Migration guides

Upgrade between Anchor versions

This guide helps you migrate between major Anchor versions.

Migrating to 0.32.0

IDL upload by default

anchor deploy now uploads IDL automatically:

# To skip IDL upload
anchor deploy --no-idl

solana-verify integration

anchor verify has been replaced:

# Old
anchor verify <PROGRAM_ID>

# New (uses solana-verify)
anchor verify <PROGRAM_ID>  # Works the same, but uses solana-verify under the hood

Program type changes

Generic Program<'info> now validates executable-only:

// Before: required specific program type
pub system_program: Program<'info, System>

// After: can use generic for any program
pub any_program: Program<'info>

Migrating to 0.31.0

Dynamic discriminators

Discriminators are no longer always 8 bytes:

// Use discriminator methods instead of hardcoding
let discriminator = MyAccount::discriminator();

LazyAccount

For large accounts, use LazyAccount to defer deserialization:

// Before
#[account(mut)]
pub large_account: Account<'info, LargeData>

// After (for better performance)
#[account(mut)]
pub large_account: LazyAccount<'info, LargeData>

Migrating to 0.30.0

Token-2022 support

Use interface types for Token-2022 compatibility:

// Before
use anchor_spl::token::{TokenAccount, Token};

#[account(mut)]
pub token_account: Account<'info, TokenAccount>
pub token_program: Program<'info, Token>

// After
use anchor_spl::token_interface::{TokenAccount, TokenInterface};

#[account(mut)]
pub token_account: InterfaceAccount<'info, TokenAccount>
pub token_program: Interface<'info, TokenInterface>

Migrating from 0.29.0

Solana 1.18+ compatibility

Update your Anchor.toml:

[toolchain]
solana_version = "1.18.0"

Account resolution

Use IDL-based account resolution:

// Automatic account resolution from IDL
await program.methods
  .myInstruction()
  .accounts({
    // Only required accounts need to be specified
    user: user.publicKey,
  })
  .rpc();

General upgrade process

1. Update Anchor CLI:

   avm install latest
   avm use latest
   

2. Update dependencies in Cargo.toml:

   [dependencies]
   anchor-lang = "0.32.0"
   anchor-spl = "0.32.0"
   

3. Update Anchor.toml if needed

4. Run tests:

   anchor test
   

5. Fix any breaking changes based on compiler errors

Version compatibility

Anchor	Solana	Rust
0.32.x	2.0+	1.75+
0.31.x	1.18+	1.75+
0.30.x	1.17+	1.70+
0.29.x	1.16+	1.70+

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