How to use the Metadata Pointer extension

Before the Token Extensions Program and the Token Metadata Interface, the process of adding extra data to a Mint Account required creating a Metadata Account through the Metaplex Metadata Program.

The MetadataPointer extension now enables a Mint Account to specify the address of its corresponding Metadata Account. This flexibility allows the Mint Account to point to any account owned by a program that implements the Token Metadata Interface.

The Token Extensions Program directly implements the Token Metadata Interface, made accessible through the TokenMetadata extension. With the TokenMetadata extension, the Mint Account itself can now store the metadata.

In this guide, we will demonstrate how to create a Mint Account that enables both the MetadataPointer and TokenMetadata extensions. This setup simplifies the process of adding metadata to a Mint Account by storing all the data on a single account. Here is the final script.

Token Metadata Interface Overview

The Token Metadata Interface is designed to standardize and simplify the process of adding metadata to tokens by defining the data structure and set of instructions for handling metadata.

The Token Metadata Interface can be implemented by any program. This allows developers the flexibility to create custom Metadata Programs while reducing the challenges related to ecosystem integration for their program.

With this common interface, wallets, dApps, and onchain programs can universally access token metadata, and tools for creating or modifying metadata become universally compatible.

Metadata Interface Fields

The Token Metadata Interface defines a standard set of data fields for TokenMetadata, as outlined below. Additionally, it allows for the inclusion of custom data fields within the additional_metadata section, formatted as key-value pairs.

pub struct TokenMetadata {
    /// The authority that can sign to update the metadata
    pub update_authority: OptionalNonZeroPubkey,
    /// The associated mint, used to counter spoofing to be sure that metadata
    /// belongs to a particular mint
    pub mint: Pubkey,
    /// The longer name of the token
    pub name: String,
    /// The shortened symbol for the token
    pub symbol: String,
    /// The URI pointing to richer metadata
    pub uri: String,
    /// Any additional metadata about the token as key-value pairs. The program
    /// must avoid storing the same key twice.
    pub additional_metadata: Vec<(String, String)>,
}

Metadata Interface Instructions

The Metadata Interface specifies the following instructions:

Initialize: Initialize the basic token metadata fields (name, symbol, URI).
UpdateField: Updates an existing token metadata field or adds to the additional_metadata if it does not already exist. Requires resizing the account to accommodate for addition space.
RemoveKey: Deletes a key-value pair from the additional_metadata. This instruction does not apply to the required name, symbol, and URI fields.
UpdateAuthority: Updates the authority allowed to change the token metadata.
Emit: Emits the token metadata in the format of the TokenMetadata struct. This allows account data to be stored in a different format while maintaining compatibility with the Interface standards.

Getting Started

Start by opening this Solana Playground link with the following starter code.

// Client
console.log("My address:", pg.wallet.publicKey.toString());
const balance = await pg.connection.getBalance(pg.wallet.publicKey);
console.log(`My balance: ${balance / web3.LAMPORTS_PER_SOL} SOL`);

If it is your first time using Solana Playground, you'll first need to create a Playground Wallet and fund the wallet with devnet SOL.

If you do not have a Playground wallet, you may see a type error within the editor on all declarations of pg.wallet.publicKey. This type error will clear after you create a Playground wallet.

To get devnet SOL, run the solana airdrop command in the Playground's terminal, or visit this devnet faucet.

solana airdrop 5

Once you've created and funded the Playground wallet, click the "Run" button to run the starter code.

Add Dependencies

Let's start by setting up our script. We'll be using the @solana/web3.js, @solana/spl-token, and @solana/spl-token-metadata libraries.

Replace the starter code with the following:

import {
  Connection,
  Keypair,
  SystemProgram,
  Transaction,
  clusterApiUrl,
  sendAndConfirmTransaction,
} from "@solana/web3.js";
import {
  ExtensionType,
  TOKEN_2022_PROGRAM_ID,
  createInitializeMintInstruction,
  getMintLen,
  createInitializeMetadataPointerInstruction,
  getMint,
  getMetadataPointerState,
  getTokenMetadata,
  TYPE_SIZE,
  LENGTH_SIZE,
} from "@solana/spl-token";
import {
  createInitializeInstruction,
  createUpdateFieldInstruction,
  createRemoveKeyInstruction,
  pack,
  TokenMetadata,
} from "@solana/spl-token-metadata";

// Playground wallet
const payer = pg.wallet.keypair;

// Connection to devnet cluster
const connection = new Connection(clusterApiUrl("devnet"), "confirmed");

// Transaction to send
let transaction: Transaction;
// Transaction signature returned from sent transaction
let transactionSignature: string;

Mint Setup

Next, define the properties of the Mint Account we'll be creating in the following step.

