine, listening on http://localhost:8899 by default. Verify Installation Once the test validator is running, verify it’s working correctly:
# In a new terminal window ./target/debug/solana cluster-version
You should see output showing the cluster version, confirming your validator is running.
Basic CLI Usage Check Cluster Status # Get cluster information ./target/debug/solana cluster-version # Check validator slots ./target/debug/solana slot
Create a Wallet # Generate a new keypair ./target/debug/solana-keygen new # Check your balance ./target/debug/solana balance
Request Airdrop (Test Validator Only) # Request test SOL tokens ./target/debug/solana airdrop 10
Running Tests Run the test suite to verify everything is working correctly:
The full test suite can take significant time to complete. You can run specific test packages if needed.
Connecting to Public Clusters Connect to Solana’s public development cluster:
# Configure CLI to use devnet ./target/debug/solana config set --url devnet.solana.com # Verify connection ./target/debug/solana cluster-version
Available clusters:
Devnet : devnet.solana.com - Stable public cluster for development, runs 24/7Testnet : testnet.solana.com - Testing cluster for validatorsMainnet Beta : api.mainnet-beta.solana.com - Production cluster
Next Steps
Installation Guide Learn how to build optimized release versions for production
Validator Setup Configure and run a production validator
CLI Tools Explore all available command-line tools
Architecture Understand the validator architecture
