a4 idl — IDL Explorer

Explore and analyze Solana IDL (Interface Definition Language) files directly from the command line.

The a4 idl suite helps you understand a program’s structure, account layouts, and relationships before you start building your stack.

Global Behavior

These rules apply to all a4 idl subcommands:

Path argument: Every subcommand takes <path> as its first positional argument (the path to the IDL JSON file).
JSON output: Most commands support the --json flag for machine-readable output.
Fuzzy matching: Lookups for instructions, accounts, and types are case-insensitive. If you make a typo, the CLI suggests the closest match.
Error handling: File-not-found or invalid names exit with code 1 and a clear message.

Quick Reference

Command	Description
`summary`	Quick overview of the IDL structure
`instructions`	List all instructions
`instruction`	Detail view of a specific instruction
`accounts`	List all account types
`account`	Detail view of a specific account
`types`	List all custom types
`type`	Detail view of a specific custom type
`errors`	List all program errors
`events`	List all program events
`constants`	List all defined constants
`search`	Fuzzy search across the entire IDL
`discriminator`	Compute Anchor discriminators
`relations`	Categorize accounts by their role
`account-usage`	Find all instructions using an account
`links`	Find instructions linking two accounts
`pda-graph`	Visualize PDA derivation paths
`type-graph`	Visualize field-to-account relationships
`connect`	Analyze how to connect new accounts

Data Commands

a4 idl summary

Show a high-level overview of the program.

# Get a quick summary
a4 idl summary meteora_dlmm.json
# Output: Name: meteora_dlmm, Format: modern, Instructions: 74, Constants: 30

Shows program name, IDL format (modern or legacy), program address, version, and counts for all sections.

a4 idl instructions

List all instructions defined in the IDL.

# List all instructions
a4 idl instructions ore.json

# Count instructions via JSON
a4 idl instructions ore.json --json | jq length
# Output: 19

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON (machine-readable)

a4 idl instruction

Show detailed information about a specific instruction, including its discriminator, accounts, and arguments.

# Detail view for an instruction
a4 idl instruction ore.json deposit

# Fuzzy matching on typos
a4 idl instruction ore.json depositt
# Error: instruction 'depositt' not found, did you mean: deposit?

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl accounts

List all account structures defined in the IDL.

# List all accounts
a4 idl accounts meteora_dlmm.json

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl account

Show the detailed field layout of a specific account type.

# View account fields and types
a4 idl account meteora_dlmm.json lb_pair

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl types

List all custom types and enums.

# List all custom types
a4 idl types ore.json

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl type

Show the full definition of a custom type or enum.

# View type details
a4 idl type ore.json Config

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl errors

List all custom program errors with their codes and messages.

# List all errors
a4 idl errors meteora_dlmm.json

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl events

List all events emitted by the program.

# List all events
a4 idl events meteora_dlmm.json

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl constants

List all constants defined in the program.

# List all constants
a4 idl constants ore.json

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl search

Perform a fuzzy search across instructions, accounts, types, errors, events, and constants.

# Search for anything related to "swap"
a4 idl search meteora_dlmm.json swap

# Use JSON to see where matches were found
a4 idl search meteora_dlmm.json swap --json | jq '.[].section' | sort -u
# Output: "error", "event", "instruction", "type"

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl discriminator

Compute the Anchor discriminator for an instruction or account.

# Compute instruction discriminator (global namespace)
a4 idl discriminator pump.json buy
# Output: Name: buy, Namespace: global, Discriminator: [66, 06, 3d, 12, 01, da, eb, ea]

# Compute account discriminator (account namespace)
a4 idl discriminator pump.json LastIdlBlock

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

Relationship Commands

a4 idl relations

Analyze and categorize all accounts in the IDL.

# See how accounts are categorized
a4 idl relations meteora_dlmm.json

# Find core entity accounts
a4 idl relations meteora_dlmm.json --json | jq '.[] | select(.category == "Entity") | .account_name'
# Output includes: "lb_pair"

Accounts are classified into:

Entity: Core data accounts that appear across many instructions.
Infrastructure: System programs or token programs.
Role: Authorities, signers, or administrative accounts.
Other: Miscellaneous accounts.

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl account-usage

Find every instruction that uses a specific account.

# See where 'lb_pair' is used
a4 idl account-usage meteora_dlmm.json lb_pair

# Count usages
a4 idl account-usage meteora_dlmm.json lb_pair --json | jq length
# Output: 59

Instructions are grouped by the role the account plays: Writable, Signer, or Readonly.

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl links

Find instructions that involve a specific pair of accounts. This is useful for discovering how two entities interact.

# Find instructions linking 'round' and 'entropyVar'
a4 idl links ore.json round entropyVar

# Count shared instructions
a4 idl links ore.json round entropyVar --json | jq length
# Output: 2

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl pda-graph

Extract and visualize the PDA (Program Derived Address) derivation graph.

# Extract PDA graph
a4 idl pda-graph idl.json

Shows seeds (constants, accounts, or arguments) used to derive each PDA account.

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

a4 idl type-graph

Analyze field types to find implicit references to account types.

# Extract type reference graph
a4 idl type-graph idl.json

Useful for identifying when a field named lb_pair (type Pubkey) refers to an account of type LbPair.

Options:

Flag	Description
`--json`	Output as JSON

Connection Command

a4 idl connect

Analyze how a new account can be connected to existing accounts in the program.

# Analyze connection between reward_vault and lb_pair
a4 idl connect meteora_dlmm.json reward_vault --existing lb_pair

# With Arete-specific suggestions
a4 idl connect meteora_dlmm.json reward_vault --existing lb_pair --suggest-a4
# Shows: register_from suggestions

# Partial success handling
a4 idl connect ore.json entropyVar --existing round,bogus_account
# Warning: account 'bogus_account' not found in IDL, skipping
# (then shows connections to round)

Options:

Flag	Description
`--existing <names>`	Comma-separated list of existing account names
`--json`	Output as JSON
`--suggest-a4`	Show Arete integration suggestions (`register_from`, `aggregate`)