Advanced Functionalities

Surfnet goes beyond replicating mainnet on localnet—it lets you enhance and modify core Solana features by changing accounts, system variables, and blockchain state.

These modifications happen through RPC calls to Surfnet, enabling changes both programmatically (for automated test environments) and via terminal commands (for one-off operations).

To execute RPC calls in your code, use:

const surfnetCall = {
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "<surfnet-method>",
    "params": [<surfnet-method-params]
}
 
await fetch(connection.rpcEndpoint, {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(surfnetCall)
});

To execute RPC calls in your terminal, use:

curl -X POST \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
        "jsonrpc": "2.0",
        "id": 1,
        "method": "<surfnet-method>",
        "params": [<surfnet-method-params]
    }' \
    http://localhost:8899

Customize System Variables

Time Travel

Jump to any point in blockchain history using the surfnet_timeTravel method. This is invaluable for testing how your program behaves at different network states or reproducing bugs that occurred at specific times.

Specify one of: absoluteEpoch, absoluteSlot, or absoluteTimestamp like this:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "surfnet_timeTravel",
  "params": [
    {
      "absoluteEpoch": 0
    }
  ]
}

Pause and Resume Block Production

Control block progression to debug transactions step-by-step or test time-sensitive logic. Use surfnet_pauseClock to halt block production and surfnet_resumeClock to continue:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "surfnet_pauseClock", // or "surfnet_resumeClock"
  "params": []
}

Modify Account Data

Set SOL Parameters

Configure SOL supply parameters to test economic scenarios or edge cases.

The surfnet_setSupply method accepts circulating, nonCirculating, nonCirculatingAccounts, and total parameters:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "surfnet_setSupply",
  "params": [
    {
      "circulating": 1000000000,
      "nonCirculating": 1000000000,
      "nonCirculatingAccounts": [],
      "total": 1000000000
    }
  ]
}

Transfer Accounts Between Programs

Clone program accounts from one program to another using surfnet_cloneProgramAccount. Useful for testing program upgrades or migrating state between different program versions.

Requires both destinationProgramId and sourceProgramId:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "surfnet_cloneProgramAccount",
  "params": [
    {
      "destinationProgramId": "string",
      "sourceProgramId": "string"
    }
  ]
}

Update Account Data

Updating an already existing account with the following methods will overwrite the account states

Modify any account's properties including lamports, data, owner, and executable status using surfnet_setAccount.

The method requires a pubkey and accepts optional fields for data, executable, lamports, owner, and rentEpoch:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "surfnet_setAccount",
  "params": [
    "1111111QLbz7JHiBTspS962RLKV8GndWFwiEaqKM",
    {
      "data": "0x123456",
      "executable": false,
      "lamports": 1000000000,
      "owner": "11111111111111111111111111111111",
      "rentEpoch": 0
    }
  ]
}

Additionally, for token account modifications, use the specialized surfnet_setTokenAccount method, which simplifies changing data for Token Accounts.

Requires owner and mint parameters, with optional fields for amount, closeAuthority, delegate, delegateAmount, state, and tokenProgram:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "surfnet_setTokenAccount",
  "params": [
    "1111111ogCyDbaRMvkdsHB3qfdyFYaG1WtRUAfdh",
    "11111112D1oxKts8YPdTJRG5FzxTNpMtWmq8hkVx3",
    {
      "amount": 1000000000,
      "closeAuthority": "111111131h1vYVSYuKP6AhS86fbRdMw9XHiZAvAaj",
      "delegate": "11111112cMQwSC9qirWGjZM6gLGwW69X22mqwLLGP",
      "delegatedAmount": 1000000000,
      "state": "initialized"
    },
    "TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA"
  ]
}