// Generate new keypair for Mint Account
const mintKeypair = Keypair.generate();
// Address for Mint Account
const mint = mintKeypair.publicKey;
// Decimals for Mint Account
const decimals = 2;
// Authority that can mint new tokens
const mintAuthority = pg.wallet.publicKey;
// Authority that can update the metadata pointer and token metadata
const updateAuthority = pg.wallet.publicKey;

// Metadata to store in Mint Account
const metaData: TokenMetadata = {
  updateAuthority: updateAuthority,
  mint: mint,
  name: "OPOS",
  symbol: "OPOS",
  uri: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solana-developers/opos-asset/main/assets/DeveloperPortal/metadata.json",
  additionalMetadata: [["description", "Only Possible On Solana"]],
};

Next, determine the size of the new Mint Account and calculate the minimum lamports needed for rent exemption.

In the code snippet below, we allocate 4 bytes for the TokenMetadata extension and then calculate the space required by the metadata.

// Size of MetadataExtension 2 bytes for type, 2 bytes for length
const metadataExtension = TYPE_SIZE + LENGTH_SIZE;
// Size of metadata
const metadataLen = pack(metaData).length;

// Size of Mint Account with extension
const mintLen = getMintLen([ExtensionType.MetadataPointer]);

// Minimum lamports required for Mint Account
const lamports = await connection.getMinimumBalanceForRentExemption(
  mintLen + metadataExtension + metadataLen,
);

With Token Extensions, the size of the Mint Account will vary based on the extensions enabled.

Build Instructions

Next, let's build the set of instructions to:

Create a new account
Initialize the MetadataPointer extension
Initialize the remaining Mint Account data
Initialize the TokenMetadata extension and token metadata
Update the token metadata with a custom field

First, build the instruction to invoke the System Program to create an account and assign ownership to the Token Extensions Program.

// Instruction to invoke System Program to create new account
const createAccountInstruction = SystemProgram.createAccount({
  fromPubkey: payer.publicKey, // Account that will transfer lamports to created account
  newAccountPubkey: mint, // Address of the account to create
  space: mintLen, // Amount of bytes to allocate to the created account
  lamports, // Amount of lamports transferred to created account
  programId: TOKEN_2022_PROGRAM_ID, // Program assigned as owner of created account
});

Next, build the instruction to initialize the MetadataPointer extension for the Mint Account. In this example, the metadata pointer will point to the Mint address, indicating that the metadata will be stored directly on the Mint Account.

// Instruction to initialize the MetadataPointer Extension
const initializeMetadataPointerInstruction =
  createInitializeMetadataPointerInstruction(
    mint, // Mint Account address
    updateAuthority, // Authority that can set the metadata address
    mint, // Account address that holds the metadata
    TOKEN_2022_PROGRAM_ID,
  );

Next, build the instruction to initialize the rest of the Mint Account data. This is the same as with the original Token Program.

// Instruction to initialize Mint Account data
const initializeMintInstruction = createInitializeMintInstruction(
  mint, // Mint Account Address
  decimals, // Decimals of Mint
  mintAuthority, // Designated Mint Authority
  null, // Optional Freeze Authority
  TOKEN_2022_PROGRAM_ID, // Token Extension Program ID
);

Next, build the instruction to initialize the TokenMetadata extension and the required metadata fields (name, symbol, URI).

For this instruction, use the Token Extensions Program as the programId, which functions as the "Metadata Program". Additionally, the Mint Account's address is used as the metadata to indicate that the Mint itself is the "Metadata Account".

// Instruction to initialize Metadata Account data
const initializeMetadataInstruction = createInitializeInstruction({
  programId: TOKEN_2022_PROGRAM_ID, // Token Extension Program as Metadata Program
  metadata: mint, // Account address that holds the metadata
  updateAuthority: updateAuthority, // Authority that can update the metadata
  mint: mint, // Mint Account address
  mintAuthority: mintAuthority, // Designated Mint Authority
  name: metaData.name,
  symbol: metaData.symbol,
  uri: metaData.uri,
});

Next, build the instruction to update the metadata with a custom field using the UpdateField instruction from the Token Metadata Interface.

This instruction will either update the value of an existing field or add it to additional_metadata if it does not already exist. Note that you may need to reallocate more space to the account to accommodate the additional data. In this example, we allocated all the lamports required for rent up front when creating the account.

// Instruction to update metadata, adding custom field
const updateFieldInstruction = createUpdateFieldInstruction({
  programId: TOKEN_2022_PROGRAM_ID, // Token Extension Program as Metadata Program
  metadata: mint, // Account address that holds the metadata
  updateAuthority: updateAuthority, // Authority that can update the metadata
  field: metaData.additionalMetadata[0][0], // key
  value: metaData.additionalMetadata[0][1], // value
});

Send Transaction

Next, add the instructions to a new transaction and send it to the network. This will create a Mint Account with the MetadataPointer and TokenMetadata extensions enabled and store the metadata on the Mint Account.

Some token extension instructions are required to be atomically ordered before initializing the mint. While others must be after. Having these instructions "out of order" may result in your transaction failing.

