Practical overview
When it fits
Use Kinobi when a Solana program has a Codama-standard IDL and the development workflow needs generated JavaScript client code.
Who it is for
- Solana developers with Codama-standard IDLs
- TypeScript developers building generated JavaScript clients
- Teams creating repeatable IDL-to-client workflows
Documented uses
- Generate JavaScript clients from Solana program IDLs
- Normalize IDL naming and default metadata before rendering
- Create client libraries for programs such as token-2022 from published IDLs
Requirements & limits
The repository is public and open source under the MIT license. It is described as an active, non-archived GitHub repository.
- The input IDL must follow the Codama standard v1 for the documented loading flow.
- The demonstrated renderer targets JavaScript output.
- Kinobi normalizes names, fills defaults, and drops display-only metadata during loading.
- The output location is supplied to the JavaScript visitor.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Generate a JavaScript client from a Codama IDL
Load an IDL file and render generated JavaScript client code into a specified directory.
Before you start
- A Codama-standard v1 IDL, such as an idl.json file.
- Kinobi available in a TypeScript project.
- A specified output directory for generated client code.
Steps
Import Kinobi’s createFromJson and renderJavaScriptVisitor functions, along with Node.js file-system support.
Read the IDL JSON file as text and pass it to createFromJson.
Call renderJavaScriptVisitor with the desired output directory, then pass the visitor to the Kinobi representation.
Use the resulting generated sources as the JavaScript client for the described Solana program.
Expected outcome
Produces generated JavaScript client code for the Solana program described by the IDL.
Guide limitations
- The documented example demonstrates the flow with idl.json and the token-2022 example.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 1 October 2026
- Original website title
- metaplex-foundation/kinobi · Official homepage title · retained in its source language