Generate Parsers with Codama

How-to generate Vixen parser with Codama

This guide walks you through generating a Vixen Parser using Codama, a tool for rendering Rust SDKs and parser implementations from IDLs.

Vixen is a framework for building real-time program data pipelines in Rust. This guide helps you scaffold a parser that can be used in the Vixen runtime to decode and process Solana program data.

Prerequisites

1. An idl.json file: Either Anchor-generated or custom.

2. Install pnpm: Or use npm/yarn if preferred.

3. Initialize a JavaScript Project:

   pnpm init

Installation

Install the required Codama packages:

pnpm install @codama/renderers-vixen-parser

Also, install dependencies for the parser generation script:

pnpm install \
  @codama/nodes \
  @codama/nodes-from-anchor \
  @codama/renderers-core \
  @codama/visitors-core

Setup

Create a Parser Generation Script

Create a new file, codama.cjs:

const path = require("node:path");
const { rootNode } = require("@codama/nodes");
const { rootNodeFromAnchor } = require("@codama/nodes-from-anchor");
const { readJson } = require("@codama/renderers-core");
const { visit } = require("@codama/visitors-core");
const { renderVisitor } = require("@codama/renderers-vixen-parser");

const projectName = "example-parser";
const idl = readJson(path.join(__dirname, "idl.json"));
const node = rootNodeFromAnchor(idl);

visit(
    node,
    renderVisitor({
        projectFolder: __dirname,
        projectName,
    }),
);

Tip: The projectName is used for the Cargo crate name of the generated parser.

Run the Code Generation Script

node codama.cjs

Your folder structure should look like:

example-parser/
├── proto/
│   └── example_parser.proto
├── src/
│   ├── generated_parser/
│   ├── generated_sdk/
│   └── lib.rs
├── build.rs
├── Cargo.toml
├── codama.cjs
└── idl.json

Build and Verify

cargo build

If successful, you now have a working parser for Solana account data using Yellowstone Vixen.

Completion

Congratulations! You now have a custom Vixen parser ready for integration into a Vixen pipeline.