// Add instructions to new transaction
transaction = new Transaction().add(
  createAccountInstruction,
  initializeMetadataPointerInstruction,
  // note: the above instructions are required before initializing the mint
  initializeMintInstruction,
  initializeMetadataInstruction,
  updateFieldInstruction,
);

// Send transaction
transactionSignature = await sendAndConfirmTransaction(
  connection,
  transaction,
  [payer, mintKeypair], // Signers
);

console.log(
  "\nCreate Mint Account:",
  `https://solana.fm/tx/${transactionSignature}?cluster=devnet-solana`,
);

Read Metadata from Mint Account

Next, check that the metadata has been stored on the Mint Account.

Start by fetching the Mint Account and reading the MetadataPointer extension portion of the account data:

// Retrieve mint information
const mintInfo = await getMint(
  connection,
  mint,
  "confirmed",
  TOKEN_2022_PROGRAM_ID,
);

// Retrieve and log the metadata pointer state
const metadataPointer = getMetadataPointerState(mintInfo);
console.log("\nMetadata Pointer:", JSON.stringify(metadataPointer, null, 2));

Next, read the Metadata portion of the account data:

// Retrieve and log the metadata state
const metadata = await getTokenMetadata(
  connection,
  mint, // Mint Account address
);
console.log("\nMetadata:", JSON.stringify(metadata, null, 2));

Run the script by clicking the Run button. You can then inspect the transaction details on SolanaFM.

You should also see console output similar to the following:

Metadata Pointer: {
  "authority": "3z9vL1zjN6qyAFHhHQdWYRTFAcy69pJydkZmSFBKHg1R",
  "metadataAddress": "BFqmKEm12CrDbcFAncjL34Anu5w18LruxQrgvy7aExzV"
}

Metadata: {
  "updateAuthority": "3z9vL1zjN6qyAFHhHQdWYRTFAcy69pJydkZmSFBKHg1R",
  "mint": "BFqmKEm12CrDbcFAncjL34Anu5w18LruxQrgvy7aExzV",
  "name": "OPOS",
  "symbol": "OPOS",
  "uri": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solana-developers/opos-asset/main/assets/DeveloperPortal/metadata.json",
  "additionalMetadata": [
    [
      "description",
      "Only Possible On Solana"
    ]
  ]
}

Remove Custom Field

To delete a custom field from the metadata, use the RemoveKey instruction from the Token Metadata Interface.

The idempotent flag is used to specify whether the transaction should fail if the key does not exist on the account. If the idempotent flag is set to true, then the instruction will not error if the key does not exist.

// Instruction to remove a key from the metadata
const removeKeyInstruction = createRemoveKeyInstruction({
  programId: TOKEN_2022_PROGRAM_ID, // Token Extension Program as Metadata Program
  metadata: mint, // Address of the metadata
  updateAuthority: updateAuthority, // Authority that can update the metadata
  key: metaData.additionalMetadata[0][0], // Key to remove from the metadata
  idempotent: true, // If the idempotent flag is set to true, then the instruction will not error if the key does not exist
});

// Add instruction to new transaction
transaction = new Transaction().add(removeKeyInstruction);

// Send transaction
transactionSignature = await sendAndConfirmTransaction(
  connection,
  transaction,
  [payer],
);

console.log(
  "\nRemove Additional Metadata Field:",
  `https://solana.fm/tx/${transactionSignature}?cluster=devnet-solana`,
);

// Retrieve and log the metadata state
const updatedMetadata = await getTokenMetadata(
  connection,
  mint, // Mint Account address
);
console.log("\nUpdated Metadata:", JSON.stringify(updatedMetadata, null, 2));

console.log(
  "\nMint Account:",
  `https://solana.fm/address/${mint}?cluster=devnet-solana`,
);

Run the script by clicking the Run button. You can then inspect the transaction details and Mint Account on SolanaFM.

You should also see console output similar to the following:

Updated Metadata: {
  "updateAuthority": "Ehqz1TAMboGbY5oBWqKKWmv5hhvQuwcpkaWbVjkU96cZ",
  "mint": "9wdvSnsqgYo4HFBYMtiCvVNQfFBYdzSeACjLuxVCDcjB",
  "name": "OPOS",
  "symbol": "OPOS",
  "uri": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/solana-developers/opos-asset/main/assets/DeveloperPortal/metadata.json",
  "additionalMetadata": []
}

Conclusion

By enabling both the MetadataPointer and TokenMetadata extensions, the Mint Account can now directly store token metadata. This feature simplifies the process of adding metadata to a Mint Account.

Token Metadata Interface Overview​

Metadata Interface Fields​

Metadata Interface Instructions​

Getting Started​

Add Dependencies​

Mint Setup​

Build Instructions​

Send Transaction​

Read Metadata from Mint Account​

Remove Custom Field​

Conclusion​