Learn best practices for implementing robust validation in Solana programs, from error handling to comprehensive security checks and invariant enforcement.

Overview

Proper validation is essential for secure and reliable Solana programs. This tutorial explores best practices and patterns for implementing robust validation logic to protect against exploits and errors.

Key topics covered:

• Using Rust's Result type for clean error handling
• Creating custom error enums for descriptive errors
• Implementing account validation (owner checks, type checks, PDA derivation)
• Validating numerical operations to prevent overflow/underflow
• Maintaining program invariants across multiple instructions
• Cross-program validation for complex protocols
• Security considerations when validating external inputs

Unlike Solidity's require statements, Solana programs use Rust's native error handling patterns. This tutorial shows how to leverage Rust's type system and pattern matching to create validation that's both secure and maintainable, preventing common vulnerabilities while keeping your code readable.